Q&A: How to create magic black and white images

Hello my dear readers.

It is a rainy afternoon here in the office and I just looked outside and thought: the world just turned a little bit black and white. And if you are like me you love a really great black and white image. So I thought I would share my very personal recipe to a great black-and-white image.

That I am a huge fan of black and white photography is no secret. You will find it coming back everywhere on my blog and portfolio. Sometimes I think that an image can be much stronger, show more emotion or just show the essence of the moment when you take off all distracting colors. To get to my version of a perfect monochrome image these are the steps I follow.

1. Great emotion

I often find that an image that shows emotions shows them much better when they are in black and white than a colored image. To me it feels as if the emotion is shown better instead of the clothes and surroundings around the person.

2. Light

I think a great black and white image has some black and some white and not only gray. Hard shadows from dimensional light will create this strong black and white look.

3. Editing

Simply pushing the „desaturate“ button might turn a great image into a good black and white image. But I often think that more contrast and lowering the midtones of your graduation curve will add some extra depths into the image. Don’t be afraid to experiment to create your perfect black and white look. Sometimes even some grain adds something special to a black and white image.

Start playing around with light and editing (please don’t play with emotions) until your black and white images become magical.