Photography
Taking Black and White Pictures
By Desiree Chapman
Jan 8, 2005, 12:59

Since the theme for this month is black and white, I am going to talk about getting good shots with your camera.

If you shoot digital...shoot everything in color so you can always revert back to the original.   For those who shoot film...the best affordable film I can tell you to get is Kodak 400 speed. it will say C41 processing, or process anywhere. Do not get "true" black and white film because it is rather costly to develop and they have to send it off. It takes about 2 weeks to come back because they can't process it with color chemicals.
Some developers have black and white paper. Even if you shot all your pictures in your color, you can get great black and white results from this.

Now, getting to the shots..

I believe the best black and white pictures are one that have lots of contrast between light and dark. You definatly want objects that will appear black and some white, not just grey. If you shoot digital, you can play around with the contrast till you get the affect you like.  

Since it's winter, you will probably have a lot of shots in the snow..try taking some without your flash as well as with your flash to see what kind of results it gives you.  I would like to see the shots that you take in the snow along with what you had your camera set, posted in our photo gallery.

Also, don't be afraid to get close-ups. Black and White is very forgiving so you can get those close-ups with out all the imperfections showing..