![]() If the medium works for you and it suits the pictures you’re taking and your style, don’t worry about conforming to convention. Just remember there is no right or wrong and choosing to use monochrome is a creative decision. All that said, I have not totally bucked convention and have suggested six subjects that work exceptionally well in monochrome, and six that are perhaps less successful, so check out the relevant panels in this feature. With mono, there are plenty of creative avenues to explore and with most of us capturing digitally, shoot raw and the world is your oyster because you can take any route you want. A mono conversion and a little work on the computer resulted in a character-packed portrait Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II, 500mm, 1/160sec at f/4, The dull morning light meant the original image looked dull. Just choose the medium as you would pick a particular setting on the zoom lens, and then work on developing a style that suits your pictorial approach. As a hobbyist if you shoot pictures for your own pleasure, then so long as you are happy with the end result the colour or mono debate is a non-issue. Essentially, you should ask yourself what your pictures are for and what do you want to say in your images.įor example, if you are entering a nature photo contest, the odds are that mono shots will likely not succeed but that doesn’t mean the pictures are failures. On the contrary, it can work exceptionally well and if you want evidence of that check out the remarkable output of Nick Brandt. It is a subject where realism is expected but that is not to say it can’t work in black & white. Some subjects are also inexorably linked to colour photography. Shoot anyway and go moody monochrome! Nikon D3s, 24-70mm, 1/30sec at f/5.6, ISO 800 Mono excels in dull light when you might not even bother taking the camera out. If you enjoy exploiting colour contrast and colour harmony, for example, then by definition using the full spectrum of visible light is clearly the best medium. There is no doubt that there are subjects and scenes that are ‘better’ in colour or perhaps only work in that medium. It’s just different but it can evoke a mood or an emotion that colour can’t. It can add an extra dimension to your creative output almost regardless of subject matter. ![]() No, what I am saying is that black & white shouldn’t be pigeon-holed in this way and it is a much more versatile medium than many photographers give it credit for. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you should turn every image in your archive into shades of grey and that these will be more successful than full-colour shots. My view is that black & white can be applied very successfully to almost any genre. What subjects work best in black and white? Whether you’re fired up by the work of old masters or more contemporary visionaries, there’s a lot of wonderful imagery out there. If you are already a keen mono shooter, you will have your favourite workers however, if you’re finding your way in the medium and need inspiration, now’s the time to get on the internet or to a bookshop. Google the names if they are unfamiliar to you. Their work continues to inspire me and no doubt many others. ![]() I grew up loving and being inspired by the work of many legends of photography including Ansel Adams, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Duane Michals, Arnold Newman, Irving Penn and Sebastião Salgado, to name my magnificent seven. Not only that, but the pictures I saw in magazines and books that fired my imagination were in black & white. Going monochrome was the obvious route because as a schoolkid, it was the only affordable one. When I embarked on my photography journey, there was only film with the choice of colour print, colour slide or black & white. In very contrasty light an exposure bracket of several frames can be merged in software to produce a fully toned image.
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