Flashback: My wife and I were having lunch the other day and I told her that I was having trouble coming up with a theme for Tuesday posts and she suggested “Tricky Tuesday” as a way to share some of the different tricks, tips and techniques that I’ve used over the years. Here’s another try at it…
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Black and white are the colors of photography. To me, they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.” – Robert Frank
“Life is in color, but black and white is more realistic.” – Samuel Fuller (1912-1997,) Director, The Big Red One
If you take the time to think about it, there’s more to black and white photography than simply a lack of color. Maybe I wouldn’t feel this way if all of the first photographs had been made in color but that didn’t happen and, like many photographers of my generation, I grew up admiring the works of W. Eugene Smith and other black and white photojournalists who photographed people at work, play or just being themselves. And its the black and white work of people like Smith, such as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Edward Steichen and to some extent Alfred Stieglitz really informed my work, especially during my early years when I was exploring photography.
It’s All There in Black & White
While these days black and white is seen as a creative choice, sometimes the nature of a portrait subject demands that the image be photographed in black and white. Arnold Newman’s portrait of composer Igor Stravinsky could never have been made in color and have the same impact it is has as a monochrome image. Kodachrome was introduced in 1935, so Newman could have photographed the man in color but chose black and white.
There are also some trendy aspects associated with creating images in black and white. TV and movies and fashion websites periodically rediscover black and white as a way to showcase images that look different from what’s currently being shown. Right now, many portrait and wedding photographers are telling me that they’re seeing a higher than normal demand for black and white prints than previously was the case.
Flash forward to the kind of photography I do these days: While some of it may be (hopefully) be seen, by some as artful, at this time of my life I’m not focused on creating art but instead want to create the kind of images that appeal to me. I am my work’s audience and sometimes that includes making images in black and white. For instance, I happen to think Black and white is also a wonderful media for making glamour portraits because the lack of color simplifies the image, forcing the viewer to really focus on the real subject of the photograph instead of their clothing or surroundings.
Back in the 80’s and 90’s when Mary and I owned a studio, the only way that you could (easily) make a black and white portrait was by putting black and white film in your camera. In fact, one of the first questions we would ask whenever a potential client called was, “Do you need black and white or color photographs? Nowadays, when I shoot a portrait and think I want the final image to be black and white, I put the camera in RAW+JPEG mode and set it in monochrome mode. I will get a preview of what the (JPEG) image will look like in black and white but for the finished images, I’ll convert the RAW file into monochrome later in Photoshop.
How I made this portrait: I photographed the Pam Simpson in my 11 x 15-foot (3.3 x 4.5 m) home studio using a Paul C Buff DigiBee mounted with a 40-inch (101 cm) Flashpoint umbrella that was placed at camera right. An inexpensive 30-Inch (76 cm) 5-In-1 Westcott reflector was placed at camera left for fill. The background was my studio’s (formerly) whitle wall that I used to create a high key look. The walls were painted an 18% greay after the basement was flooded.
This image was originally shot in color during the very first photo session I had with Pam. (You can see my recent shoot with Ms. Simpson—13 years after hat image was made—here.) The camera I used was a Canon EOS 5D Mark I and EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens with an exposure of 1/125 sec at f/13 and ISO 100. The color portrait was converted to color using Silver Efex Pro
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, thanks so much.
Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography is full of tips, tools and techniques for glamour and boudoir photography with new copies available from Amazon for $30.54, as I write this. Used copies start around ten bucks and the Kindle version is $19.99 for those who prefer a digital format.