How to shoot black and white street photography. Taking black and white photos with a digital camera Basics of black and white photography camera settings

Why shoot in black and white?

We know that it all started with black and white, since color photography was not available to the first generation of photographers. Later it was associated with improvisation. The second generation of photographers tried out their fresh ideas on film. But black and white images will never lose their charm. It has an exceptional style and, most importantly, color photography sometimes loses to black and white in expressiveness and symbolism.

In the modern world, many people still enjoy filming in black and white because it opens up a deeper understanding of the nature of the scene. And monochrome images evoke additional sensations.
You should resort to shooting in black and white when colors have no significance in depicting the character of the picture, when there is a sense of mystery or a special mood or strong emotion, when color can distract attention from the essence of the picture or does not fully reflect the essence of the photograph. In this case, it is better to neutralize the colors of the scene into one monochromatic image. In other words, it may seem like a compromise to get a better result. Some photographs require this approach, while other photographs have no choice. There are professionals who shoot in monochrome on digital cameras to enhance their vision of the black and white area.

Band system (Adams band theory)

One of the pioneers and great masters of landscape photography, Ansel Adams, came up with an incredible system for presenting a photograph with a finished image. This concept of pre-visualization keeps the photographer moving forward. Although the system may seem mathematical and complex at first, it will allow you to technically master the art of photography.

Using the zone system, you will take a scientific approach to creating art. It's about controlling light, calculating variables, and understanding the subtleties of changing light. The division into light and dark tones provides an explanation of the zone system.

Light quality

It is important for any artist to understand the concept of light and how it integrates with the environment or subject. Various physical properties are responsible for what is recorded by the sensor when the camera passes light. More often than not, reflected light, depending on the intensity and contrast of the edge, adds more dynamic range to the final image.

Let's remember the difference between specular and diffuse (scattered) light. It can help you produce wonders with black and white photography. In simple terms, specular light usually occurs when the light source is far from the subject. There is high contrast and, as a result, bright highlights and sharp dark shadows. On the other hand, diffuse is a soft light that does not produce harsh shadows or overwhelm the highlight areas. Mastering these easy variations can help you create wonderful black and white images, whether outdoors or in your photography studio.

Exposition

Any professional photographer will agree that black and white photography is all about light plus exposure. The approach from an exposure point of view (projecting an image onto a light sensitive element) remains the same whether it is film or digital photography. As mentioned in the zone system, changing the aperture can certainly bring changes to any part of the frame.

During the exposure process, the film version and the digital version will differ. In the first case we observe an S-shaped curve, and in digital we see a straight line throughout the entire image range. Finally, never darken overexposed areas, as this won't add any detail and will result in unpleasant gray tones.

Post-processing

It is better to pay attention to photo editing, since many photographers do not consider a picture that has not been processed to be finished. At this final stage of photographic formation, visualization plays a primary role.
There are various techniques for processing black and white images, the application of which depends on each individual artist and their vision of the final masterpiece.

Most likely, you are already familiar with the basic nuances of using the Photoshop editor. Ultimately, you need to understand when your product is ready. Note that adding a color tone can be related to the core of the photo, such as mood or emotion. And understanding color theory and experimenting with different shades can greatly enrich your black and white image.

One of the most mysterious types of photography is black and white photography. In the hands of a skilled photographer, even the most ordinary frame, translated into monochrome format, can become a masterpiece. This technique is used for various purposes - the desire to emphasize the character of the character, creating the necessary atmosphere, plotting, the desire to get rid of an excessive number of colors - each has its own motives. One constant, black and white photo can capture the viewer's attention if created with knowledge of all the subtleties and details. That's why we've chosen 15 important tips that will help every novice photographer learn how to work with monochrome photography.

