How To Take Black & White Photos

Video Transcript

"Hello I am Chris Conklin. In this segment, we are going to talk about black and white photography. Now, color photography is very, very common. However, a lot of people misunderstand or they do not actually take advantage of what can actually be done with black and white photography. Even if you have a color photo such as this one right here, you can actually create a lot more artistic value with it like by converting it into what is known as a black and white or gray scale photo and you can do that through a variety of different programs such as one I am using right here. Now, what I have done is I have taken a classic sunset and I have converted it into a black and white image. You can see the difference between the colored version and the black and white version. One of things that you can tell is that the glowing images taken on a different effect as with the clouds that have gone around. Now, what you can do is you can get a little bit more artistic with it and utilize the features within your paint program to create different types of results that you are looking for in the picture. This definitely makes a big difference between the black and white, the colored version and what we just did in the effects. Now, one thing of interest that I want to point out that I have noticed on this particular photograph, this was a sunset that was taken just a day or two ago and the one thing that stands to me whether you have caught it or not even with the glowing effect here is there appears to be an image right here. Now, you could take the image for what is worth, but this appears to be a head pointing in this direction, the hands and then an object on the person’s back. Now, if you continue moving down the picture, you can see the image of what looks like a young child, looking upward. You can see the clear outline of a face and then the hands. This is just an interesting observation about this particular type of photograph. Okay, now let us talk about other types of photographs. There are a lot of different reasons why you would want to take a black and white photograph. One in particular would be vintage, lots of these types of pictures were taken a black and white because that was the only thing that was available during that particular time frame, but it shows a memorable aspect and different types of things as they used to exist. Now, you can continue doing that with modern day photography by just experimenting with a variety of things. Just basic outdoor type shots taking them and then creating some kind of an image with them that makes the artistic value of the black and white stick out look a little more especially with individuals. Now, you can take the highlights of that individual and creates a different type of a meaning. You can be very creative with the different types of sunlight and the shadows that come through and of course there always is the artistic value of the arts itself. Taking the pictures of the atmosphere, the moon in different varieties and even the full moon that has just been zoomed in completely and then it gives you a whole different aspect of what the moon looks like in itself. So, let that black and white come out and grab you and you will enjoy your pictures and would become a lot more artistic."