OpenTube

Black & White is so powerful - who do so many people ignore it?

Andrew Banner

6,805 views

Is colour preventing you from taking better photos? In this video, I explore why stripping away colour can simplify your compositions and help you master the fundamental building blocks of photography: light, shadow, shape, and texture.

I’ll share the "squint method" for finding strong compositions, explain why harsh summer light is a monochrome photographer's best friend, and show you how a few simple edits in post-production (like simulating filters) can completely transform an image. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, embracing a black-and-white mindset will undoubtedly make you a better photographer.

#blackandwhite #monophotography #shadowandlight

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00:00 - Making photos
05:44 - Aerless Vacuum bags sponsorship
07:00 - Back to the photography
07:42 - Watch the highlights
10:30 - What I look for in Mono
11:11 - The Squint Method

20 Comments

@NardNebeker-v1x 1 month ago

Black and white images allow the brain to become immersed in a special way that allows you to feel the subject matter rather than being confused by colors. Tonality is everything in black and white photography and when captured correctly you have a very strong image. Great tips Andy along with great example images. Thank you.

@robertmeyerson1618 1 month ago

Learned the 'squinting' technique 50+ years ago in art school. I still use it.

@ronreid5702 1 month ago

I was taught when doing photography at uni back in the old film days that we use squinting to reduce the dynamic range of our vision so it better matches that of film, allowing you to help frame a photo that better balances light and dark. I still use it regularly today as I shoot mostly with DSLRs and it is a massive help given the lack of the visual feedback you get from an EVF.

@gavinkerslake 1 month ago

for me B&W was an important segway that really helped my photography overall.

@RandomerFellow 1 month ago

For many years, I enjoyed photographing people as a hobby. And the most powerful images were the black-and-white ones (film and photo paper).

@rickywriterone9640 10 days ago

Troubled minds are brilliant minds. Great teacher. Fabulous content. Super considered images and edits. Silver EFEX workflow vid PLEASE. Good wishes and many thanks for your efforts producing some of the very best photo stuff on YT.

@ClaudePatrao 3 weeks ago

For me B&W has a timeless quality.

@sarahneedham 1 month ago

Yesterday I went out to a local spot near to my home which I have been to several times (Lacock village and Abbey in Wiltshire). All my previous photos were in colour. So I decided to shoot only in Black and White. I set my Canon DSLR to the B&W profile but shot in RAW. The profile was just so I could check the image on the screen to get a idea of what it could look like. Of course, being a DSLR meant colour through the view finder but I was OK with that. Shooting RAW then enabled me to tweak the colour channels like you did with that Tractor, to get the effect I wanted. I thoroughly enjoyed it! BTW - I really don't mind blue skies in the summer and would never let the time of year or weather conditions stop me from going out and enjoying my photography 😃

@kai_jae 1 month ago

Thanks for sharing! 👍 B&W is so much more expressive!

@I-s-a-b-e-l-l-e--S 1 month ago

Hi Andrew, I like it :)) I practise black & white so much that it's about 50% of my shots. I dedicated a button on my cameras to switch instantly between color and B&W. Thank you for the video :))

@Arripa-777 1 month ago

Thank you Andrew. I enjoyed the video very much ! 📷 👍🏼

@dangilmore9724 1 month ago

Another thing you can do in B&W with digital cameras is to use Orthochromatic and Isochromatic gray scales. Gives a very different look because of how colors are being rendered in the gray scale.

@Snowy-Owl-Retired 2 weeks ago

Impressive work. Thank you for the gift of knowledge.

@trishf29 1 month ago

Thoroughly enjoyed this video, Andy. Love black and white and often take it using my OM-3 BW profiles. I agree with you, it just makes images simpler and sometimes minimalistic. Works well with flowers, but especially with ferns, backlit.

@robertmeyerson1618 1 month ago

I have my live view set to B&W. (I shoot in color and convert to mono). It helps see the composition better and simply the image. Thanks for the video.

@bernardkealey6449 1 month ago

I shoot almost exclusively on b&w film, because I find differentiation of colour hues and “temperature” too confusing/abstract for my brain to subjectively process. And oh god the arguments ….

I’ve taken note of Silver Efx to have a think how that may fit into the brand new workflow I’m about to build from scratch — about to start scanning my own negs for first time.

So thanks algo for putting this in front of me!