Black and white photography is something I am trying to learn more about. I’ve always just used presets and tried them all until I find one that works, I’ve set myself the goal of really learning what makes a good monochrome image before pressing the shutter.
Part 1
ABOVE A recent shot of some Maasai Giraffes on the plains in Kenya.
I’ve always made any black and white images very grungy, high contrast and lots of sharpening. This worked for my Army photos due to the subject matter, a soldier should look grungy and mean but the same can’t be said for animals so this will be where I show my progress on this colourless journey.
ABOVE A vervet monkey looking for scraps under a bush camp dining table.
I was watching the Vervet Monkey’s searching the outside dining area at one of the Safari Camps I was staying at, living in the bush wildlife does often come through. The monkey was backlit due to it sitting at the far end of the table in shadow, trying to eat an already dead leaf. The thing that attracted me to the shot was the simplicity of it, the table legs, monkey and leaf three elements working together, it wasn’t until looking through the viewfinder I noticed the other monkey almost mirroring this one in the background.
ABOVE Three Cheetah sitting on the grasslands at Samburu.
I’m not sure about this Cheetah shot I think it is too cluttered, too many places for the eye to wander to and the Cheetahs are a bit small and not doing much. This was a shot I took in colour then tried B&W at the edit, perhaps that’s why it doesn’t work for me.
ABOVE An Elephant having a dust bath, the texture of the skin is what made me go black and white.
ABOVE The same shot shown in mono, I prefer this but I am not sure why at this stage.
At the time of shooting this Elephant I had mono in mind, the light was flat but I knew there was something there, whether I captured it I’m not sure yet. The red mud and dust are what I have a problem with, in the colour version you can see it and it makes me think of Africa but that doesn’t come across as much in the mono one.
ABOVE A Lioness shaking the rain off her coat after a shower.
I do think I like this one the stripped back colours which were only green and yellow have more contrast in mono.
Update 2
ABOVE I shot with black and white in mind, the colour version is very distracting lots of greens, yellows and harsh sunlight.
This is one of my favourite mono shots to date, I love the simplistic two tone nature of the Reticulated Giraffes pattern and the way the mountains fade off into the background giving it depth. I see a lot of mono shots that are blurred to nothing in the background so having background detail was refreshing to my eyes.
ABOVE This was also an intentional mono shot, as we drove up the hill the Common Zebras were on the horizon and the sky had clouds for detail behind.
This was shot at 1/25th second shutter speed, the slowest I could go in the bright sunlight, to accentuate the grass blowing in the wind and the movement of the tail. When I took it I thought the sky would look good if I upped the contrast but that clashed with the dreamy nature of the moving delicate grass so I dialled the contrast down a bit.
ABOVE This Northern White Rhino looked mean but was a pussycat to work with unlike its black cousins, again shot with mono in mind.
I should have shot more for the highlights of the sky on this shot, I got excited at being so close to a Rhino and at such a low angle of view. There was still enough detail on the RAW file thanks to the Sony A7RV dynamic range that I was able to bring the highlights down on the sky.
To summarise update 2 I am much happier with these shots because I took them with mono in mind rather than it being an afterthought, I’m getting slightly better at spotting a good black and white beforehand but still have much to learn about tone, contrast and form.