1. Watch Black and White Cinema

Before you start shooting in black and white, you need to get used to it a little and get comfortable with the specifics of colors and framing. And there is no better way than to use an imperishable classic. Cinematic masterpieces such as Casablanca will not only help you have a good time, but also give you a lot of great ideas. Don’t be shy and turn to established photographers for help; you can get inspired by the best black and white shots of famous artists.



2. Shoot in RAW format

When we take a photo, any photo, it doesn't always come out the way we would like. Usually, this only becomes noticeable at home, when viewing the footage on the big screen. Even if nothing can be changed, you can always fix something. The RAW format (or “raw” in translation) allows you to make a lot of adjustments during post-processing. Adjust exposure, contrast, etc. Therefore, despite the fact that Raw photos take up more space on the memory card, this is the most suitable format in which you should always shoot.



3. See with black and white eyes

As confusing as it may sound, this is exactly what you need to look at before taking a photo. In order for colors not to distract from the plot, it is not at all necessary to rush to invent new glasses. You just need to pay attention to the lines, shadows and shapes. They are the ones who build the composition, and on it, in turn, the entire black and white photograph rests.





4. Pay attention to noises

Until recently, low light conditions required flashes, additional lighting sources, and generally made life difficult for the photographer in every possible way. Modern cameras have incredible capabilities even with a small amount of light. In addition, we should not forget that we always have at hand a lot of programs that can reduce the amount of noise in a photo. And yet, habit overcomes rationality, and photographers do not pay attention to noise. However, a true master must take into account all the details, including annoying points.



5. Watch the contrast

The tastes and colors of your comrades may not be the same, but the most outstanding photographs taken in black and white tend to include both almost solid white areas and almost solid black areas. By increasing contrast, you can add depth to the frame, hide unnecessary, distracting details and highlight the most important elements. Therefore, it is always worth fiddling with the settings (or sliders in post-processing) to compare a more contrasty and less contrasty frame. The result may surprise you.



6. Look for more grayscale gradients

In addition to black and white, there are millions of intermediate colors in the frame, and all of them undoubtedly affect the perception of the final picture. To ensure that the photo does not seem monotonous and boring, you should choose for black and white shooting those objects that have enough intermediate shades. If the object is already selected, you can add them using shadows, reflectors and additional light. As a result, you will be able to enrich the image and make it more interesting for the viewer.





7. Use a polarizing filter

As we already know from numerous previous materials, a polarizing filter removes unnecessary glare and reflections when photographing water or treetops. They can be distracting in a color photo, but when it comes to black and white, they can completely defeat the idea and meaning of the frame. Therefore, a polarizing filter is especially important for a monochrome style. With its help, you will be able to maintain the composition and not oversaturate the frame with unnecessary details.



8. Don't forget about textures

There are pros and cons to textures in black and white photography. One of the advantages is that if they are not primitively directly lit, their contrast and detail will add to the attractiveness of the image. In addition, they can be used to highlight the main object or model.

The downside of textures, again, is that they distract attention - if used incorrectly, they can distract the viewer's attention. For example, they should not try to fill negative space. So while filming, always be aware of where textures will help enhance the shot and where they risk ruining it.



9. Know the terminology

Black and white photography is generally referred to by three big terms - b/w (black and white), monochrome and grayscale. So, “monochrome” means color placed on a neutral background, so black and white photos (usually the subject is on a white or black background) are the type (most common) of monochrome photography. But grayscale (grayscale) is just a way to display black and white images on a computer, the capabilities of which, compared to the eye, are limited.



10. Use patterns

If you look closely, in nature we are often surrounded by natural patterns that we rarely pay attention to. However, it's time to open our eyes: if we look away from the abundance of colors, we can notice these very patterns, and they are often the ones that can give meaning to a photo or even create an image. Once you train yourself to pay attention to them, you will begin to notice them everywhere - in the arrangement of cars in parking lots, in the shoes of people standing in line, in clothes hanging in a store, and so on. We are surrounded by a lot of interesting ideas.





