Best Lighting for Black and White Fine Art Images

The Guide to Black and White Fine Art Photography by Julia Anna Gospodarou

The aim of this guide to black and white fine fine art photography is to give you lot the tools to create compelling award-winning black and white photography

UPDATED 2022

This guide to black and white fine fine art photography is a compilation of the most important principles of black and white photography, or the most important guidelines for creating monochrome photography, that I created for my photography students and I now gathered into a complete guide to share information technology with you.

These principles are piece of cake to understand and they volition take your black and white fine art photography to a new level, whether you piece of work with black and white architecture, blackness and white landscapes, black and white portraits, or still life. They belong to the full general principles for creating skilful black and white photographs and do not depend on the subject matter you work with. They will requite your blackness and white photography the extra element that will make it unforgettable for the viewer.

I will exist updating this guide to black and white fine fine art photography as I discover more and better ways of creating black and white art photography, and so if you volition consult information technology in the futurity you may find fifty-fifty more guidelines or ways to produce good blackness and white photography. We are all constantly learning, and then exercise I, and this makes u.s. better artists and helps us be as close every bit possible to perfection, which is one of the characteristics of fine art photography.

If y'all'd like to be automatically updated on the changes on this article likewise as on my latest tutorials and articles y'all can subscribe to my website and you will be the showtime to know when there is new content on this website.


ane/ INTRODUCTION TO THE GUIDE TO Black AND WHITE FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Creating blackness and white photography is different from creating color photography and ane needs to exist aware of the differences in social club to be able to create good black and white photography. This stands especially for black and white fine fine art photography, where the input of the artist is much more than important than the subject he is working with, or the reality he is capturing and, by extension, the image the camera captures, which is just the starting betoken in the creation of the final black and white photograph. This is one of the main ideas we are going to focus on in this guide to black and white art photography.

Study Resources – Books and Video Tutorial

BEST-SELLING EBOOK FROM BASICS TO FINE ART – BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY - ARCHITECTURE AND BEYOND
All-time-selling book considered by experts as one of the best books on black and white photography of the past decades.

Considered "the all-time volume on black and white photography written in the last 40 years" (George DeWolfe), my volume From Basics to Fine Art – Black and White Photography is one of the best resource to written report black and white fine art photography. If you own the volume, a good starting bespeak is to read Chapter eleven: "How to see in black and white" written by myself and Chapter 12: "Dominion of Grays" by my co-writer Joel Tjintjelaar. In the book, we go beyond a simple guide to black and white fine art photography and we explain in-depth, in hundreds of pages,  which are the principles of black and white photography and what you demand to have in listen when creating your ain photographs. The aim is to produce compelling black and white images that are not merely a recording of the scene in front of us, but can also produce emotion in the viewer'due south heart. In blackness and white fine fine art photography, creation is non only about producing skilful and correctly executed and processed photographs, it is also almost producing photography with EMOTION, in other words, producing art photography.

For a more in-depth analysis of black and white post-processing and of how to meet the shapes and volumes you photo, how to interpret and return them, also as an addition to the chapters higher up you can read Chapter ten: "Photography Drawing" that you lot can partly read also on my website, where I describe my black and white processing method and this will make you understand my why I process my images the fashion I do and what I practically do to make them expect like this.

5.5+ HOURS VIDEO TUTORIAL AND 50+ PAGES EBOOK - MASTERING BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY PROCESSING - FROM VISION TO FINAL IMAGE
This 5.5+ hours video grade and ebook treating a multitude of aspects of creating a black and white fine art photo, with an accent on extensive avant-garde mail service-processing will requite you the tools that yous were searching for a long fourth dimension and will set you free as a blackness and white photography artist.

The second adept resource for studying art black and white photography is my video course Mastering Black and White Photography Processing –  From Vision to Final Paradigm that comes together with the eBook "Ultimate Guide to Black and White Fine Fine art Photography", a form that analyses in-depth my personal processing method for creating three-dimensionality in photography that I call Photography Drawing.

2.5+ Hours VIDEO TUTORIAL AND 50+ pages EBOOK (Second Edition 2021) - CREATING (EN)VISIONOGRAPHY LONG EXPOSURE, FINE ART, ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHY
In this 2.five+ hours long video and ebook, I volition take you on a journey about art photography, long exposure, architecture photography – in a word, what I call (en)Visionography™ – and I will give you the tools to start creating MORE than photography.

