Black and White Photography

All photography was Black and White Photography when photography first came into existence.

It has actually been that way for most of photography's history.

Color photography was slow in becoming a popular kind of photography because in it's beginning it was of poor quality and very expensive.

As quality improved and its use grew, prices came down and it became affordable to the average photographer.

Now that digital photography is here, there has been a resurgence in the use of black and white (B+W). It is now available by simply changing a digital camera setting or doing a little photo editing.

Why would you want to shoot without color? Photographers are rediscovering the power and timeless nature that black and white images can create.

Top 5 reasons to use black and white :

• Black and White Photography adds a historical quality to the photo. It is my favorite kind of photography when I am doing a black and white portrait project of old people
• It can create more of an emotional reaction
• It make a picture into a piece of artwork. Look at these interesting Shadow Photos
• Eliminates color distractions and imperfections
• Accentuate patterns, textures and lighting. Here are a few more Black and White Photography Tips.

It suffices to say that learning more about this kind of photography can be very rewarding for great reasons.

One Digital Photo Tip that is argued by many photographers: Never, ever, ever use your camera's (B+W) mode. Not only does it most likely do a poor job, but it limits you to never having that same photo in beautiful, natural color.

With the amazingly big number of photo editing software programs available to us now, it make no sense to restrict the possibilities of how we can use that image.

We have the options of adjusting contrast, brightness, sharpness and hue after our picture taking activities. The only exception I could see, is if you have no concern for quality or control at all and you need your photo instantly.

The opposing argument is that shooting without color will actually help you take better pictures. You will have to think a bit more before just clicking away.

A Sepia toned print is a form of black and white that is popular to use with pictures having an "Old West" theme. I used a sepia photo sample in this article on family portrait ideas: Creative Family Portraits

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