Wednesday 17 October 2012

Black and white photography

Ok so if you have read my page and seen my gallery on Black and white photography then you know how stripping an image back to a very basic structure can add emotion and depth to an image, so do you shoot in B&W or shoot colour then edit?

Well, if you shoot black and white to get an instant review of what the image is like but shoot RAW the, the RAW (Canon RAW in my case NEF if Nikon) file will save all of the colour information so you can still edit back to a colour image, that’s with a full size raw of course, Personally I will shoot most things colour and a very small percentage in Black and White as what is most important to me is getting the shot not ‘Live’ editing.

Many clients, especially wedding clients have a repeated gripe about photographers and that is they take ages to do anything, setting up the shot, setting the camera just so, and messing about with reflectors, lights and filters, this is fine if you’re doing a fashion shoot to get that one images that will be used on the cover of Vogue magazine, but for on the fly wedding photography or location shoots with other people to consider its best to know your shot and go for it.

So getting back to Black and White, it’s all about the light, and of course it’s a great ‘get out of jail’ free card if the location has unusual lighting that turns skin purple, the walls red and the floors green, if you have got the shot but it looks too messy and the colour balance and white balance if really off then try it Black and White, you will be amazed, as well as this is you were going for a shot for a distance in say a low light situation and the image is their but full of grain, the again Black and White can make it look like a piece of art, when you get to know your shots well enough, you will indeed go for the shot with the particular edit in mind.

It just takes practice and sometimes the nerve to risk the shot, what’s the worst that can happen?
Thanks for reading, come and visit my Blog again

Cheers

Matt

No comments:

Post a Comment