A 3rd good resource for studying art black and white photography is my video tutorial Long Exposure, Architecture, Fine Fine art Photography – Creating (en)Visionography that is accompanied past the eBook "Advanced Black and White Processing with Photography Drawing" where I present the highlights of my black and white processing workflow with my signature method Photography Drawing. The video tutorial drives y'all through the procedure of creating fine art photography, and (en)Visionography, and analyzes the ways you can express yourselves artistically from a applied point of view.

In addition to what you can study in the video tutorial and the 2 books, I will tell you a few more than things almost what to focus on when working in black and white and especially black and white fine art photography.

Since we are speaking about long exposure and since this is 1 of the techniques I utilize extensively in my photography, if you desire to learn more about it, likewise watching the video tutorial,  yous can besides read my Long Exposure Photography Extensive Tutorial that is a complete guide to this fascinating technique.

2/ VISION IN Blackness AND WHITE FINE Art PHOTOGRAPHY

Practical Guide to Discovering Artistic Vision & Creating Personal Style™ © Julia Anna Gospodarou
The Guide to Vision™ © Julia Anna Gospodarou

VISION – THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGINS

In art photography, everything starts in your mind. It doesn't beginning in the outside world, merely inside yourself, in your mind and soul. Therefore, you need to take a "black and white listen" and a "black and white soul", in the figurative sense of the give-and-take, of course – and then you can express your vision in black and white.

Of grade, you need vision to create whatever kind of fine fine art photography, but creating blackness and white photography means expressing your vision with the specific tools that brand a black and white image possible, which develop around light and the shades of grayness.

What does this hateful?

This means many things, amid which the ability to go deeper in your artistic work and access the essence of things, in order to recognize what is important in what you photograph and what needs to exist emphasized. You do that because you lot need to discover your discipline, to recognize it, to recognize your internal idea in the external world. This is how you will know which scene, subject, point of view, calorie-free atmospheric condition will be the all-time raw cloth you can apply to recreate your vision in a blackness and white photograph.


In blackness and white photography, you need to " run into in blackness and white"   This doesn't mean only seeing how the color scene in front of you volition look in black and white, in terms of grayness tones equivalents information technology in term of contrast, as information technology has been many times suggested as a manner of seeing and creating black and white photography. "Seeing in black and white" means existence able to encounter how the scene in forepart of you will recreate your vision. It means deciding what to cull and capture out of that specific scene. It ways beingness able to create the all-time basis for your processing work when capturing a subject area, so the idea in your mind, your story, can be faithfully and clearly conveyed to the viewer.


If you want to notice out more about what I mean when I talk nearly vision being the primordial chemical element when creating blackness and white photography, except for consulting this guide to black and white fine art photography, you tin can besides read Chapter 6 – "The Guide to Vision" in my book From Nuts to Fine Art – Black and White Photography, that I mentioned previously, You lot can also consult a more concise version of this guide on my website.

The Guide to Vision was created based on my long experience as a lensman, architect, and visual artist, and on studying the best examples of expressing your vision in art and photography.

three/ EMOTION AS THE Start Creative TOOL IN Blackness AND WHITE FINE ART

Secret Island © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2012
Secret Isle © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2012

When working in black and white you have to be curious and aim to unveil the hidden side of the globe, the side that exists beyond colour and beyond objective reality. You need to be bold enough to work with a very frail material: your emotions and the emotions of the viewer.

Black and white fine fine art photography is not about rigid rules and potent techniques, it is not about gear or perfect weather condition. Blackness and white fine art photography is near provoking emotion, nearly making the viewer'due south soul vibrate at the view of the masterfully handled gray tones in your image, it is about recreating the globe past using symbols and these symbols are the 256 shades of grayness in your blackness and white photographs.


By reducing a color paradigm that has millions of hues of color to a blackness and white epitome with just 256 shades of greyness, yous aim to reduce the world to its essence, to its primordial force. That force overpowers everything and makes the world go around. That forcefulness is EMOTION , as the material manifestation of Honey .


