Photography Article Black and White Book Club: week 4 (Feb. 17-23)|Photography Artist Statement

Welcome to the fourth week of our Black and White Book Club study of Michael Freeman's The Complete Guide to Black and White Digital Photography (or theBlack and White Photography Field Guide. Be sure to read the overview and week 1, week 2, and week 3 posts if you are just joining in. Everyone is welcome to participate, even without a copy of either book, but if you do have the book, you will have more to draw on during the month.

Week 4, Feb. 17-23, will focus on Creative Choices in Exposure – exploring over- and underexposure, high key, low key, high contrast, and low contrast. We will be covering pgs. 138-165/140-165 (optional processing pages: 104-121/104-119).

Creative Choices in Black and White Photography

This week we are jumping ahead to section three, Creative Choices (section two, you may remember, we are covering in optional chunks each week). Freeman starts the section by explaining that, "Possibly the greatest difference between photographing in color and photographing in black and white is in expression" (pg. 139/140). This week we will be exploring the limits of creative expression in black and white by looking at the two extremes of low key and high key images.

Freeman starts offevolved by using evaluating and contrasting numerous special photographers and their types of black and white photography, from Ansel Adams and Edward Weston with their focus on the variety of tones, to Paul Strand and his interest to the center range of grays, to Bill Brandt and Don McCullin and their high assessment pictures with extreme blacks and extreme whites. Each of these patterns is a valid approach to black and white, and the chapters recognition on methods to obtain those one of a kind seems and patterns.

Low key photo, showing the conventional left-heavy low key histogram.

Think about choosing a favorite photographer and style for the week and try to spend the week shooting and processing on this fashion. Or, take the opposite method and strive a special fashion every day and notice which one higher suits your needs in your given scene and subject. Consider sharing to your description the thought system at the back of your style and processing preference.

Freeman also provides a lot of varied examples of processing options for the same image, looking at the ideas of high contrast, low contrast, low key, and high key. Do you always agree with his choices about which image works 'best' for each scenario?  If so or if not, why?

For the ones with out the book, here is how Freeman describes every style:

• High Contrast: "increasing contrast is a particularly good way of emphasizing structure and form …" (pg. 150/150). A high contrast image tends to reach towards both ends of the histogram as well.
• Low Contrast: "some picture situations are obvious candidates [for low contrast]. Fog, mist, rain, indeed any softening effects to the atmosphere, has a certain evocative appeal … low-contrast images like this tend to sit well inside the scale, with no blacks and no whites" (pg. 154/154).
• Low Key: "the setting is a dark interior, with weak side-lighting that reveals enough of the subject to make it obvious, and a background that can easily go to black" (pg. 158/158).
• High Key: "For high key to work visually, it demands high contrast with a few remaining dark tones …" and "there usually needs to be some smaller, darker elements that are integral to the image" (pgs. 160-162/160-162).

Example of a low assessment situation - a foggy morning - and some area on each ends of the histogram

Think approximately trying and exploring each of those unique approaches to black and white pictures this week, or choose one to clearly recognition in on.

Delving in to "Digital Monochrome" chapters

This week's optional section on digital processing takes a look at the process of converting color images to black and white using colors and hues (pages 104-121/104-119).

Freeman explains how we intuitively 'see' hues as having positive values in black and white, and so there are conversions that make greater 'feel' to our brains when we are looking to translate what we see in black and white. There is a short dialogue of using shade filters in black and white photography, which suits in with what lots of us were coming across while exploring the variations between unique shade channels and how colours and shades are recorded.

More of an overexposed photograph than traditional excessive key, but you may see the excessive key histogram.

Freeman then explores several exceptional processing examples, looking at how differential treatment of the extraordinary hue sliders may have a dramatic impact at the final picture. There are a few tips unique to a way to increase or reduce contrast in an picture, which might be of interest to those exploring high contrast or low assessment pictures this week.

Multiple Ways to Join the Book Club

Want to participate? Post a comment with your thoughts or a link to a picture you have taken for the Book Club and an explanation of how the book influenced your image. Or, you can post pictures and contribute to the discussion by joining the Photography Book Club Group on Flickr.

Parting phrases for the week, "'Full' black-and-white pictures means looking ahead to, choosing, and composing monochrome right from the begin. And the simplest way to do that is to educate oneself to think and spot in black and white" (pg. 140/142).

Agree or disagree?  Is the Book Club changing how you think in black and white?

Click right here to read the post for week 5.

Boost Your Photography: Learn Your DSLR is now available from Amazon. Get the most out of your camera with sensible advice about the technical and creative components of DSLR photography as a way to have you ever taking stunning pics right away.