The Four Cornerstones of Superb B&W Photography

Kent DuFault
Kent DuFault

New / Noteworthy

This Quick Tip comes to you from our Better Black and White Premium Guide

Nothing is more exciting to a photographer than creating a fabulous black and white image. There is just something mystical about both the process and the presentation.

Viewers of photography also get excited about black and white images. In their case, this excitement is generated by seeing photos of our world in a new perspective – simply because we don’t see in black and white.

In fact, the best black and white photographers train to “see” in black and white. This is a skill that can take many years to acquire.

There are numerous attributes that can contribute to an awesome (and visually exciting) black and white photograph.

However… there are four “cornerstone” attributes. These attributes are:

  1. Contrast
  2. Texture
  3. Shadow
  4. Shape

The more of these four attributes that you can “put into” your black and white image, the more likely that it will be successful, and that it will visually stimulate the viewers that see it.

The above photograph of the man and his dog has all four attributes. Can you spot them?

Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t other necessary attributes to creating a successful photograph – be it black and white or color. Obviously, we must pay attention to the lighting, subject, composition, etc.

But, in the case of successful black and white photographs, these four attributes are common denominators.

Today, let’s talk about the first attribute. Let’s talk about contrast.

Most of us are digital photographers. As a result, most of us begin the black and white photo process with a color file. In fact, we recommend that you do begin with a color file.

Don’t set your camera to shoot black and white.

The reason for that recommendation is that by doing so, you’re turning the black and white conversion process over to a piece of automated software rather than using your creative mind to make the decisions.

To learn to see black and white contrast, you have to understand color contrast.

In the above image, the three colors shown in the upper half were converted to black and white in the lower half.

What do you see? They look virtually the same.

The “color contrast” was not great enough for these three colors to convert to black and white and produce a wonderful result.

How do you combat this problem?

There are two aspects to the Quick Tip for today, and they specifically relate to “how you can combat this problem”.

  1. Good black and white photography usually results from good directional lighting.
  2. Good lighting helps to create “color contrast” by creating highlights, shadows, and varying brightness levels in-between.

Now… remember… you also have some control over how the color content of an image will convert to black and white while using your software as you make that conversion. But that ability has limitations.

By having good lighting, with a good range of color contrast, you start the conversion process with a better “base” to work with.

We will cover the other three cornerstone attributes in future Quick Tips!

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About Kent DuFault

About Kent DuFault

Kent DuFault became a photographer in September of 1974. He took a “Basic Photography” class in high school and was hooked for life. His best-selling guide, Better Black & White has helped thousands of photographers worldwide learn and master the art of B&W Photography.

Who is Photzy™ ?

Great question! Photzy.com is an online photography school with a focus on simple, practical tips and tutorials, for beginners.

Since 2012, we’ve grown to a small team of photography enthusiasts from all over the world, teaching over 200,000 students from 180 countries. No matter where your current skill level is, we’d like to help you explore your unique creative side, through photography!

“At Photzy, we believe EVERYONE is creative, and that photography is the best way to explore and share your creative side with the world.”