3 Tips for Choosing BLACK & WHITE or COLOR | Landscape Photography

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What makes a Color image a great candidate for a Black & White image? It's a question that's discussed often and in this episode we review 3 simple tips for choosing between Black & White or Color photo editing in Lightroom.

If you enjoyed this video, please consider giving it a thumbs up and let me know what you think in the comments below - I guarantee I'll get back to ya.

Cheers!

-Mark D.

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[davesusko]

Your Nepali Coast example just gave me an idea how to save my last shoot. Thanks

[paulm]

Well done. Agree w/tips. Clever text overlays. Always shooing in raw gives you the bw/color option in post. Tip: Before post, shoot raw but enable bw camera style to get preview before releasing the shutter. Assign the bw style to a customizeable button, if your camera permits, for easy preview -- assign as toggle, if possible. Vets of the "zone system" have a previsualization edge here. Color distractions are not always easy to spot when shooting, or remove/crop in post -- had to switch to bw several times. Tee shirt again -- going to upcoming Atlanta or NY photo conferences?

[irelanddenney]

Nicely done Mark! I’ve been looking for something on this exact topic for awhile.

[troutbait]

I still think in black and white... more than I do in color, and I've actually decided I'm going to go back to my roots and shoot for black and white for a bit, "back to basics" so to speak.
Which, finally, brings me to an actual question... do you do much, if any, color adjustment in preparation for changing a shot to black and white?

[nickyfoulkes]

Hi Mark, B&W is all about shape form and texture. It is also a good test of composition, once the colour is removed then shape form texture and reflection is all you have.Simple images in the square format often work well.

[blivieriphoto]

Great suggestions. I too have issues of knowing when to convert to B&W. I generally reserve them for the harsher light images of the mid day. But just this morning I took one with great light and shadows and it looked fabulous in B&W. So I'm going to take your advice!! Thanks!

[RugbyLock]

I like to shoot B&W when I do street or in the middle of the day when the light is very strong. Unlike you I shoot it in camera in B&W (raw) so I can more easily see the contrasts. Enjoyable channel so keep up the good work.

[azizurrahaman]

Nice tips friend. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[vinravun]

The pictures you showed are fantastic! I love the one with mountain-sunset-silhouette at the ocean with the storm passing above in particular, and I think the color version conveys the mood a lot better. I am not an expert and I know it's subjective, but I have always thought there is a whole dimension that is missing in black-and-white photographs.

I agree that it helps remove distractions that certain colors cause, and enhances shades of light and the feel of textures, but getting the colors right is a challenge I like during post-processing. I only convert to BnW if the colors are so bad that they completely destroy the picture.

From now, thanks to you, I'm going to try and picture what I'm about to shoot in BnW beforehand, so that it is not something I fall back on during editing, just to salvage the picture. I hope to see more of your editing tips and workflow. Thanks and cheers!

[johncallery]

Snow in the forest. Especially if it is the first snow when you still have the contrast of the green trees and snow.

[philipculbertson]

Some questions I ask myself are: 1: Are the colors a distraction? If so, I consider BW. 2: Is the sky prominent in the image but not really a contributor to the feel/story? If so, I consider BW and make it dark. 3: Is the light too contrasty? For me a bright sunny day with harsh light often does not work well in color but can work well in BW. 4: This one you hit on as well. Is there great texture that can come out in BW such as tree bark, rocks, etc.? If so I consider BW. 5: Is there moving white water in the image? As you noted sometimes color helps but often people don't consider BW for waterfalls or rapids but I find a waterfall in BW is very dramatic and often ethereal in feel. I like doing BW waterfalls a lot and often do those.

[jacvanderspuy]

Very good content. Just a quick question from a newby. "Don't you get all the information when you shoot in raw? I.e you can add saturation in post?" Around 1;15 you said you shoot in color to get all the info? Love your channel

[ganstaboii]

What camera settings do you use for these videos?

[winston]

Your images are stereotypical and postcard quaility. If that is what you are shooting for congrats.