11. Black and white photos and long exposures

Long exposures are used in various types of photography, usually nature or cityscapes. However, sometimes it is the colors that violate the integrity of the picture. In this case, before abandoning the photo, you can try your luck in black and white format. Experience shows that many functions and effects typical for long-exposure photography can be combined very well with black and white, so we recommend experimenting.



12. A black and white frame is not a panacea for poor lighting, but it can sometimes help out

It happens that the conditions turn against you and natural lighting, which you cannot cope with, does not give the best result. You can (and should) use filters, flashes, reflectors and everything you have in your arsenal, but sometimes it’s enough to just remove the colors, thus hiding imperfections. This does not always work, but for example, if we are talking about a frame that is not so easy to catch (for example, a wild animal), it is worth trying black and white.



13. Don't be fooled

Sometimes we shoot footage that simply doesn't have enough color. This happens especially often in winter - an abandoned blackened house, against a backdrop of pure snow, with dry trees behind - is this a familiar picture? As a rule, at the post-processing stage, when seeing such frames, the hand arbitrarily reaches for B/W, but if you give free rein to the impulse and convert the photo to black and white format, the result is most often disappointing. So, if the photo is already practically colorless, it will look better in color mode than in black and white.





14. Shoot in HDR

It's sometimes surprising how little attention the photography community pays to black-and-white HDR photos. We're all used to how impressive HDR photos look, how they're a little exaggerated, dramatic, and even three-dimensional. And all this is without a doubt ideal for black and white photography. Therefore, we definitely shouldn’t miss this opportunity - everything that we want to achieve from b/w will become even brighter when using HDR.



15. Work with the HSL panel in post-processing

Most likely, this advice is the most important and it concerns not the shooting process itself or preparation for it, but post-processing. Once you have a finished photo in your hands, it is absolutely necessary to correct the colors using the HSL panel in your image editor. You need to focus on many details and moments, but what is definitely clear is that sometimes you can achieve a much better result if you use this little secret.

Black and white photography is timeless; it has always been in demand. With the advent of mass color photography, black and white for some time attracted mainly professionals and fine connoisseurs, but now interest in it has increased again. Many modern digital cameras have a black-and-white shooting mode, and printer manufacturers are constantly improving the quality of black-and-white photo printing.

Practice: nuances of black and white photography

Features of black and white photographs

It is not for nothing that masters of photography begin training their students with black and white photography: in such photographs the composition is much more important, and all the flaws are more visible. Try to “decolorize” some ordinary “everyday” photo in a graphics editor; most of it will probably just turn into a gray spot. In a color photograph, a red flower on a green lawn looks festive and bright, but in a black and white version it can barely be seen - the red and green colors merge.

The difference between color and black and white photography is not only the absence of color in the latter. A monochrome photo reveals the essence of things deeper, focusing attention on the most important and interesting. Black and white photography reveals lines and shapes, the emphasis is on structure, light and shade, and rhythm. First of all, black and white photography is about emotions, personal impressions, and the photographer’s special view of the surrounding space. The general approach to black and white photography is different, so it is important to learn to see the colors of the world around you in monochrome.

When is black and white photography preferable? Most often this is a portrait, a nude; genre and reportage subjects look great in black and white photography. But this does not mean that landscapes and still lifes will not look good in black and white.

A good color photograph most likely should not be converted to black and white. It is the successfully found color solution that makes it attractive, and if you remove the color, then the photo will only lose. For example, photographs that you brought back from travels to exotic countries should play with color and convey local flavor. Although several interesting black and white photographs will only decorate your photo album, their semantic content should be completely different.

It may also happen that the color component does not fit into the overall design and overloads the photo, different color spots do not harmonize, they are too colorful. In this case, it makes sense to take the photo in black and white. Therefore, do not rush to delete an unsuccessful color photo - it is possible that in black and white, after some processing in a graphics editor, it will become much better.

