1 How to see in black & white
Look out for these elements when framing up your shots
You’ll be able to shoot better black-and-white images if you have an eye for what works best in the medium. Examine the oeuvre of any renowned black-and-white photographer, past or present, and you’ll soon spot recurring elements in their images.
With the distraction of colour removed, shape, form, pattern and texture take on added significance in black-and-white photography. (We’ll look at the role played by tone on page 44.)
1 Shape
Shape describes the appearance of a subject in two dimensions. Identifying the shape of subjects, and knowing how best to arrange them in your images, will really help to improve your photography. Turn to page 28 for a fun exercise to hone your shape recognition skills in day-to-day scenarios.
Things to look out for:
1 Leading edges
2 Contrasting tones
2 Form
This describes the three-dimensional appearance of a subject, and how its various parts are arranged. How the subject is lit, and where light and shade intersect, provide depth cues. Here, the petals of the rose lead the eye into the centre of the image.
Things to look out for:
1 Sense of depth
2 Tonal variation
3 Pattern
The distribution and repetition of shapes into patterns – whether in natural or built environments – help us make sense of everyday life. In this example of man-made patterns, taken in a Manchester street, two contrasting buildings butt up together in an interesting juxtaposition.
It’s a striking enough image in colour – but strip away the red brick and the pleasing sandcoloured ornamentation around the windows of the Victorian building, to bring it tonally closer to the Brutalist 1960s office block, and the clash of architectural styles looks even more pronounced than it did in colour.
Things to look out for:
1 Uniformity of shapes
2 Sequencing of shapes
3 Different types of shape 4 Tonal variation
4 Texture
Whether smooth or uneven, this quality describes the tactile sense of an object and invites us to reach out and touch it. In colour, this ancient Roman column features all the ageing and weathering one would expect to see, but the black-and-white version feels better suited to the subject.
Things to look out for:
1 Smoothness or roughness of the surface
2 Variation of texture
3 Tonal distribution