"You don't take a photograph, you make it." ~Ansel Adams
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Ansel Adams - American Photographer
Born: 2/20/1902 - Died: 4/22/1984 He was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist. His black and white images of the American west have been widely reproduced on calendars, posters, books, and the internet. |
Practice Drag the photo-->> "Sunflower Field" to your desktop in order to practice converting. Check out the video below: |
ZONE SYSTEM DEFINITION:
The Zone System is a technique that was formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer back in the 1930's. It is an approach to a standardized way of working that guarantees a correct exposure in every situation, even in the trickiest lighting conditions such as back lighting, extreme difference between light and shadow areas of a scene, and many similar conditions that are most likely going to throw off your camera's metering giving you a completely incorrect exposure. |
Black and white photography can be largely boiled down to five key concepts. Developing your familiarity with them will help you take more informed black and white shots, and the same concepts can also be used to improve your color photos.
Shape and Form
When you remove color from an image you can no longer rely on it to provide interest or a focal point in a scene. This may seem obvious but it can be easy to forget. By doing away with color we also remove one of the most potentially distracting elements in a photo
When you remove color from an image you can no longer rely on it to provide interest or a focal point in a scene. This may seem obvious but it can be easy to forget. By doing away with color we also remove one of the most potentially distracting elements in a photo
Form and shape are all-important in black and white photography. When looking for a good shot, look beyond the colors in a scene and instead focus you attention on the shapesForm and shape are all-important in black and white photography. When looking for a good shot, look beyond the colors in a scene and instead focus you attention on the shapes |
Contrast
Without differences in color to separate elements in your scene, you must instead introduce contrasting shades into your black and white photos.
You can use contrast to help your main subject stand out - for example by photographing a light subject against a dark background - and also to add depth by including a variety of tones and shades in your photo.
Pattern
Many patterns, particularly subtle ones, often go unnoticed in color photos, because the colors draw attention away from the pattern itself. Black and white photography gives you a much better chance of capturing interesting patterns because it focuses the viewer's attention on the shapes formed by the elements in a scene.
Texture
In the same way that patterns can be lost in color photography, textures can be too. When we see a color photo, our mind immediately begins to identify and label the elements in the scene, meaning that we often do not really "see" the photo, but instead see our mind's interpretation of it.
When we photograph in black and white, the mind no longer has that color information to work with, and so pays more attention to elements such as texture, making them appear much more prominent.
Lighting
Lighting is absolutely key to a good black and white photograph because it affects all of the above elements - shape, contrast, pattern and texture.
When thinking about your lighting, consider how it will influence all of these factors, and choose a setup that enhances as many as possible.
Lighting is absolutely key to a good black and white photograph because it affects all of the above elements - shape, contrast, pattern and texture.
When thinking about your lighting, consider how it will influence all of these factors, and choose a setup that enhances as many as possible.
Side lighting often produces the most dramatic black and white photos. It picks out the edges of shapes and increases contrast by adding highlights, and the shadows it creates add interest to the scene as well as enhancing textures and patterns.
Examples of Black and White Photography
Part 2
- After shown how to convert to black and white with one photo, you will show your newly learned skill by doing 5 on your own.
- Use the directions provided to convert your images to the best black and white images possible.
- To be the best, they MUST HAVE areas of: pure white, pure black, and 5 to 7 various grey areas (or more).
. Pay attention to shape and form, contrast, pattern, texture and lighting. You will be turning in your top 5 black and white photographs.
- After shown how to convert to black and white with one photo, you will show your newly learned skill by doing 5 on your own.
- Use the directions provided to convert your images to the best black and white images possible.
- To be the best, they MUST HAVE areas of: pure white, pure black, and 5 to 7 various grey areas (or more).
. Pay attention to shape and form, contrast, pattern, texture and lighting. You will be turning in your top 5 black and white photographs.