Everything is digital in this age, from communication to work and entertainment. In this age of multimedia proliferation, extensive use of photography and photomanipulation has garnered its own edge within the ecosystem of media sharing and entertainment. Digital photography is engineered by everything from low end camera phones to the market flooding mid level point and click cameras to the cutting edge high end Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras that produce crystal clear and stunning images that make their way both to richly interactive photo albums and large magazines that display these pictures proudly on their front cover.
Yet, even in these days of crispness and high colour densities, black and white photography is an integral part of the selfsame ecosystem that gives birth to higher and more colourful pictures. Expert photographers still agree that the texture and character given by the chiaroscuro of a black and white photograph is largely absent on colour pictures. As a black and white photograph goes back to the very basics of photographic techniques, the exploration and resurgence of this technique goes on to show that black and white photography permits for better photography – lighting, shadows, detail are all integral parts of this technique which are largely sidelined in point and click high definition photography.
The best way to shoot black and white photographs is by using a ‘raw’ colour image and working with a digital photo-manipulation software that converts this raw image into black and white colour. This way, the original moment is conserved to be reused later with different variables that can enhance the picture or the black and white final picture. Digital processes comprise of artificial filters of high to low density red, blue or green that is accompanied by a sharpening, softening or blurring of objects in the background. This is one of the best proven techniques for black and white photography.
The alternative to this is on the fly black and white photography. This permits the digital camera to take a black and white photograph while clicking the landscape itself. With this technique, the settings are adjusted on the camera itself, and the photograph appears more “natural” instead of the manipulation done on the end photograph. Clearer pictures, enhanced contrast and beautifully composed photographs are all the forte of on board black and white photography.
These methods are only the basics of the huge arena of black and white photography, and there are several more methods of working with digital black and white photography.