4/ LIGHT IN Black AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

From Here To Eternity © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2012
From Here To Eternity © Julia Anna Gospodarou 2012

"Let there be light…"

I'grand sure anybody knows this quote from the Bible. For me, this quote says it in the clearest style, regardless of what each one of usa believes spiritually, how important light is.


First, there was light, and so annihilation else.

Start, there was light, and then photography.


What nosotros essentially do in black and white photography is to work with low-cal and shadow. My Photography Drawing processing method (PhtD) is based on how to utilise light and shadow to render a scene, how to "draw a photograph" in society to create the epitome we envisioned and induce emotion in the viewer. If you are not familiar with this method, you tin notice more details in my volume From Nuts to Fine Fine art advertisement on my website.


Keep in mind that the first thing nosotros are interested in, in black and white photography, is light. Not colour, dissimilarity or annihilation else. l

Light is the first affair our eyes are drawn to, from the moment nosotros are built-in.
information technology is the stimulus to which our senses react almost naturally and spontaneously.
when we know this fact nosotros can utilize it in our photography to improve the fashion we communicate.


What we are interested in when creating blackness and white photography, is the light and all its gradations, the lite that nosotros capture then emphasize or even recreate in our images through post-processing. Calorie-free is what reveals the globe to united states of america, information technology is the very prerequisite of seeing and information technology is what makes photography possible. Lite is everywhere and this is why nearly of the fourth dimension we don't even think about information technology. We just detect it when it is different than usual, more beautiful or special, more extreme, or more dramatic than normal. Merely when working in black and white we should always be careful and notice the light we have in front of united states, regardless if it is a special light or manifestly common light. We accept to detect information technology, read it, interpret it, and so strive to use its total potential to create the image.


Light is the pencil that volition depict on paper the photo we create in our mind, both the light we encounter in front of us and the light nosotros create through post-processing.


5/ LIGHT AND SHADOW, AND THEIR IMPORTANCE WHEN WORKING IN Blackness AND WHITE

Waving Light © Julia Anna Gospodarou
Waving Light © Julia Anna Gospodarou

The opposite of low-cal is shadow

Shadow cannot be without light, it is its counterpart, its completion and opposite. Light and shadow are like yin and yang and they should e'er be seen, analyzed, and interpreted together, both when capturing a black and white photograph, every bit well as when post-processing a blackness and white photo. They are both very powerful tools in our hands as photographers and as (en)Visionographers, that not simply capture this light and shadow, only also re-translate information technology and then to be able to requite birth to something more than just photography, to (en)Visionography and the manifestation of our vision through the paradigm we create.


Calorie-free and shadow are our most powerful allies in creating blackness and white fine art photography because they are the footing of photography in general, they are what allows united states of america to meet in the first place, they are the first affair we see in our life so nosotros are the well-nigh sensitive to them and able to react to the emotion they can create.

By using low-cal and shadow wisely we tin recreate whatsoever emotion, in any intensity.


6/ THE GRADATIONS OF LIGHT

Types of light and shadow on a rendered volume
Types of lite and shadow on a rendered volume

This topic couldn't be missing from this guide to black and white fine fine art photography, since calorie-free is paramount in black and white photography.

When taking photographs with the intention to work on them in black and white, attempt to look at the world around you in a different mode and start with observing the variations of light on a surface, the way it transforms from lite to shadow, from bright to night, past transiting all the shades of greyness in-betwixt. Discover all the gradations it creates and how smooth or harsh this transition is, depending on the intensity of the calorie-free falling on that surface. The gradations in the gray tones will be steeper in the instance the light is harsher, creating higher dissimilarity, and smoother in the example the calorie-free is softer, creating lower contrast.


The gradations of light are what will create depth in the image and make it look three-dimensional.


The gradations of calorie-free already exist effectually united states of america in the scene nosotros photograph, but it is even more important to create them when processing the image, because they are what will make our image believable and allow the viewer to come across a 3-dimensional world in the photograph.

vii/ CREATING Contrast IN BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

Miles Davis Portraits by Irving Penn
Miles Davis Portraits by Irving Penn

Try to place a black surface adjacent to a white surface and you will run across how powerful the contrast between them will exist. It volition attract the heart immediately and will make you wait instantly at the expanse where the two surfaces meet. It will magnetize your optics and hold you "captive", looking at how these extremes of light interact with each other, until the moment you tin can find enough power to motion your optics from the point where they meet. And even if you manage to costless your eyes from this "captivity", you will nevertheless feel dizzy before you accommodate to normal tones and intensities.

