5 IN-CAMERA TECHNIQUES
Create monochrome masterpieces with these tried and tested shooting methods
“To improve your eye for black and white, shoot subjects that suit a specific theme”
1 Experiment with long exposures
Extreme ND filters such as the Lee ProGlass IRND 10 and Hitech ProStop IR ND 10 allow you to use exposures of several minutes in broad daylight to record motion in a scene. Moving water turns silky smooth, drifting clouds record as streaks of tone across the sky and moving elements passing through the scene – like people, boats and cars – totally disappear! These effects are ideal for creating beautiful fine-art black and white images. You’ll need a sturdy tripod, a remote release and patience, but the results will blow your mind!
2 Keep the composition simple
Cram too much into an image and instead of holding the viewer’s attention you lose it. But once you start stripping away unnecessary details and elements, you’ll quickly realise how little is really required to create a great image. Shooting in black and white is a major step in the right direction, but you can do much more using your lenses and feet. Only include what’s really needed to make the shot work and exclude everything else.
3 Be creative with exposure
In black and white photography, ‘correct’ exposure is very subjective as you can use exposure to transform the look and feel of an image and achieve the effect you have in mind. For example, by dialling in -2 or even -3 stops of exposure compensation you’ll produce a very dark, sombre image, while increasing the exposure by +1, +2, even +3 stops will lighten the tones, most likely blow the highlights and produce a delicate, high-key image. The final shot may look totally different to the subject or scene you’ve photographed, but it’s going to anyway, simply because it’s black and white.
4 To Shoot a theme
improve your eye for black and white, choose a specific theme, then look for subjects that suit it and shoot them as in-camera black and white. It could be doors, trees, cars, building details, anything that takes your fancy. Decide how many images you want to produce – 10, 20, 30 – then when you’ve achieved your goal, find a different theme.
5 Slowly does it
We normally use a shutter speed to freeze subject movement and prevent camera shake, but if you’re feeling creative, both can be used to produce fantastic black and white images. Trying panning the camera at 1/15 or 1/30sec when shooting a moving subject, to blur the background but keep the subject relatively sharp, or intentionally move the camera while shooting so everything is blurred. Experimentation is the key.