So, to get a black and white photograph, you can go two ways. The first option: take a color photo, and then use a graphics editor to get the frame in black and white. The second option: set the camera settings to black and white photography mode (most modern cameras allow this). In the first case, you leave yourself the opportunity to return to the original color option. In addition, you have at your disposal the powerful tools of modern graphic editors that give flexible control over the process. What photographers used to do in the “dark room”, developing film, experimenting with developers, and printing photographs, you can now get by working with the program. In the second case, in the graphic editor you only “extend” the image to the desired result.

Composition

First of all, you must determine for yourself what you want to emphasize, highlight in the photograph, and select the means to achieve expressiveness accordingly. Think about whether you need to enhance sharpness and contrast in order to show a courageous face in the photo or an old abandoned ship worn out by time, rain and heat, or, conversely, to soften a gentle portrait of a woman or child, to show a “paradise” landscape in the photo.

When you are thinking about a future black and white photograph, abstract from the rich and bright colors - a monochrome photograph will not convey them anyway; moreover, they can merge.

It is desirable that the picture retains a rich range of halftones. The range of a successful photograph is from black to pure white. Tonality and contrast are the main starting points on which the success of your work depends. But it should be noted that in black and white photographs, dark areas will look almost dark, so try to construct the plot in such a way as to avoid large “black holes”.

If you look around with an attentive eye, you can take an original and high-quality black and white photograph almost everywhere. Contrasting textures, relief and attractive shapes, patterns, rhythmic, repeating details of the scene make the photograph more advantageous. When looking for interesting and contrasting graphic forms, remember the golden rule: the simpler the better. The picture should not be overloaded with unnecessary details.

Finding the plot is not difficult, just search carefully and you will find a lot of interesting things. These can be ancient buildings and structures, castles and palaces, ruins, fences, gates, roofs, ornaments, awnings, various technical structures and their elements, shadows, reflections. Modern buildings and structures with many architectural elements are also interesting.

The most unexpected and ordinary things, clear and contrasting, can give you wonderful scenes: a paved street, a reflection in a puddle, bridges, statues, trees. The main thing is that the main idea of ​​the photo is revealed most fully and all attention is focused on it.

When taking a portrait, try to reveal the person’s character, focus on the characteristic gesture, look, and facial expressions. You can bring the camera closer to your face or shoot from afar using optical zoom, change the angle, for example, shoot from a high point.

To create an interesting photo, pay attention to perspective, the foreground. This will give you the opportunity to add originality. Experiment with angles and shooting angles.

Exposition

A good black and white photograph is, as a rule, a quality work of the photographer. First of all, the exposure must be set very precisely so that the scene is conveyed with smooth tonal transitions, and the photo does not turn out dark or too light, unless, of course, this is not your intention.

Lighting in photography generally plays an important role, and in black and white photography it is especially important. Successful lighting, competent work with light is another important point that is worth paying attention to. When working with light, you should use exposure metering correctly. Carefully read the camera instructions and become familiar with how the exposure metering system works. The result directly depends on this.

Multi-point (matrix) metering gives an even exposure, which is a plus for a color photograph, but in black and white mode you will get a frame that lacks volume and dynamics. Set to center-weighted metering to enhance contrast and brightness. Using spot metering will give your photos harsh transitions and shadows.

If you're planning to take a silhouette shot, measure the exposure using the highlights of the scene, then, if necessary, keep the shutter button pressed halfway and recompose the shot. Then the dark details will turn out almost black. Do not meter exposure in the shadow areas of the scene, so as not to end up with a blown-out, low-contrast, and overexposed photo.

Different times of the day provide different lighting and light patterns, giving greater expressiveness to the photo, placing emphasis on shape, texture, and tonality. You can get different perceptions of the same scene taken at different times of the day under different lighting.