Now think most information technology, and tell me if this is non 1 of the most powerful tools y'all tin can apply to attract the viewer into your photograph and then you can keep them there as long as you lot need to tell them your story. It about seems like a fox, like a manipulation; this is how powerful contrast can be in a black and white photograph. Considering of its ability, just like any other powerful tool, it should be used with measure and smartly. We don't want to overwhelm the viewer, to shock them, we want to seduce them and invite them to detect out more about our image.


If you replace the white with bright tones, and the dorsum with dark tones, you volition soften the effect, making it less aggressive, but you lot will withal keep intact the power the contrast has.


Miles Davis Hands by Irving Penn
Miles Davis Hands by Irving Penn

Using dissimilarity wisely, placing information technology in the right amount in the right places is something all famous black and white photographers take understood and used in their work and this is one of the reasons their piece of work is so striking.

At that place are many photographers whose piece of work I could bring every bit an example of how to utilize contrast, only I tin can't help but recall of Miles' Davis blackness and white portraits and hands still life photos past Irving Penn when I think of a genius use of contrast. You accept to see these photographs in large to fully understand their power, simply you tin can get an idea from the images I'chiliad showing hither too.

George Hurrell Portrait Compilation
George Hurrell Portrait Compilation

Another good example of cracking use of contrast to create powerful and atmospheric images is the Hollywood glamour portrait work of George Hurrell . Accept a expect at his work in the link and you will understand why you like so much the sometime black and white movies where you lot can see this type of contrast as well.

These are merely a few examples of keen use of contrast but if you search farther you will find many other examples in the piece of work of remarkable photographers that will exit you fascinated by the intense emotion that contrast tin can create in a black and white photograph.

viii/ Roofing THE ENTIRE TONAL RANGE BETWEEN Black AND WHITE

The Zone System and covering the full tonal range
The Zone Organization and covering the full tonal range

Now that we saw how powerful the contrast tin can exist, to draw the attention of the on-lookers let's go even further in our mission to seduce the viewer and see what is the adjacent almost important thing, once we accept created the right dissimilarity and nosotros have the viewer's attention. Side by side, you should fill the gaps between black and white and this is ane of the most important principles of black and white photography.


Your goal when processing an image in blackness and white is to cover the entire tonal range between blackness and white , by representing in the image all the in-between gray tones: the mid-grays, as they are too chosen.


You lot need to create images that accept the right amount of contrast but also cover the entire tonal range. Contrast is used to draw the attention of the viewer to the image and to the chief bailiwick, merely the mid-grays are what will retain the middle of the viewer in the image and brand them willing to explore the prototype more. Which shows how important the mid-grays are. You don't need to accept the same amount of each greyness tone, but you need to embrace all of them in your prototype.


Y'all can retrieve about the pure white and pure blackness tones as the cherry on the cake, while the mid-grays ARE the cake.


ix/ THE RELATION Betwixt Dissimilarity AND MID-GRAYS IN BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

Exuberance I © Julia Anna Gospodarou - rio-antirrio bridge patras greece
Exuberance I © Julia Anna Gospodarou

The relation between contrast and mid-gray tones is another topic that couldn't be missing from a complete guide to black and white fine art photography and that whatsoever serious black and white lensman should have in mind when creating. Let me tell yous hither a bit more than almost the mid-grays and their relation to contrast, since I've seen that many photographers have difficulty in striking a remainder between these two, and this is why this is 1 of the topics I insist on when I work with my workshop and mentoring students.

Something I have seen frequently being used as a tool to make the epitome popular, is the tendency to boost the contrast more than than it is necessary. The problem when you do this is that the outcome will exist only an image that pops, not an image that keeps you in that location exploring its secrets. Very night tones, as well as very bright ones, attract the eye because they are stiff, and this is why you need to take them and also some touches of pure white and pure blackness, considering they are the ones that depict your attention, but it is the mid-gray tones that volition tell the story and that, for me, will make a blackness and white photograph make you say wow. They are the element that will give you the dreamy look in a black and white fine fine art photo and make you want to know more than about the story.

