Chair in Durbuy, Belgium (2016)
One of the basic lessons in photography is to try to find contrasts. Instructors tell us to find contrasting colors; contrasting shapes; and contrasting sizes, to name just a few. For photographers who specialize in black and white, the job of finding contrasts becomes even more of a challenge. This is because we have to train our eyes to disregard color and just see the luminance, or brightness, values of a scene.
There isn’t any easy method of learning this other than to just make many photos and train yourself to see the luminance rather than colors. The process to train yourself to do this isn’t particularly quick, but it’s a necessary first step to be make effective black and white photos. Once you train your eyes to see in this way, you’ll see that your photos suddenly have much more contrast, even before any processing, than they did before.
The photo above is an example. My family and I were walking along the pretty streets of Durbuy, Belgium when we came across this small chair outside of a store. What I noticed is the stark white of the sheep wool chair cover, the darkness of the chair and the varied shades of the cobblestone. The varied luminance (brightness) values of the various elements of the scene, coupled with the high luminance of the chair cover makes for an effective black and white shot. The simplicity of the subject and diagonal composition help draw the viewer into the scene.
The next time you are out, try to look for the brightness values of the various elements of a scene. Then make a picture in black and white mode on your digital camera to see how a black and white camera sees the scene. This will help train you to see the world in luminance values rather than in pure color.