The lower the light sensitivity you set on your digital camera, the cleaner and better quality the photo will be. The photo will be detailed and “smooth”. As the sensitivity increases, as is known, noise increases and characteristic graininess appears, which causes much less damage to black-and-white photographs than to color ones. Grain brings artistic value to a photograph, and hard, grainy photographs have a special appeal. The same effect can be simulated in a graphic editor by applying appropriate filters.

Light filters

To make a good black and white photograph, achieve greater expressiveness, correct some inaccuracies that are often indispensable, and enhance the emphasis, it is sometimes useful to use filters. Without filters, your photo may have areas that are too light or too dark, and details may disappear. For example, clouds in the sky may turn into flat, indistinct spots, or colored objects may blend into the background in a black and white photograph. A light filter can make an individual tone both lighter and darker, and you can enhance or weaken the contrast. Contrast is enhanced by an ultraviolet filter, a polarizing filter, and a neutral density filter.

A polarizing filter will give the sky more density without changing the rest of the frame, and will also allow you to enhance or remove highlights. When shooting during the day, a light yellow filter will lighten the green foliage and grass, and darken the blue sky a little; it will show up well in the photo, and the clouds against this background will look emphatically white. In sunny weather, the orange filter emphasizes the shape of the clouds; in cloudy weather, it increases the contrast and the sky becomes more saturated.

When shooting in artificial light (incandescent lamps), red colors appear lighter and blue colors appear darker. In this case, blue-green and light blue filters will help.

In some cases you may need a softening filter. If there are no light filters, then you can safely use special plugins in the graphics editor.

It also doesn't hurt to experiment with different effects. For example, sepia toning (ancient buildings, old streets will look good), apply solarization, etc. After all, the capabilities of modern software are enormous. The result is limited only by your imagination.

Features of landscape photography

When shooting a landscape in black and white, try to convey the boundlessness of the sky, fancy clouds in the picture, leave most of the frame area to the sky. Don't be afraid of gloomy cloudy weather - this is not a reason to refuse to shoot, even in bad weather you can find and shoot amazing scenes. Try to give your composition balance. For example, grass, bushes, trees against the background of water, or metal or wooden structures against the background of the sky will look contrasting.

When shooting a black and white landscape, try to darken the blue of the sky a little and increase the contrast. Try crouching down and shooting from a low point, or find a high point and capture more space. Large stones, a river running over stones, rocks, lonely dried trees are well conveyed.

When shooting a landscape, it is very interesting to get a high-contrast photo, this can be done on a bright sunny day. One option for taking such a photograph is to shoot against the sun. Of course, you should not point the lens directly at the sun - this will simply damage the camera's sensor. You need to move the lens a little so that direct sunlight does not hit the lens. A lens hood will help get rid of bright glare. You can also choose a shooting point and position yourself so that there is a subject between you and the sun - a tree trunk, a human figure, a yacht sail. This object, blocking the sun, will give a contrasting picture.

About technology

Don't get caught up in the purely technical side of things, searching for the "best" camera or the "best" lens. Learn to take emotional, interesting, vivid shots with the equipment at your disposal.

Black and white photography itself does not require expensive equipment; an ordinary compact camera or entry-level DSLR is quite sufficient. To get the best results and have full control over the shooting process, it is of course best to have a DSLR camera. If you don’t know what lens to buy and what focal lengths you need, then a good choice for starters would be a standard “fifty-kopeck” lens - a fast lens with a focal length of 50 mm, which, taking into account the crop factor, turns into a moderate telephoto on digital SLRs. The high aperture of the lens is a big advantage, especially in poor lighting conditions.

A tripod, remote control or cable release will also come in handy.

The main thing is that the shooting itself and the search for interesting subjects should bring pleasure. A rich imagination, the ability to “see”, a desire to photograph, a lot of practice, visiting exhibitions and galleries - these are the basis of success. Together with studying photography, all this will bring interesting and original photographs. There is always something to strive for, and no one is stopping you from taking better pictures than the masters.