I find the mid-grays, especially the dark mid-grays something that is on one paw very difficult to control well, and on the other hand something that can be extremely emotional and powerful and will play an important role in how y'all will experience about an paradigm.


The dissimilarity attracts you into the image, but the mid-grays will seduce and keep you there fascinated, exploring the story. If yous see information technology similar this you will know where you need to utilize dissimilarity and where to employ mid-grays.


Because I believe that y'all tin understand all-time if y'all see information technology, here are some examples of great images using mid-grays and dark mid-grays that I collected on Pinterest, and then you see what I mean. Look at the beauty of these tones, they are almost touching you physically. I'm sharing with you 3 of my Pinterest galleries with the all-time piece of work by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Clyde Butcher, three masters of blackness and white photography and of the mid-gray tones.

Ansel Adams

I'm sure yous know a lot almost Ansel, the undeniable "male parent: of black and white fine art photography. Hither is even more about Ansel Adams' work on Artsy.

Edward Weston

Another "father" of black and white art photography, here is more virtually Edward Weston'south work on Artsy. I have a special sweet spot for his nude studies.

Clyde Butcher

Besides more about Clyde Butcher on his website. Clyde is closer in fourth dimension to our generation, only his work with greyness tones is outstanding and his passion for photography is beauteous.

And here is where you can notice a collection of breath-taking images that employ mid-grays in the best way. Information technology is a sublime pleasure to look at these images. There are some of my images too in this collection and yep, I love to look at these images.

Gray Tones in Black and White Photography

Something to look for and continue in heed.


Do no forget the gray tones even when you choose to work with very contrasty images or with easygoing or high-key images. They will e'er tell the story more eloquently.


You lot can encounter in my image Ode to Black | Black Hope 5 – Persona Black below what I mean, that yous need gray tones even if you work with very contrasty and dark images, as I was doing in my series Ode to Black, a serial I created during 2012-2013, where I aimed to go as far with reducing light until I touch the limits where photography is not possible anymore.

Fifty-fifty if the greyness tones lying in betwixt black and white are at that place in a very minor corporeality, as in a easygoing or a high-key image, you still demand to encompass the unabridged tonal range in your paradigm in gild to make the image believable and realistic from the point of view of the calorie-free you create in it, and not only a graphical representation, as it would go if you lot only used high dissimilarity but not plenty filling with gray tones.

Ode to Black | Black Hope V - Persona Black © Julia Anna Gospodarou
Ode to Blackness | Black Hope 5 – Persona Black © Julia Anna Gospodarou

10/ HOW TO SHOOT Blackness AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY TO COVER THE Unabridged TONAL RANGE

When you shoot with the intention of creating a black and white photograph. try to shoot images that will already cover the entire range of grey tones, even before converting the image to B&West, meaning shooting photographs that cover many gradations of low-cal. The all-time moment to capture an image that will embrace a large tonal distribution is when the scene you are shooting is not also contrasty. You tin can accomplish that by shooting on a rather cloudy or a semi-cloudy day, when the lord's day is filtrated through the clouds. Bright sunlight can brand your paradigm seem also contrasty and may create intense shadows, which can have every bit a result losing the softness and delicacy the mid-grey tones bring.

eleven/ HOW TO EDIT Blackness AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY TO COVER THE Entire TONAL RANGE

Fluid Time IV - Vision and Making of - My Processing Workflow
Fluid Time 4 – Vision and Making of – My Processing Workflow

n the phase of post-processing, keep in mind that a very of import matter is to use the light you have to your advantage, either past using information technology as yous capture it or by modifying it in postal service-processing to suit your goals. The way you change the light in the image is by using smartly the gradations between black and white – the gray tones.


You accept to e'er think about where to utilize a certain gray tone and why – why use that specific tone and not another, why y'all need that specific intensity, what y'all want to accomplish by placing information technology in that area and not somewhere else.


