Tips for composing black & white images

Capturing black & white images are not easily achieved if one does not understand key prerequisites that need to seek for. Below are 3 snapshots that I personally feel able to manifest the concept of mono image and outshine the colored version.

Basically a photographer need to pre-ascertain; 1) high contrast in an image, 2) existence of patterns/designs, and 3) texture within the fore or backround. These are the three vital ingredients that can make a black & white photo exquisite looking and when captured in color, looks less dramatic. Imagine the above image of a bowing shelter to be in colour where the sea colour is dull green with wash-out sky makes an uninteresting color rendition. Similarly the photograph of a lone kayak has all the textures that makes a good b&w under the silhouette

sunrise of Putrajaya. In this image the backlighting is pretty obvious and do not worry as it can easily be adjusted with (selected) levels adjustment in Photoshop. The image below presented another challenge as it lacks contrast but has all the conditions of a good black & white image. When you are confronted

with this situation, you can opt to dodge (whiten) or burn (darken) on selected parts of the image. Here you can see the bundled weeds (top) is dodged to lighter pixels and the folded attires are burnt to make a nice deep contrast. Click here if you need enlightenment on Photoshop CS3, and a good website for further reference is by KenRockwell

Next tip: Cropping for good composition