Black and White

Hello everyone, firstly congratulations to Bob Martin for winning November’s Dawn and Dusk Challenge. Don’t forget this month’s Black and White Photo Challenge winner will be announced at the start of January, so make sure you submit your entry before the closing date of 2nd January to be in with a chance of winning!

This month’s subject – B/W photography – strikes an especial chord with me, as when I first started out 40-plus years ago, everything I shot was in monochrome. (And sometimes still on ‘glass plate’ rather than celluloid film, would you believe?!) Of course, everything has changed now when it comes to the physical process of preserving an image; we live in the digital age and the abilities of a Lumix interchangeable lens system camera are beyond anything my younger self might have dreamed of! But the pleasure of shooting in black & white and the effect such an image can achieve – and the beauty of monochrome – remain exactly as they always were.

Put simply, I still love shooting in B/W. And because I’ve been taking photographs this way for so many years, I can effectively ‘think in monochrome’! Also, I can still apply the same tried and trusted techniques to improve the digital image ‘in camera’, rather than working up the desired effect in post-processing. As usual, practice makes perfect and I urge you all to get out there with your cameras and have a go for yourselves.

To illustrate the ‘in camera’ process, in shots 1-7 of this selection I set the camera to shoot in its ‘Dynamic B/W’ mode. This enables you to see on the screen what your lens is seeing – in monochrome. This is an obvious advantage, as it means you’re able to judge accurately and immediately if the shots you’re taking are exactly what you’re hoping to achieve.

I also fitted a graduated orange filter in front of the lens. You might think a coloured lens is essentially useless when shooting in black & white! But in fact, it increases the contrast and darkens a blue sky, for instance, while lightening anything of a yellow/orange colour in the composition. All of which has the effect of making a shot more dramatic. I did a small amount of post processing in Photoshop, but having got an improved tonal range upfront – in camera – it didn’t take long to simply tidy up my raw images.

Virtually any subject will work well in B/W (see my Photo Challenge competition for this month, at the end of this article). To get a feel for monochrome, you can try converting some of your old shots from colour into B/W; this sometimes works quite well. However, if you can try to get out there and shoot specifically in B/W only, as I did for most of this month’s photos, you will learn a lot more.

Shooting landscapes ‘contre-jour’ (literally ‘against day’) – i.e. directly into the sun – is one of my favourite ways of shooting – as regular Lumix Lifestyle visitors may remember. The effect you can achieve shooting into the sun in monochrome is really special, I think. When it comes to picking a landscape, it’s obviously entirely up to you and where you are, but I fancied shooting in the countryside and I was lucky enough to be able to get to some beauty spots at the right time of day.

Shots 1 to 7 were all shot in Aldeburgh and Southwold in Suffolk. I was able to find a variety of subjects here on the coast. I especially enjoyed playing with my composition as I shot around the boats on the pebbly beach.

• Lumix G2 camera with 14-42mm lens attached.
• Set to Manual.
• 250th sec at f10 – 16.
• ISO 100.
• Camera set to ‘Dynamic Black & White’ + Raw.

Shots 8 to 11 were all shot a lot further north, on the North York Moors and in the nearby seaside town of Whitby. The definition of the textures in the dry-stone and the harbour walls are particularly effective in B/W, I think.

• Lumix G2 camera with 14-42mm and 45-200mm lenses attached.
• Set to Manual.
• Various shutter speeds and apertures.
• ISO 100.
• Camera set to ‘Dynamic Black & White’ + Raw.

Shots 12 and 13 were actually taken in colour, when I was in Spain a while ago (playing a round of golf, in fact). You can see here how sometimes converting images to monochrome in post production can work quite well, but of course it all depends on the shot. Experiment for yourselves!

• Lumix GF1 camera with 20mm pancake lens attached.
• 250th sec at f9.
• ISO 100.
• Converted in Raw to B/W.

As there is no set subject for this month’s Photo Challenge – we are simply asking you to send us images in ‘Black & White Only’ – I’m hoping for a wide variety and some stunning images to judge. This time of year is great for taking dramatic shots, with a low winter sun or perhaps a foggy day in town. Or your entry could be a character portrait – it’s up to you. There’s simply no limit; as Henry Ford might have said, send me your best shots in any colours you like – as long as they’re black & white!

Phil Surbey