Color photography has existed for more than 80 years, but black and white photography not only does not lose its popularity, but on the contrary is gaining more and more fans. How can we explain this phenomenon?

A beautiful photograph often attracts attention due to interesting lighting, rich tonal range, unusual shapes, patterns or textures. And it is in black and white photography, when color is not a distracting factor, that we can observe art in its pure form. In this article I want to give you some tips on how you can achieve beautiful black and white photography.

Preparing for shooting

The challenge with black and white photography is that you can't hide behind the bright colors. Your visual aids will be lighting, outline, texture and tonal range. Having imagined the photographed object in black and white, pay attention to the following:

• How light falls on subjects
• What shapes and outlines are included in the frame?
• Which shadows and penumbra will provide a rich tonal range
• Really, would this photo be more beautiful in black and white?

Most often, photos with high contrast and rich texture look best in black and white. By converting a photo to black and white, you can give your photo a different mood: for example, portraits in black and white are more dramatic.

Shooting

Nowadays, most digital cameras can take pictures straight away in black and white. I do not recommend using this property, however, as it will leave you with no choice between leaving the photo in color or converting it to black and white. In general, the same universal rules of photography apply to black and white photography. You need to choose a good photo composition using , and the correct one. I also recommend taking photographs in , which will greatly facilitate your subsequent photo processing. If you have a lot of shiny, glare objects, I would recommend using a polarizing filter (polarizer). It eliminates unwanted glare and also reduces brightness while increasing the saturation of the sky or water.

Treatment

All types of photo processing in editors such as Photoshop can be divided into destructive and non-destructive. The first, as the name suggests, changes, destroys pixels, and because of this they are difficult to correct. One example is direct conversion to "Greyscale". I recommend using non-destructive methods that allow you to make adjustments to the processing until you achieve the desired depth of shadows and tone. The easiest way is to use the Hue/Saturation/Luminosity tab in Photoshop.

The program will show you eight color scales. By changing the position of the slider, you will see how these changes affect the colors of the photo. For example, the yellow color scale, when changed, will make the gray shade of a color that was originally yellow darker or lighter.

Some tips for black and white portraits: Increasing the red scale results in lighter, smoother skin. Freckles can be made more visible by increasing the percentage of the green scale. Increasing the blue scale makes the skin darker.

There are many more ways to convert color photography to black and white, which I will certainly tell you about in future articles. In the meantime, discover the world of black and white photography, don’t be afraid to be creative and share your black and white photos in the comments.

Today I want to start a series of articles about black and white photography, about how to learn how to take monochrome photographs competently, what technologies are available for this, what you need to take into account and what you pay attention to in order to hone your skills, and in general, let’s talk about the philosophy of the image itself, devoid of color information. Now I want to reveal to you the basic postulates, based on which, every professional photographer tries to express himself through black and white photographs.

I already tried to answer the question in a previous article: . But I never cease to be amazed at the stunning effect that classic B&W photographs have on me, and I guess I’m not alone in this.
Black and white photography is one of the most interesting and inspiring trends in the field of photography. Monochrome images laid the foundation for the entire photography industry: with the development of technology, cameras and methods for obtaining photographs were improved. The Frenchman Louis Jacques Daguerre obtained the first stable photographic image back in 1839 and subsequently called such pictures daggerotypes. In the same nineteenth century, James Maxwell introduced the world to a method of obtaining color photography. In the thirties of the last century, Kodak began to produce the first color photographic materials. The market developed at a rapid pace, the number of amateur photographers increased, photographic processes were simplified even at the end of the 20th century. people have stepped into the digital age.

How to learn to take black and white photographs: secrets of professionals.

See the world in B&W.

