Innehållsförteckning för Issue 8 från Black & White Photography The Complete Manual

Black and white photography, to many, is the essence of what photography is all about. It is considered traditional, yet has a magic that is hard to deny. Many people who have been avid colour photographers, are pleasantly surprised by how magical monochromatic work can be. It suddenly opens up new avenues of creative endeavour that can become quite captivating. Within the pages of this series of user manuals, we will cover many aspects of the craft, as well as delving into some of the more technical aspects of post-work, photo editing and conversion techniques. All helping your photography to take a big step forward into new creative areas. Master your tech @www.pclpublications.com…

“…a good wide-angle prime lens starts at around 14mm, capturing 114° field of view.” Advanced compact Advanced compacts are designed for more experienced photographers, and offer superior photographic versatility and quality, as well as advanced creative features such as manual exposure controls, manual focusing, optical viewfinders and external flash connections. They are considerably more expensive than other types of compact, with prices ranging from around £300 to over £500. There are relatively few models in this category, with examples including the Olympus XZ-2, the Panasonic LX5 and the Canon PowerShot G15. There is an even more rarefied category that has appeared more recently of advanced compacts with larger sensors. Notable examples include the Sony RX1, the Fujifilm X series and the Canon G1 X Mk2. Prices range from around £500…

While it’s quick and easy to add filters to an image during editing, you can often get better results by adding filters to the camera before taking the photo. Filters have been an essential part of photography since its very beginnings. Used creatively, they can improve a hard-to-capture scene, add an extra artistic element to an image, or just provide a bit of fun. Modern digital photo editing has provided an almost too easy method to add filter effects to an image after it has been taken; but some effects are better when applied by actual physical filters fitted to the camera when the photo is taken, and this is particularly true with black and white photography. Let’s take a look at some of the different types of filter, and…

You cannot talk about black and white photography without talking a little about the history of photography itself. The two are inextricably linked because all we had to begin with, at the dawn of the medium, was black and white. It goes without saying that the equipment and techniques we have today are a far cry from those early days when the pioneers of photography were experimenting with how to collect light, light-sensitive materials and equipment to capture and focus the image. The story of black and white photography, although cited as beginning sometime in the 1800s, actually goes back much further in history to the days of Aristotle around 384-322 BC. Aristotle understood the principle of the camera obscura (dark chamber), although at the time there was no known…

Most of the cameras mentioned on the previous pages can be used for portrait work. To be honest, if you are always going to be shooting in natural light conditions and don’t require large apertures and high ISO capability, then even the cheapest Compact System Camera will produce acceptable results. As you grow in confidence and experience as a portrait photographer, however, you may find that your once do-it-all compact camera may be lacking in certain abilities, and that non-interchangeable lens is limiting your creative choices. You’ll feel like you’ve outgrown your camera and need to step it up. This is where the Digital SLR can help. There are a number of major manufacturers such as Sony, Pentax, Olympus, Nikon and Canon. They produce a range of crop-sensor and full-frame…

The Cokin Creative Filter System A more affordable alternative to circular filters is the versatile Cokin system, which uses square acetate filters and a special screw on holder [1]. Invented by French photographer Jean Coquin and introduced in 1978, the Cokin Creative Filter System has grown to become the most popular filter system in the world, and has spawned many imitators who make filters and other accessories that are compatible with the Cokin system. The idea is very simple; rather than buying separate filters for every lens, the Cokin system has a single filter holder into which rectangular plastic filters are slotted. The filter holder is attached to the front of the lens by an adaptor ring which has a thread to match the diameter of the lens’s filter thread.…

Although we will be talking about how to train your mind’s eye to see the black and white potential of the colour world around us unaided, there is a great method that helps to kick things off and give you some rapid feedback on how your image might look in black and white. The current crop of point and shoot cameras and the more advanced DSLR’s have the facility to record images in black and white. A lot of them even have the ability to add effects and styles to the images before they even get to your computer. We want to concentrate on the very simple setting that basically turns your device into a black and white camera with the option to add simulated colour filters to affect the…

If you find you are getting serious about shooting portraits, but you have been limited to shooting with available light only, why not consider getting yourself a couple of flashes? The ability to control your own lighting is key to adding an extra level of creativity that shooting with ambient light alone can’t offer. There is a saying that if a serious photographer is shooting a portrait with ambient light alone, and standing next to him is a complete amateur with a similar camera and lens setup, chances are high that they could produce broadly similar shots (we will forego the fact that chances are equally high the amateur’s sense of composition and ability to focus accurately may have a bearing). The fact is, you may find you need something…

“It seems nothing can diminish the power and allure of the black and white image.” From its distant origins and development through the 1800s, right up to todays’ most modern digital cameras and software, the black and white image has left an indelible legacy. It seems nothing can diminish the power and allure of the black and white image. Indeed, it can be noted that some of the greatest and most iconic images ever captured, were done through the medium of black and white. From a projected image appearing within a darkened room or box, to the daguerreotype, to gelatin-silver prints, to modern day advanced digital imaging, this whole technology needed a name. The term ‘photography’ is said to have been proposed by the scientist and noted astronomer Sir John…

Choosing a camera and lens for landscape or portrait photography may seem daunting at first because there is so much choice out there. Manufacturers inundate us with features and gadgets that they tell us make their camera so much better than everyone else’s. The truth is, if you strip away all the marketing ploys and technobabble, there is a wealth of choice available for every budget and skill level. The trick is cutting through all the hype. With a little research and keeping a budget in mind, there are some great camera systems waiting for you. So dive in and begin your photographic journey. The next few pages will give the low-down on the various camera systems out there. Here are some of the things you need to know. “With…

Even though the final result is a colourless monochrome image, colour filters have a very useful role in black and white photography. Regardless of whether you opt for circular screw-on filters or the Cokin Creative Filter system, there are certain filters that you’ll want to have with you when you shoot in black and white, and ironically these are colour correction filters. Even though the final image will be in colourless monochrome, the scene you’re photographing is in colour; and by using coloured filters it is possible to alter how different colours will appear in the final image. For instance, if you shoot through a red filter, anything in the scene that is coloured red will appear brighter, while anything that is coloured blue or green will appear darker. Many…

High-key lighting was originally developed for the film and television industry back in the days when the available technology was not capable of capturing high contrast ratios. A scene that had a large range of tones from deepest black to brightest white would have been impossible to capture with old technology. So, they came up with high-key lighting. The idea is that increased lighting reduces the range of tones between black and white, or eliminates the darkest shadows altogether, making it easier to capture and display those tones that are in the image. Simply put, black and dark tones are reduced, mid-tone areas become much brighter, and bright and near-white areas are pushed to white. Over time, though, it has become a stylistic and creative option for filmmakers and photographers…

Whereas high-key photography is seen as the process of ‘shooting to the right’, where all the brightest tones are packed on the far right of the histogram. Low-key, as you might imagine, is the reverse of that. A proper low-key shot will have the majority of the tones in the histogram far to the left, even to the point where shadows are ‘clipped’ and therefore totally black. It is perfectly suited to being converted to black and white, often looking more striking than its colour counterpart. Bear in mind that, although you are capturing a predominantly dark image, it is how you control those tones that will create a striking and memorable low-key image. Because you are normally using a one light setup, it is easy to keep moving the…