By James Booth
Not everyone has the eye for photography, particularly when they first start taking photos beyond the realm of snapshots. Black and white is an image format that can convey a lot with very little. The real catch to black and white photography is being able to "see" in black and white, and not everyone can do that, me included.
A recent visit to my sister's house showed me that in this age of digital imaging, you don't really have to be able to see in black and white in order to get good black and white images. An image that's rather mediocre in color can become an excellent artistic offering when converted to black and white. The picture in Figure A is a good example of a rather ordinary, mediocre image.
FIGURE A
A mediocre color image. (click for larger image)
This picture was taken with a Brownie 620 box camera, a glorified pinhole camera. Obviously, this image isn't going to win any awards. It has poor depth of field, isn't very sharp, the color is washed out, and it just isn't that impressive. In Figure B, the same image has been converted to black and white.
FIGURE B
Converting to black and white can help some images. (click for larger image)
Although converting this image to black and white doesn't necessarily make it a better image, it improves its palatability by making it look vintage. This image very well could have been taken when that Brownie camera was new, and not last year.
Take this next image for example. Figure C was taken with a Kodak Ektar 110 film camera in 1983 at the Booker T. Washington National Park in Hardy, Virginia.
FIGURE C
Another rather sub-par picture. (click for larger image)
This picture really isn't much to look and is a good example of how unimpressive the images taken with that format were.
Now let's make this image black and white. The setting and period attire of the subjects make you believe this image of a blacksmith and his apprentice actually could have been taken in the late 19th century.
FIGURE D
Is it a daguerreotype or a print? (click for larger image)
How it's all done
Now that I've given you a few examples of how converting an image to black and white can help make it more presentable, I'll show you how it's all done.
You'll need an image editing program. In this case I'll be using Adobe Photoshop, but there are a dozen other programs that are just as capable. If your wallet can't take the Adobe hit, which a lot of them can't, GIMP is a free Photoshop alternative that can do just about everything Photoshop can at a budget price.
Load your image into the photo editor, in this case Photoshop, and choose Image->Mode->Grayscale. This will remove all color from the image, leaving it Grayscale as opposed to RGB or CMYK. Photoshop even pops up a warning message asking if you want to remove all color information. In Figure E, you can see a screenshot of the procedure.
FIGURE E
Convert your image to Grayscale. (click for larger image)
After your image is converted, you'll want to tweak it a little. One of the easiest methods to tweak an image in Photoshop is with the automatic level adjust. Choose Image->Adjust->Auto Levels, like in Figure F.
FIGURE F
Auto Level adjust can automatically touch up the exposure of most images. (click for larger image)
Sometimes the Auto Adjust will actually make the image worse. If so, Undo that action and choose Image->Adjust->Brightness/Contrast and use the sliders shown in Figure G to adjust your image.
FIGURE G
Adjust the Brightness and Contrast to fine tune the image. (click for larger image)
When it's all said and done, your rather mediocre color image should be a much better looking artistic/vintage image, like in Figure H.
FIGURE H
The final product. (click for larger image)
This method isn't just for bad color images either. You can also turn decent images into a more artistic presentation by converting them to black and white. In Figure I, you can see a before and after example.
FIGURE I
Black and white conversion can make a good image into an artistic image. (click for larger image)
Shooting in black and white can be extremely difficult. Converting your color images to black and white is a much easier method to achieve those beautiful, artistic, black and white images. Using the techniques I've outlined above, you can take some of those rather mediocre color images and convert them into black and white art. In a future article, I'll teach you how to achieve that neat, hand-colored effect like in the popular Kim Anderson photos. Good luck and good shooting.