Joel Tjintjelaar

1. Black and white: not always the way to go

Not everything works well in black and white. Just try to convert a picture of a sunset to B&W. The results are (usually) quite disappointing. We like certain things, just because of its color. Like said sunset. Always consider what you’re aiming for: colors or composition. Keeping this in mind, will eventually improve your pictures.

This picture wouldn’t have worked particularly well in B&W. Although the composition and tones would be good in B&W, what makes this picture is the red sun and the red sky against the silhouettes.

Sunsets don’t always look bad in B&W, it depends on the rest of the picture. What makes this picture interesting, is its many clouds.

— Black and White Photography

— Final Frontier

2. Subjects that work in B&W

People often ask me: “What kind of subjects are good for B&W?”

I usually respond by saying that anything looks good in B&W, as long as your composition and subject are good enough and if you apply a correct black and white conversion. Although I think this is very true, I believe that certain subjects always look better in B&W.

Just take a look at the work of the B&W masters. I can’t even begin to imagine Ansell Adams work in color. Or Richard Avedon’s or Yusuf Karsh’s or Edward Weston’s or Michael Kenna’s… Well, you get the picture.

Portraits, architecture, landscapes and still lifes work extremely well in B&W, as the masters have shown us. It is, however, all dependent on how you compose your image. Composition, subject and lighting first. Only when those 3 things are correct you can start worrying about the conversion to black and white.

— Ansel Adams – The Tetons and the Snake River

— Edward Weston – Pepper (1930)

3. Work on your composition

Since there obviously isn’t any color in a black and white image, you therefore won’t be distracted by the colors. This means that you’ll have to work even harder on your composition. Let me explain this.

Let’s take a look at HDR, for example. There aren’t really many HDR pictures that look ugly. We just like them because of the fantastic colors and the level of detail. But an image isn’t good, just because of the many details or the bright and shiny colors. When looking at an HDR image, we usually are very forgiving for bad compositions because the great colors and details make up for the lack of composition. This doesn’t work in B&W, since there aren’t any colors to hide the bad composition. Which is why you must work hard on your compositions.

There are some really easy tricks to improve composition, like the rule of thirds.

— Rules of Thirds

The rule of thirds state that the horizon should be on either 1/3 or 2/3 of the image. There are 4 points where the lines cross each other. At one of those points (or more) should be your subject. In this image I’ve got the posts on the upper left intersection, the soft sea on the lower left point and the rocks on the lower right intersection.

4. Make sure that the original image looks good

Before you even think about converting your image to black and white, always make sure that the original image (the color image) looks good. An image that looks bad in color, will also look bad in black and white. Do your basic corrections first, like increasing the contrast with Levels or Curves. After you’ve done that, your image will look better in black and white.

5. Experiment with different settings on your conversion tool

There are many tools that can convert an image to black and white. Photoshop offers built in conversion tools like “Black and White”, “Calculations”, “Channel Mixer” and others. Experiment with these tools, you might get an unexpected result that you like. Save the different results and compare them. I myself don’t always know what kind of effect I’m looking for. Comparing different results, might help you choose which way you want to go with your image.

(You can read more about these conversion tools on this website under “…”

6. Study and learn from others

There are so many great photographers, now and in the past. We can learn so much from them, if we take the time to look closely at their pictures. Ask yourself questions. Why did the photographer choose this composition? Why did the photographer only light the persons face and not the rest of the body?

There are also many online communities that you can visit and share your photos. Ask for feedback and see how that works out for you. I learned a lot by looking at and imitating the masters.

— John F Kennedy portrait – Yusuf Karsh

— Joel Tjintjelaar portrait – Joel Tjintjelaar

It took me hours to take that shot. Using correct lighting, choosing a correct shutter speed, using the right diaphragm… It took a lot of trial and error, but I finally got the job down with a pleasing result. But more importantly: In that session I learned so much about the relationship between shutter speed and diaphragm. It was very valuable.

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