Black and white? Who would ever want to photograph a richly colored Autumn leaf in black and white? (That’s a rhetorical question). There was something about the way this wet maple looked the other morning on the hood of my car that just screamed “Monochrome!”

For this photo, I used a Canon Rebel XT with a Canon 28-135 mm lens fully extended in manual focus, macro setting. Macro is tough to do with most DSLRs–they’re big and bulky compared to digital point-and-shoots. (Between you, me, and the lamp post, macro shots are far easier to get with a point-and-shoot!) Regardless of what camera you use, when your focusing distance is mere inches, focus becomes critical because depth of field becomes so shallow. Getting this just right without a tripod can be challenging. (They do sell, by the way, miniature tripods for just this purpose!)

THE TAO OF BLACK AND WHITE:

Shooting black and white forces you to “see” in monochrome, i.e., to visualize the scene sans color. In this scene, I “saw” the water as dark drops of luminescent, mercurial moisture on a white canvas. To me the scene looked far more interesting this way that it would have as a simple snap-shoddy color picture.

If you think “color” when you think “nature,” then think “Ansel Adams” instead. You get an entirely new perspective when you visualize everyday objects as abstract shapes and tones instead of the familiar colorful objects they are. Seem difficult? Too complicated? Not so. It’s actually easier to make a successful black and white photograph than it is to make a color one. In other words, BW is more about a visual idea than a literal one. No one can tell you the colors are off or its out of focus–a BW photographer can always get away with saying: “I meant for it to be that way.” Do that with color, and it just looks like a bad photo!

In all candor, color photography is too much like television—it leaves nothing to the imagination. Think about the cinematography of old black and white movies. They were truly more artistic than color movies. One had to pay very close attention to contrast and form to visually create drama. That said, some people prefer color to black and white. Is one better than the other? Is one Autumn leaf better than the other? Not really–it’s simply a personal artistic preference.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BLACK AND WHITE!

There’s a book I like that I’d recommend if you want to get an idea of the range of possibilities available with black and white photography. Its called “Black & White Camera Craft” by William Cheung. It was published in 2003, and deals mainly with film, not digital. But this is okay, since as I said, we’re only concerned with the possibilities of black and white. In 2004, Cheung published another book called “Switch to Digital,” which is an interesting account of one photographer’s conversion experience. However, the main reason I bring both books to your attention is for you to see the difference between digital and film BW photography. The purpose of most photo editing software is to help recreate in digital certain film effects we’re used to seeing, e.g. dodging, burning, and adding a grainy texture. Click here to go to my Flickr site, which has many examples of black and white photography!