Most of the general tips on how to compose or structure a good shot apply the same to black and white photography. However, the main noticeable difference is that you don't have to pay attention to the color. This means that you must train yourself to look at shapes, tones and textures, to look with eyes that can only see in B&W.
Masters of black and white photography can easily imagine a world without color. Thanks to my experience shooting monochrome images, they have trained their heads to instantly visually assess space in order to imagine it without color saturation. Imagine how the photo will turn out even before the camera shutter clicks. But such a skill cannot be acquired in a short time. I cannot say that I have mastered this skill, and like a robot I switch modes, but I constantly train my brain to perceive the surrounding reality in black and white format. Only practice and constant effort are the correct training mechanism.

Focus on contrast.

The human eye is designed to analyze two things: light intensity and color. If you remove color, your eyes become more sensitive to light intensity. We naturally select areas of contrast, i.e. we perceive reality and objects (their dimensions, outlines) by comparing areas of brightness, when one thing is more or less dark than another. As a photographer who creates pictures in black and white, you simply have to know more about contrast, see it, feel it. And with its help, reveal to the viewer the essence of your photographs, their intention, and reflect important details. Always look for scenes/plots that are full of high contrast characters and then your black and white photographs will be irresistible a priori.
If initially your shots do not make the right impression, then using processing methods in Photoshop such as manipulating levels, curves, etc., will turn your images into contrasting photographs. In other words, don’t give up on unimpressive images at first glance, since modern technologies make it possible to qualitatively improve the original footage.

Focus on texture.

Texture is very much a form of contrast. If you think about it, texture is a pattern of shadows and highlights of varying intensities. Color usually makes its own changes to the texture (as perceived by the human eye), so to speak, leaves its mark, like a filter behind which it manifests itself differently. Different shades can mask subtle, unnoticeable textures, or enhance them. In black and white photographs it carries new information. So look for areas with interesting texture that may be hidden behind masks of bright colors. It often acts as guide lines and serves as a good background for indicating the main artistic object. Have you noticed how B/W photographs containing barns, wooden fences or antiques are irresistible(?). This is because the objects are full of texture, traces of experience, of antiquity.
Sitting down at the computer to convert images to monochrome, you can “pull out”/reveal texture from almost smooth, rough-free surfaces. In digital photos, blues and reds tend to have more noise than greens, so using tools like the channel mixer and black and white adjustment levels in Photoshop will really bring out the textures.

Take photographs in color.

This item is primarily aimed at photographers who use digital cameras (for example, DSLR) in their arsenal. If your device provides the ability to switch in the Menu settings to photo shooting mode in black and white, then try to never use it. In fact, by using this function, the camera, when capturing a frame, actually receives color information and then converts the image to black and white, including the algorithm embedded in the processor. But then you will have a file on your flash card that has irretrievably lost a huge part of the color information, i.e. "lost weight." No wonder the pictures were taken in black and white. and in the color of the same space, the weight will be different, or rather, a monochrome image, due to the loss of data about the color environment, will become “lighter” by hundreds of kilobytes. Thus, by turning on the mode on the camera “ black and white photography"You're limiting your post-processing capabilities.
However, my categoricalness in this matter can play a cruel joke on you. And you, having accepted good advice, will strictly follow it. But the camera function for receiving b&w photo very useful. I'll explain why. If you want to use this mode to preview/see what a scene looks like without color, then this is quite justified. This will help you identify how good the black and white photographs you are planning to capture are! But be sure to switch back and shoot in color, and then finalize the story at home.

Shoot in RAW.

I know a lot of blog readers don't have the option simply because their camera doesn't have this preset. Or they don’t take photographs in Raw format due to ignorance of how to do this and lack of understanding of the advantages, for example, of RAW over JPEG. Or maybe they don’t shoot in the Raw format on principle because they don’t like it and the labor costs associated with it. But most photographers see undeniable advantages in subsequent work with RAW files. Therefore, if you strive to receive magnificent black and white images, then shoot and write data to the flash card in Raw format.

To be continued in the second part of the article about tips for creating black and white photos...

Best regards, photographer Evgeniy Shterbets.