Life without colour. How to create stunning B/W images.

I guess it's a question of taste. And of what I got used to over the years. Most of my work I've done in colour. For me it's the colours that speak out in an image. The colours that draw you towards or even into an image. 

But recently I've started to see the fun and the beauty in black and white images. I still think it tricky to decide when to go black and white though. In our recent trip to Trondheim, I tried my hand at street photography, mainly to see how this would turn out in black and white. 

Street photography is a whole different ballgame and an artform in itself. This is one of the pictures I took in Trondheim, it's ok, but it's definately not eye-popping. Actually kinda boring. 

Just to get started I cropped it using Lightroom and did some small adjustments. Then I edited it in Tonality (mac only) and voila! A whole new picture, now the people in the picture came to life! Gone is the dull grey and brownness of the colour version! 

I love Tonality for converting images to black and white. And I think it's really cool that it has the possibility to work with layers. For those of you not too familiar with Tonality, I'll write a tutorial some time soon! 

Tonality has a good compatibility with Lightroom. So when you're done in Tonality, you can edit it even more in Lightroom. Another option is to use Silver Efex Pro to convert your images to black and white. And ofcourse you can also do it without a plugin and just use Lightroom to make an awesome black and white image. 

The end result is a picture with more focus on the main subject and the boring colors are gone. Impact is a lot bigger now.

But still: when to go from colour to black and white? The day I tried my hand at street photography it was a cloudy day. And this works actually really well for black and white. Check out some more examples of my day in Trondheim: 

The key to a stunning black and white image is the contrast and variation in black and white. Black and white is more than just two colours in your picture. Black and white is contrast, sharpness and different shades of black and white. Here's another example from Trondheim:  

 

I loved the reflection on the ground but this didn't work in the colour version of the image. Again, it was a dull image with no depth or atmosphere. When going black and white, the reflection that caught my eye in the first place, really popped out. And the whole atmosphere in the picture now reflected what I first felt when taking the shot. 

So bottomline is: go black and white for a reason. Don't cheat yourself with going black and white because you think black and white solves all that doesn't work in the colour version. This video of Serge Ramelli. has been a great inspiration to me for starting (again) with black and white. I love the way Serge explains things.

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook or 500px.

 

Keep calm and feel the blue hour

With winter just around the corner, we lose a bit of daylight time each day. In true Cruijffiaans: every disadvantage has advantages too. This change in daylight hours makes it easier to go out and shoot in the blue hour. 

The blue hour is the period just before sunrise and just after sunset. It's that time when the sky moves from dark to blue in the morning and from blue to dark in the evening.

• Nighttime (below -18°)
• Morning twilights (from -18° to 0°)
  • Astronomical Twilight (from -18° to -12°)
  • Nautical Twilight (from -12° to -6°)
  • Civil twilight (from -6° to 0°)
• Morning magic hours
  • Blue hour (from -6° to -4°)
  • Golden hour (from -4° to 6°)
• Daytime (above 6°)
• Evening magic hours
  • Golden hour (from 6° to -4°)
  • Blue hour (from -4° to -6°)
• Evening twilights (from 0° to -18°)
  • Civil twilight (from 0° to -6°)
  • Nautical Twilight  (from -6° to -12°)
  • Astronomical Twilight  (from -12° to -18°)
• Nighttime (below -18°)

Sunrise:
If you want to shoot the blue hour in the morning you gotta be on your desired location 45 minutes before sunrise. That'll leave you with sufficient time to set up your gear, because the blue hour starts approximately 30 minutes before sunset.

Sunset:
Stay put, even when the sun has just disappeared under the horizon. Blue hour during the sunset starts roughly 10 - 15 minutes after sunset.

This is an app I frequently use for checking the blue hour on my location. 

The blue hour is actually not really an hour. It's the period of approximately 30 - 40 minutes before sunrise and after sunset, depending on your geographical location and the season.

Here's some tips for shooting in the blue hour. Cityscapes, landscapes and beaches are great to shoot during the blue hour. Because these look really awesome if you use long exposure and you're not too close to a light source. Granted, that's just my 2 cents, but give it a go and see how you like it. 

To shoot the blue light, it's imperative you have a sturdy tripod preferably in combination with a remote control. Alternatively you can set your camera on the 2 seconds timer to avoid camera shake. Bear in mind that it'll probably be a bit dark when setting up your gear and setting your settings. I always make sure to bring a torch or a headlight, just for setting up. 

Here's some starting points for your settings: 

1. ISO: 100 - 200
2. Aperture: f8 - f22. Shooting with a small aperture (f16)  gives the starburst effects on the street lights
3. The exposure depends on the available light on your location
4. Last but certainly not least: shoot RAW. It gives you so much more control over the end result.

Here's a picture from the Hurtigbåtterminal in Trondheim. Just 10 minutes after the sunset.

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook or 500px.