Give a different perspective to travel photos by capturing them in black and white.
MOST people capture travel photos in colour because that’s the default setting of cameras.
While places, scenery, landmarks, buildings and all things travel generally look good in colour, have you ever thought of going against the tide and taking photos in black and white?
Well, you’ll be surprised. Black and white have the ability to evoke certain moods to travel photos. Sometimes black and white are the best colours to capture that moment. They give dimension to photos.
With a little understanding of light, camera and mood, you will be able to take good black and white travel photos.
The most important element is light as it will determine the contrast level.
Here are some tips:
1. IDENTIFY HIGH-CONTRAST SCENES: The brightness of a certain area in your photo will result in other areas being in the shadows or black. In a high contrast scene, there will usually only be two areas — bright and dark.
2. OVERCAST DAY: Grey clouds can be used to create nice black-and-white photos. You can increase the contrast post-processing.
3. ARCHITECTURE: Buildings have shapes and facades. These refract light, giving nice grey tones to photos.
4. MIST OR SMOKE: These black and white elements create a mysterious mood. Apply back or side lighting, and you will enhance the form and texture.
5. SEPARATION OF SUBJECTS: Unlike colour photos, it’s a bit challenging to do this in black and white. The simplest way to separate subjects in black and white pictures is to place the bright subject against a dark background or vice versa.