Remember that white and bright tones reveal – they aid the eye concentrate on the area where they announced, cartoon the attending to them, and black and dark tones conceal – they make the areas where they appear seem less noticeable, thus less important in the hierarchy of the image. Use them both wisely so you can guide the eye of the viewer towards the areas of the image you consider more important and subdue the areas you don't need to highlight in your story or that are distracting in your image (too cluttered, besides intense, non related to the field of study etc.)

Except for reading this guide to black and white fine art photography, y'all can also spotter beneath a video tutorial I created about black and white fine fine art post-processing with Photography Drawing and generally about how to create a black and white fine fine art photo – everything near the vision, limerick and mail service-processing office of the act of cosmos in black and white.

Too, you tin can read the eBook 'Advanced Black and White Processing that comes as a bundle with my video tutorial Long Exposure, Architecture, Fine Art Photography – Creating (en)Visionography where I demonstrate my entire workflow for processing black and white fine art photography and long exposure photography.

12/ HOW TO Utilise YOUR SOFTWARE TO CREATE Blackness AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

The more control yous take over your image when working in black and white, the meliorate. This means you will rely on your software to create your images fifty-fifty more you volition rely on your photographic camera to capture them. You have to be aware of the power of this tool: your editing software. Do not be afraid to use it at its full potential.

Controlling the fashion you procedure an image is what will help you lot create fine fine art photography, in opposition to traditional photography (documentary etc.). The more than control you take over the image, the improve. You need to accept control over the way you play with calorie-free and shadow, the way you lot deal with the balance between them, and over creating the right intensities of calorie-free too equally of shadow, in order to sustain and emphasize your composition, and to reveal your subject area through enhancing the lite on it. The more than control you take over these elements, the closer yous volition be to recreating your vision about the bailiwick you chose in the black and white image you produce, the closer you lot will be to telling your story in a fashion that will move the viewer.


Use your software not only to convert an image to black and white merely to create a black and white photograph.


The prototype you start with may have null to practice with the paradigm you deliver as a final piece of work. The deviation between them has to do with your vision and using the editing software to recreate your vision in the photograph you make.

The intention of this guide to black and white fine art photography is not necessarily to get into details about post-processing, I am doing that extensively in my workshops and blackness and white photography courses. However, following I volition present to you the near of import tools and ideas related to my blackness and white mail service-processing and so you can start applying these ideas right away.

13/ WHAT SOFTWARE TO Employ IN BLACK AND WHITE FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Fluid time V - Aligning Paths © Julia Anna Gospodarou - Post-processing software- Photoshop
Fluid fourth dimension 5 – Aligning Paths © Julia Anna Gospodarou – Post-processing software – Photoshop

The software that will give you lot the nearly control over your images is Photoshop. This is the king in fine art photography because information technology is such a rich software that will allow you to edit in-depth your image. If you combine Photoshop with Lightroom and a few more pieces of software that tin be used as plugins inside Photoshop or Lightroom, you volition have even more control over your images.

Except for Photoshop and Lightroom., I am likewise using some boosted plugins that work both n Photoshop and Lightroom, equally well every bit stand up-alone programs. These plugins are Topaz Labs, Luminar, DxO and NIK Software.

Latent Equilibrium © Julia Anna Gospodarou - Post-processing software - Topaz Studio
Latent Equilibrium © Julia Anna Gospodarou – Post-processing software – Topaz Studio

The plugins I use and recommend for working in blackness and white photography are mainly the Topaz plugins: Topaz Studio with the integrated sub-plugin/filter for B&West conversion in Studio, and the new Topaz AI Bundle: Topaz Sharpen AI (sharpening, enhancing details), Topaz DeNoise AI (denoising), Topaz Mask AI (creating circuitous selections and masks), Topaz Gigapixel AI. Topaz has washed a lot these past years to develop some fantastic pieces of software and the new AI plugins they created are only exceptional, which is why I'm using them in each and every image I make. If y'all make up one's mind to work with the Topaz plugins or if you already work with them and want to aggrandize your collection, yous can use my disbelieve lawmaking JULIAG to get 15% discount on any society made from the links above.

Another plugin I am using in some cases is Luminar. Luminar has improved very much lately and the new Luminar AI version promises to become a really good tool for fine art photography. Just similar with Topaz, yous can use my discount code JULIAG to get ten% disbelieve on any order for Luminar fabricated from the link higher up.

