Table of Contents
Intro
Taking black and white photography can be an artistic choice of the street photographer. It gives the photo a timeless character that recalls the very essence of humanist photography. There are its big names such as Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Joseph Koudelka. etc. Initially, photography, for technical reasons, could only be done in black and white. It was not until the 1935s that the first color films, including the famous Kodachrome, appeared and replaced black and white movies. However, some nostalgic people for monochrome still mainly use black and white (this is the case of Sebastião Salgado, for example) because color can be distractive, especially when conveying messages. The black and white photo allows you to focus on the essential; it resonates with something archaic in us. It is also more easily harmonious, which should be more than a recommended passage for beginners in street photography who wish to develop their capacity in terms of composition, light, and contrasts. In this article, I will introduce you to the elements to consider to start black and white street photography and better understand it to use it more often. Those who already have notions of photography will find keys that will allow them to improve their photographic gaze.
Set your camera properly
To get off to a good start in taking a photo, you must have taken the time to adjust your camera to be ready properly. Especially since street photography does not forgive poor preparation, some scenes are played in a fraction of a second and do not leave room for approximation in terms of settings. I could advise you to understand better black and white is to use it as soon as you shoot. Many modern mirrorless cameras offer direct shots and live views in black and white. It makes it possible to compose the photograph while having in front of our eyes a result close to the one you will obtain at the end (excluding post-process adjustments).
For my part, my choice of camera went to Fujifilm, which presents the advantage of having black and white film simulations that emulate black and white film stocks. I am very fond of this type of simulation. However, I shoot in JPEG + RAW. It allows me to save a raw copy of my photos on a second SD card if I want more editing latitude than the jpeg file. I know other brands like Sony, Olympus, Ricoh, Leica. etc., have similar modes that I invite you to use if you focus on street photography. Another advantage of shooting in Raw + jpeg: you can recover the colors of the raw file in post-processing if you ever change your mind.
Some cameras also offer to make some image adjustments before taking the photo: correction of contrast, white balance, clarity, etc. Do some tests; the goal is to bring out all the shades of gray, pure black, and pure white in your photos. Some black and white images lack contrast; they appear “flat,” grayish. An excellent black and white photo is a photo that contains information in a wide range of shades of gray and therefore contrasts.
It might seem silly to change the colors of a black and white photo, but if you can, I recommend that you take the time to adjust them before you shoot. The white color balance settings on your camera will impact the final rendering of black and white. In the same way, you can put a color filter on your lens (yellow, red, blue, green) to lighten or darken specific colors. It depends on the type of photography you want to do, and some cameras allow you to simulate the effect of these filters digitally.
I use a yellow filter most of the time because it helps brighten faces when photographing people in the street. It is a filter that is also used in black and white portraiture. Do a few tests to find the style that suits you the most; I advise you to put the live histogram so that the shadows are not blocked, the highlights are not burned, and the photo is harmonious.
Focus on composition and subject
A good photo is undoubtedly a photo with a balanced composition and a fascinating subject that resonates with an emotional component in the viewer. Black and white simplify the composition because it puts aside the question of color. The more saturated a photograph is in color, the more difficult it is to harmonize the colors. It is the advantage of black and white which “smooths” this composition in shades of gray. To master black and white, I already suggest that you concentrate for a given time only on it and abandon color. I have often advised aspiring street photographers to focus on one element to improve the art of composition. So, for example, six months, only do black and white photography. Even better, only do it with only one lens (a fixed focal length) so that your photos are consistent. This way will allow you also to master the focal length.
One of the essential things in a black and white photo is minimalism. You have to simplify the scene because overlays work pretty poorly when highlighting a particular element. Try to focus on the background of the subject you want to photograph so that the contrasts can put it in perspective. Example: a dark matter on a light background, or vice versa, a light subject on a dark background. A plain pattern on a complex background…etc. To bring out your subject, you can, of course, open your diaphragm as wide as possible to have a reduced depth of field and blur the background information. Finally, you can use a flash that will illuminate the subject and darken the background with the correct settings for more courage. This technique is widely used in black and white street photography.
The most straightforward compositions are often the ones that have the most impact. Black and white photography has a deep emotional component that vibrates the nostalgic cord of the viewer. Photographing hands is an excellent technique to bring out this aspect of someone’s personality. Social and humanistic subjects work particularly well in black and white.
Focus on light and textures
Black and white photography allows you to focus on the very essence of the photo: light. Hunt for contrasts in a scene. I often use one technique to play around with the exposure composition dial when working around a scene. The results can be drastically different depending on whether you have high keys (+1, +2 on exposure compensation) or low keys (-1, -2) composition. For my part, I prefer to underexpose my black and white photos so that the blacks are deeper and the highlights are preserved. Thus, the images appear more contrasted; it works particularly well with so-called “dramatic” light scenes. I gave many tips to search for good light in the previous articles that I invite you to read. If I had to provide you with straightforward advice for determining if a light is dramatic enough, look at the size of your offset shadow on the floor. If it’s bigger than you are, the light is good.
What I love most about black and white photography because it brings out the textures of a surface much better than color photography. It gives the black and white photo an almost tactile feel which can be very pleasing to the viewer. This questions past kinesthetic sensations and gives photography another perspective. Search for these textures: old fabric, skin with many wrinkles, a wall that has stood the test of time, etc. This element is the icing on the cake, which can even be included as the main element of your photography if you are more on the abstract photography side.
How to post process black and white photos
Black and white photography is comfortable in terms of post-processing. You don’t need to be a colorimetry professional and know the science of colors to get a good result. I regret when I shoot in color, it is often necessary to abandon the composition to concentrate on the harmony of the colors. It can be particularly time-consuming for results which can be disappointing. The many parameters of a scene require us to modify our way of editing the colors constantly.
Black and white photography allows you to get to the point and have more consistent results, which is interesting if you are working on a series of photographs (a photographic essay, for example) that requires a certain regularity. All post-process software is suitable for editing a black and white picture (lightroom, capture one, luminar, photoshop..etc.). For my part, I mainly use Capture one. However, I have experienced great joy in using Silver Efex Pro for the past few months, which is intended for editing black and white photography. I find that the photos edited with this software have more depth. It has tools that are very useful for the photographer. It is not necessarily valuable to retouch a black and white photograph. Still, at the expense of film photography, photographers used methods to more or less expose certain parts of the photo so that elements were more or less highlighted. This is not a modern technique, even if modern tools have brought it up. When you return home, I advise you first to check whether the photograph’s exposure is suitable for you. I like to play a bit on the tone curve to add more or less contrast. Check the exposure curve to see if the photograph has information on the full dynamic range and deep blacks and immaculate whites (in a very minimal part, unless specifically desired artistic effect). If not, adjust the levels. To verify this, Silver Efex Pro has a tool that allows you to highlight the different shades of gray directly on the photo. If one of the shades were missing, it suffices to modify a few settings until it appears. The photographs, therefore, have a wider tonal range which is more prosperous and thus more pleasant to watch, in my opinion.
Finally, I like to add locally on the parts that interest me a little clarity to bring out the textures (faces, hands, rough objects, etc.). I use for this correction masks on the affected places. You can also do this by using the brush in the lightroom.
Conclusion
As you will have understood, black and white photography makes it possible to have a more direct, less complex relationship with the photographic object: the scene, the subject, its history, as well as the emotional component. It allows for more consistency in our work, is less time-consuming, and is timeless. In addition to this, you printed black and white photographs age better over time than color photographs. These are all reasons that should allow you to use it more often. So now, you know what you have to do!
