Preface to the Second Edition
In the years since the first edition of Creative Black & White, photography has come a long way in terms of equipment, software, and techniques. The days of the chemical darkroom and analog photography seem almost lost in the mists of time. Simultaneously, there has been a great uptick in casual photography—by which I mean such things as selfies, selfie-bombing, and the rise of the Instagram feed. Along with this popular swelling in the interest in photography has come a deepening awareness of what might be termed “serious” photography.
Center and foremost in the techniques and concerns related to photography beyond the selfie, is monochromatic—sometimes called black and white—photography. Actually, to be a little pedantic, monochromatic is a better term technically than black and white because most digital black and white photographs today are based on color files, and may even be tinted or toned (see page 198).
Of course, I was flattered to be asked to write this revised and expanded second edition of Creative Black & White. One of the goals of this new edition is to bring the tools and techniques explained in this book up to date. This is particularly important in the realm of Lightroom and Photoshop software, and with the plug-ins that are a necessary extension of the Adobe ecosystem.
Beyond keeping current, I want to help you become a better and more creative photographer, whatever your interest level or toolset may be.
Today’s cameras will make a perfectly decent photograph when set on automatic most of the time. The same photo can be converted in-camera to monochromatic with reasonable results and the push of a menu item or two. If this is your interest level, to make interesting monochromatic images you need to think about conceptual issues: What makes an interesting image? What is a good composition? How is light related to darkness within an image?
Answering these questions is obviously a pretty tall order, even without considering gear, techniques, and software.
My goal in the first part of Creative Black & White, Part I: The Monochromatic Vision, is to help you master conceptual concerns related to good black and white photography whatever your skill level, and whatever your personal desire to get involved with the technology of photography is.
Avatar—This image is an in-camera multiple exposure, with each exposure created using studio strobes. The idea behind this technique, which is as old as the origins of photography, is to use the model’s choreographed motions to create an external shape using the positions of the model each time one of the exposures is made. Model: Muirina Fae.
Nikon D850, eight exposures combined in-camera, each exposure at 34mm, 1/160 of a second at f/8 and ISO 160, tripod mounted. Image converted to monochrome using Photoshop Adjustment layers and Nik Silver Efex Pro, with a slight sepia overlay.
Under the Yaquina Bay Bridge—This wonderful and massive art deco structure along the Oregon coast greatly appealed to me as a photographic subject, particularly when I was able, as in this image, to frame arches within arches.
Nikon D850, six exposures, each exposure at 21mm, at f/22 and ISO 64, shutter speeds ranging from 1/125 of a second to 1 second, tripod mounted. Images processed using Adobe Camera RAW, Photoshop, and Nik HDR Efex Pro, converted to monochromatic using Photoshop Adjustment layers and Nik Silver Efex Pro.
On the other hand, if you would like to master the nitty-gritty processing of monochromatic imagery using best practices, then you do need to know the software, tools, options, and concepts that are best able to help you do this. For detailed information about how to render photographs in black and white using state of the art software and techniques, please turn to Part II: Black and White in the Digital Era.
A note about the captions
Folks who have read the earlier edition of Creative Black & White have told me that they learned a great deal from looking at my images and reading the caption information about how I made them. Accordingly, the new edition will provide relevant information about every image used, starting with the title, some conceptual information about how the image was made, and then technical data. For information about how I have noted focal lengths, see pages 314–315.
As I’ve noted, much monochromatic imagery today is not really “black and white.” Essentially, contemporary black and white photography can be thought of as a postmodern riff on the historical legacy of twentieth century black and white photography.
In this light, many creative approaches take monochromatic imagery far beyond “mere” black and white conversion. To learn more about these ideas and techniques, please turn to Part III: Creative Black and White Opportunities.
Finally, no contemporary account of black and white would be complete without coverage of monochromatic imagery using that wondrous tool of the selfie-slinger, the mobile phone camera. The final section of the book, Part IV: Mobile Monochrome, provides information about how to create monochromatic imagery using your iPhone. The idea is to use your camera-in-phone to create monochromatic imagery that meets or exceeds your vision.
My goal as a photography teacher and writer about photography is to inspire and to help you become the best and most creative photographer and image-maker that you can be. In that spirit, I hope that my book, Creative Black & White, helps you along your journey, and I send you my best wishes in photography.
Berkeley, California