Except for Topaz and Luminar, DxO is another software I am using with DxO ViewPoint (perspective control) DxO FilmPack (blackness and white conversion, which has many classic picture photography furnishings), and DxO PhotoLab (sharpening, denoising, detail and clarity enhancing, RAW file enhancing). DxO PhotoLab can be used as a stand up-alone application or equally a plugin in Lightroom. Sometimes I also utilise NIK Silver Efex Pro (black and white conversion) but less frequently and especially for its Control Points feature. Afterward having been acquired by Google some years ago, without getting any improvement subsequently that, NIK is at present endemic by DxO. They made some changes to improve the plugin but they could practice more so I'k hoping it will be updated and upgraded farther.

14/ MY TYPICAL BLACK AND WHITE FINE ART PROCESSING WORKFLOW WITH MY METHOD PHOTOGRAPHY DRAWING™ (PhtD)

i/ My processing workflow starts in Lightroom and DxO PhotoLab where I brand the commencement corrections and employ the starting time enhancements to the RAW file – exposure, general dissimilarity, clarity, dust spots cleaning etc.

2/ Consign the prototype equally PSD 16bit file to Photoshop where I crop the image and continue with applying further enhancements to the colour prototype.

.3/ Right the perspective by using DxO ViewPoint, especially when working on architectural photographs and so determine the framing and cropping.

iv/ Denoise and acuminate the colour photograph by using Topaz DeNoise AI and Topaz Sharpen AI.

5/ Create the main selections by using option tools in Photoshop together with Topaz Mask AI for more complex selections. In the case I demand to create complex selections or when working with mural images, I likewise use Luminosity Masks, Channel-based selections, Color hue based selections etc.

vi/ Convert the color image to black and white using about of the times the B&W conversion filter (sub-plugin) in Topaz Studio, or sometimes DxO FilmPack depending on the look I'm after.

7/ Work on sculpting the light past using my processing method Photography Cartoon (run across From Basics to Fine Art volume  and my courses for details). In this phase, I work mainly in Photoshop past using layers (uncomplicated layers or aligning layers), blending modes, gradients, dodge and fire. The manner I work on my images is past using selections to apply the furnishings I desire to create in the image. This is something you tin just do in Photoshop, or manly in Photoshop, even if other programs like Lightroom, or Topaz Studio tin can practice it too to a certain degree. Merely the subtlety of lite that I am after can but be achieved if I utilise Photoshop as the most refined processing tool to create the finish result.

viii/ Use the plugins I mentioned above in Photoshop or equally stand-alone applications, as additional tools in different phases of my post-processing, when the furnishings I can create with them are easier to obtain than by creating them in Photoshop.

15/ Decision TO THE GUIDE TO BLACK AND WHITE FINE Fine art PHOTOGRAPHY

After going through all these aspects of creating black and white photography, my advice for the photographer who wants to create this type of photography is to try to keep in mind all these principles and applied aspects of conceiving, shooting, and processing blackness and white photography and apply them in creating your own images, not but when working with certain subjects just mostly throughout your art photography work.

Ode to Black I - Self Black - Processing steps
Ode to Black I – Cocky Black – Processing steps

Information technology may be difficult in the kickoff to run across the earth through a black and white prism and to process your photographs in a specific monochrome style merely in fourth dimension and if you lot are persistent and piece of work on mastering the techniques for creating black and white photography, it volition become 2d nature and it will help you express your vision in black and white in a much more authentic and impressive way. Then you will be able to move the viewer and trigger emotion in their heart in the same way y'all were moved when you created your images.


Remember that the goal of blackness and white photography is to create and transmit emotion and to inspire the viewer to experience the same excitement you lot felt when creating your art.


I hope you enjoyed this guide to black and white fine fine art photography and that it will give you inspiration and practical tools to create outstanding black and white fine fine art photography.

If you desire to have your craft to the next level, I hope to see you soon in one of my workshops or mentoring programs.

You tin find more resources about fine fine art blackness and white photography, (en)Visionography, long exposure photography and architecture photography in my all-encompassing collection of photography tutorials. To receive my time to come tutorials directly via electronic mail you can subscribe to my website.

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Source: https://www.juliaannagospodarou.com/complete-guide-black-and-white-fine-art-photography/

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