Chances are your digital camera can shoot in black and white, but you really don’t need to use the black and white mode. It’s best to shoot in color and then during post production you can convert your photograph to black and white. Adobe Photoshop is a photo-editing software that you can use for post production.

Truth is there are times that a scene contains little substantial qualities when it comes to color. If you find no reason to show an image in color or feel as though the colors will take away from the picture, black and white photography, may be the way to go. By doing this, you remove the concern about color while still generating an image that’s full of life.

Exposure

When you approach a scene with the goal of some black and white photographs after post production, the most vital thing to consider is how you will expose it. Most normal situations contain too much contrast for your digital sensor to record a flawless reading. That’s because the variance in brightness in the highlights and the shadows is too great for each to be exposed correctly. To alleviate this issue, expose for your highlights and process for your shadows. Make sure to be careful not to overexpose the highlights in your photography to the point that you can’t see the details. The problem is that if you lose the details in your highlights, you can’t bring them back when you are in the post production phase. You have a better chance of being able to brighten your shadows during this phase though.

Camera Feature

More than likely your camera provides an exposure-warning feature when there is a loss of detail. If you see this warning on your display be sure to decrease your exposure and give it another try.

When you expose a scene for its highlights, your original photograph will probably have very dark shadows. This is okay if it serves your purpose/message. But if you want to create a black and white photograph with smooth graduation of contrast, you most likely have to brighten the shadows during post production.

Check out some of our black & white images.

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