Taking Black and White Landscapes

Taking photos of landscapes in black and white can look superb, especially deserted landscapes, or with clouds. Rain clouds in black and white over a mountain would look fabulous. You will see this when you examine closely how nature looks in black and white. A great way to do this is to start looking at the shade of the blue in the sky and switch the mode to black and white; take this shot then take another in color. Compare the two and see how that shade of blue looks in black and white. This will give you an idea of how natural colour turn into black and white, from nature. This may also give you a photo which captures more of the intensity of being there, than colour can.

I don'’t see many landscape pictures done in black and white and IÂ’m not sure why this is because black and white softens a picture , and can have the same effect on your landscape shots. Many people prefer colour when taking nature shots, and this is fine, but I do urge you to experiment with this medium too. It just gives you another creative edge and a way to break outside our comfort zones as photographers and become a "photographic artist".

A great way to get out of this comfort zone and embrace black and white landscapes is to find your preferences while taking the shots. Compare a colour landscape photo to a black and white landscape photo and just see what feelings are generated. You will notice that you donÂ’t always loose something as our minds would have us believe, we can actually gain a new insight into this scene.

To start, take two shots, one in colour and one in black and white. This is the only way you really truly learn about black and whites beauty and get away from colour all the time. Vivid colour is definitely incredibly stimulating and beautiful but so is black and white. Colour invokes energy which is why we like it. However black and white invokes a sense of calm, gentleness and can even surreal feeling depending on the scene.

My last tip I can give you is that sometimes when taking black and white subjects, like landscapes, you may have to increase the exposure to give you a little more light in the photo. Black and white can make things darker because your camera lessens the effect of color light reflection from normal color photos. So just remember that might be the case with some black and white landscapes you are taking.

Best wishes,
Amy Renfrey

www.digitalphotographysuccess.com

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