Photo Challenge: Shoot in Black and White

As an amateur photographer, in the very beginning, soon after I caught a camera, I was fascinated by black and white photos. Alas, it seems to happen often to beginners. They look different from what our eyes see every day, they carry a special romance and nostalgia in themselves, and the classics are classics… In general, they are wonderful. BUT, this obsession of mine quickly passed after I started experimenting more with settings, learning about the colors in the photos themselves, and generally turned my back on black and white photography. From time to time I remember and test my eye for it, but still, somehow I lack the passion, so I decided to challenge myself – to shoot photos only in black and white for a day. Accordingly, I share the results and whether I learned something interesting about shooting (there is always something to learn!)

Switch to Black and White mode

You are faced with two choices:

You set the camera to shoot in black and white – given that maybe not everyone has this feature, or some have many variations of black and white. This option I would say is suitable for beginners;

“You see the world in black and white” and shoot in color, then process in black and white – this may be an idea more difficult task, because a color photo that is fabulous, passed in black and white can totally change your charisma or even lose it.

As a person who has no particular passion for black and white photography, I chose to use both options to make it even more interesting for myself.

What to keep in mind?

I picked a few key points that I thought I should keep in mind when shooting this day. Since I already mentioned that black and white photography relies more on other components of the photo, here’s what I focused on looking to create my photos:

Contrast – here the presence of contrast is important, because in black and white photography you work in the spectrum from absolute black through all shades of gray, to sparkling white. So, with contrast, we achieve more in the frame.
Contours, shapes, shadows – here I am looking for the abstract in the normal. What does that mean? Well, looking through my black and white lens, I have a chance to see the world around me differently. By removing the colors from a photo, one of the techniques that can be used to achieve a great shot is precisely the presence of contours, shadows, and shapes in the shots.
Texture – Something that is often seen in color photography in my opinion, but not to such an extent. If the texture is missing in the black and white photo, the focus is exclusively on the subject.

What is shot in black and white?

Everything. With the small addition that everything includes everything that looks good in a black and white frame. Portraits, landscapes, still lifes, abstractions, short, long exposures, anything can be attractive, as long as it is photographed appropriately.

You can see the results of my photo project below: