La Noir Image
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All images by Daniel Zvereff. Used with permission.
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You’re a photographer that often shoots in color; and very vivid colors! So what creative choices typically make you shoot in black and white instead?
I’m not quite sure if there is a straightforward decision in my mind when working on a project that steers me towards color or black and white. I think its more of a feeling, something I can’t quite explain.
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Back in the film days, fixing a photo usually was as simple as involving burning and dodging specific areas. For the most part, that’s still what many photographers do. But it can get more involved with digital photography. Converting an image to black and white brings it back to its simple nature and gives the photographer the ability to really fine tune an image to look just the way that they want it to.
And trust me, it’s much easier than you’d think.
All images by Lachlan Walker. Used with permission. Also please remember to .
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My name is Lachlan Walker, I’m a 23 year old photographer from Melbourne, Australia. Photography is omething relatively new for me.
Up until 2 and a half years ago I’d never touched a camera in my life. It was only when I met my girlfriend, who had always had a passion for photography, that I first picked up a camera. It was an old Nikon D3000, not much good on a technical level, but it was enough to spark my interest. A few months later I purchased my first camera of my own, a Canon AE-1 Program.
This was the camera that made me fall in love with photography in a big way.
This was also the camera that gave me such an appreciation of black and white photography.
Nik Software is now free, but there are lots of other options that can help you create better black and white images for a little bit of money. Take for example: consider it the closest thing to blending Adobe Lightroom, RNI Films, and Instagram. Designed for mostly enthusiasts, Tonality had some of the same people working on it that used to produce Nik Software’s products. However, it also slates itself in a spot where it makes sense for the serious photographer since it can also function as a plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop.
If you’re using Adobe Lightroom, then you’ll want to right click an image, and choose to edit it in Tonality CK if you purchased the MacPhun Creative Kit. Otherwise just Tonality works fine. Lightroom will copy the file, create a TIFF (if you choose that, and I strongly suggest that you do) and then open up Tonality for you.
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Hey folks,
La Noir Image is teaming up with PhotoCrowd to give away two subscriptions to the magazine when it finally becomes a reality.
Check out the . Details are below.
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All images by . Used with permission.
“I wanted to show the relationship dynamic of a blue collar man and his white collar girl.” says photographer Nathan Hostetter when he emailed La Noir Image to showcase his project. This relationship isn’t a typical one though.
"The male subject comes from the working class and is adjusting to his new upscale life, and the woman is used to getting her way. The series reflects on the man alone, and the thoughts and emotions of two people that love each other, even if they don’t always understand one another.“
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“In his images from an infrared converted camera, players’ uniform numbers and names seemingly disappear, giving a fresh slate to the upcoming season.”
Via the
Those of us who embrace the purist mentality that monochromatic images lend themselves to often end up applying it to all of our work. Indeed, black and white simplifies a scene and makes the human mind pay attention to nothing else but the shapes in a scene. Sometimes it’s tough to embrace; but with a little bit of inspiration, you’ll want to get out there and document the world in nothing else but black, white and all the shades in between.
To get you inspired, here are 10 photographers mostly shooting black and white with followings of under 10k to check out. Also be sure to follow
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La Noir Image is currently seeking funding on to take our next step as a business. For less than the cost of your weekly coffee budget, you can get a year’s worth of inspiration sent to you every month.
“Make it a black and white!”
That’s the thought that so many photographer starting out have when they can’t figure out a way to make their images better in the editing process. The truth is that yes it’s easy: black and white makes a lot of images that looked terrible in color look better immediately just through the monochrome process.
But why does it do this?
As La Noir Image moves forward as a business, we’re proud to officially announce our brand new to fund stage two of the business.
La Noir Image is looking to evolve; and in order to do so we need to become quite a bit more interactive. This interactivity can only be delivered through an e-magzine; and so we’re looking to create an app with subscription, interactivity, etc. We’re asking for $35,000 to fund the first year of the magazine. This money will go towards the monthly expenses: including paying workers fair wages, video production, app design and distribution, etc.
If funded, we can have the first issue out by the end of September.
So please, help us move forward and continue to create something beautiful. Consider funding our .
Thanks,
Sincerely,
Chris Gampat
La Noir Image Issue 0: the prototype is now free of charge.
Earlier this month, I shared my intention of making this site into a full iPad magazine. With the help of designer and an incredible team, this project is going to move forward to its ambitious next step: a Kickstarter.
Do keep in mind that this is only a prototype/proof of concept, and the actual iPad magazine will be a lot more like other e-Mags like the BJP: and therefore embrace the use of the web to incorporate videos. The content will also include essays and tutorials. But in the body of a standard PDF file, this is what we’re capable of doing.
I hope you enjoy it, and support us in the upcoming Kickstarter campaign we will launch to make the magazine a bigger and better experience.
Hi folks.
You’ve probably noticed that La Noir Image has been very quiet for the past couple of months. The reason why is because I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with it. The model of showcasing one photographer a day is kind of cool for a small site, but I’ve got plans to really grow this site and it took a lot of thinking and realization to see that what I was doing won’t work.
Over the weekend, I put together a small e-zine. With what I had and my experience of not editing a magazine in years, it was an okay attempt. But a more polished version is coming hopefully by the end of the week. I’m working with an to do it. It’s designed to work on your iPad and it’s only a PDF: not a fully working app like I want it to be. Again, the full proof of concept is coming nearer to the end of the week, hopefully.
La Noir Image is going to become an iPad magazine. I want you to curl up with it on a lazy weekend and be inspired by all the wonderful black and white photography that we showcase. But it’s going to be an ambitious project, so in the next month or so we’ll be launching a Kickstarter to get the funding that we need. It will also mean that La Noir Image grows to include things like essays, musings, a couple of tutorials, etc. But it’s all going to be centered around black and white and each issue will have a theme.
So at the moment, hang tight. The site’s in a growing pains phase right now. But if you really, really, really want to look at a not so spruced up version that I created, then ; but note that this isn’t the final version. In the final version, we’re only using the stories with high res imagery.
Thanks so much,
- Chris Gampat
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white allow me to emphasize shadows and light in my pictures. I love to give them a dramatic, cinematic feeling. Monochrome allows me to have a high level of contrast in my pictures which I like. Black and white is also a part of me. I like extremes and there is nothing more extreme than a black and white picture with high contrast.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
I see in colors but I feel in B&W. As well as when I dream. All my dreams are in black and white . I don’t remember one in color B&W can convey me . The simplicity and, at the same time, the complexity and nuances of whites and blacks can “make clear” the reality and life.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white photography is important to me because it was black and white photographs that drew me into the world of photography in the first place and when I really got into it I learned a lot about photography in general just by working in black and white. It helped me see the importance of light and that of shadows and allowed me to express emotions and moods that I was feeling.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
It’s how I see, I react to light, shape and tone more than colour and have always found this exciting, it allows us, as photographers, to interpret our environment in a way that only we are seeing.
Secondly, I’m a film photographer and darkroom printer, the two halves become one creative process and the satisfaction of looking at a carefully crafted silver print is still special. Black and white photography requires thought, consideration and work, the negative is the foundation but must be built upon. The photographer must draw upon their skill and experience but, as the printer for some of the legendary photographers Gene Nocon stated, he only encountered a couple of negatives in his entire life that printed straight with no darkroom work, it’s often the final printing that brings the picture to life. That’s why I love the balance between the two processes, I see and take photographs with the knowledge of how I will finish it in the darkroom — when I look, I see prints.
- What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black&White photography has been for me a long, slow travel, and I feel it won’t ever end. My time as a photographer is spent for the most to fulfill the requirements my clients ask for, and to teach photography, so I never have as much time as I would to develop my personal projects, and although I have the immense luck to join job and passion, on the other side my head and my heart are more and more stuffed with thoughts and wishes I can’t carry on as I’d love to.
The professional side of my work is mainly carried on in colour, but the images I shoot for myself are mainly B&W, more and more as I progress along my road, an humblest one on my own little footsteps, but always keeping an eye to those who left us really powerful work. Black&White cleans my mind, wipes out every distraction and brings my vision right in the heart of things, of what surrounds us. I wish I could remember who once said something great: “reality is in color, but life is in black and white”. I owe him so much!
That’s all: lines, volumes, tones, light itself; all you’ll ever need to get straight into what you want to express. And at the end, it’s always you, that thing to express in your pictures.
I always shoot RAW, but with the monochrome setting in my camera when I shoot for myself, just like once when I used to load my tool with Tri-X or HP5; this helps me to keep in the B&W mood I want. I don’t think that in photography some way to shoot or refine your images can be better than another: what works best for you is the right way, never forget that is just a tool, there’s only you behind it.
Nevertheless, as almost every photographer does, I find the technical side of the Force absolutely fascinating, and I try to be well up-to-date in every aspect, and that’s mainly for two reasons: first, to be confident in my tools, so to make them not get in the way, and second, to be a single, well-oiled gear with it, the more technical stuff is learned by the heart and part of you, the more free you are to go straight to the point and see and feel things in the right way.Other common habits are shut-down back monitor, P or aperture priority mode, prime lenses and the most of times the maximum aperture available. Always one camera, one lens, I never switch lenses when I’m shooting: keeping a single vision teaches me every time something new. I’m a huge 50mm, real or equivalent, field of view fan, just every now and then I like to use a 35mm, and quite seldom an 85mm; my desert island lens is definitely an f/1.2 or f/1.4 50mm, this old pal can really do almost everything perfectly.A little gear goes a long way, especially today, modern cameras are extremely complete, most of times by far more than we need.
What makes black and white photography important to you?
The importance of black and white photography to me lies in the simplicity of the overall initial image itself while allowing for complexity to emerge through the combination of the composition, lighting, and subject that each photograph reveals. It takes away the colors that we are accustomed to seeing throughout our daily life and brings about a new way of “seeing” the world we walk through each day.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
That’s how I see.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
It’s the truth. Simple as that.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white photography is timeless. Its communication at is finest, a simple way of transmitting the forms that shape our thoughts without interference. Information is available directly without any distraction, without any mood or sensation created by color. I can compose to show only what I experience in terms of light. I want others to see my truth, one I can create and that isn’t their usual.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
It is difficult to explain but more than probably the fact that most of the photographs that have really impacted me from the masters are in B&W. I read from one of them that when you photograph someone in color you get his/her dress but when doing in B&W you get his/her soul. When I first saw one of my all-time favorite photo: Sally Man – Candy cigarette () I was completely mesmerize by the expressiveness and all the story behind her eyes and behind the whole image. So, definitively B&W is getting more and more important to me because you can be even more expressive with the message you want to share with the audience. If one day I´m able to accomplish my real goal, which is to see someone crying in front of one of my photographs I´m convinced that that photograph will be in B&W :)
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
BW photography because it strips away all the unnecessary layers of distraction allowing the viewer to really look at what is going on. Not in a cursory nice color…what App did you use? kind of way but texture, light, shadow and most of all content and expression. In a meat and potatoes…. less is more kind of way. Thinking about it I was brought up in a traditional bw darkroom and that’s a hard habit to break.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white photography works predominantly well for street photography, which I do frequently on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. Taking out the colour instantaneously removes unnecessary distraction, creating a simpler outcome with more emphasis on the content of the photograph; the main idea, message and the story in it. I strive to accomplish simplicity in my photography, thus black and white greatly enhances that approach. Further to that, I shoot street portraits, both environmental and close up people shots, hence the black and white amplifies the human emotion and any expression that are conveyed in my images.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white images are the best way for me to capture what it feels like when I take a picture. The mood and emotion I felt are “why” I took the picture at that exact moment and black and white images remove the distraction of color. While I enjoy color images from others, when I’m out on my own taking pictures I’m not attracted to bright or complementary colors, I’m attracted to shadows, perspective, moods, and contrasts.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white photography just speaks to me more than color. Theres a character to it that is timeless and to me you’re able to see the focus of the image much better verse being distracted by the additional colors.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white photography plays a big part in my creativity as a street photographer. Even though I shoot in both black and white and colour I often choose the former to emphasise the emotions of the subject or highlight the beautiful light, shadows and shapes that cities provide. Removing distractions that colour can sometimes bring into an image allows the viewer to focus on the subject more. Without the choice of shooting in black and white, I wouldn’t always be able to highlight what it was that trigged me to press the shutter and capture a specific scene or subject.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
It’s important to me as managing black and white tones takes real skill, more than just pressing “desaturate” in Photoshop.
Although it could be said that anything looks better in black and white, a carefully thought and crafted black and white photo has an effect on people I can hardly see equaled by anything in colour.
I think like in any creative pursuit there will be poor examples of course. Too often photographers don’t get that it’s not just black and white but a very subtle but extensive range of tones between black and white. So they get a bit heavy handed in Photoshop or Lightroom. Pushing the contrast too far, playing around with levels a bit excessively. The result is a loss of detail in the tonality. The shot loses its richness. Although most people say the camera is just a tool and won’t make you a great photographer, I still have a belief that anyone who becomes great at what they do will want the best tools.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black-and-white photography is a challenge to the viewer to regard the image differently from color photography. It’s never an accident - it’s a signal of intent.
The ubiquity of color photography has a created dichotomy. On one hand, it’s incredible that photography is accessible and fun for anyone with a smartphone (or camera). On the other hand, with near-universal access, there is no scarcity to photography whatsoever anymore – at least in its digital form. So how does one begin to express a personal belief that their photography should be considered as special? Though differentiation. And B/W is one difference.
Granted, making a photo black-and-white can be as easy as an Instagram filter. And for some it’s an act of mimicking nostalgic memories from heir grandparents or parents. But for me, I grew up on TMAX, XP2, ILFOPAN, FP4, HP5 and many other variations of film. That is, until I was taught how to properly shoot XP2 by photographer John Ehrenclou and used it almost exclusively until I bought a Nikon D700. And even then I was immediately attracted to Nik Silver Efex Pro because it provided immediate access to a palette of B/W options and tweaks to make the looks I always wanted. Kismet. I still use it to this day.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white photography is what first inspired me to pick up a camera, shooting 35mm film. It felt like I could create my own world by removing the color, yet still remain rooted in reality, not fantasy. Unlike people who learned photography from the internet, but I took an entire semester course called The Zone System, formulated by Ansel Adams, that teaches you how to see every color, in any temperature, or type of light, as a specific shade of grey on the Zone System scale of 1 thru 10, with 5 being middle grey. With this system, you decide before you shoot, exactly which zone you want each element in a scene to be, picking the exposure for the shadow fall off, then processing the film with a specific temperature for the highlights. This also continues on to the printing, which is super tedious and nerve racking if you don’t actually obsess over this stuff. Ansel Adams said once that you only truly know the Zone System when you can put your toast in the correct zone everyday, so I of course had to do this. With digital however, you are really only concerned with Zones III thru VII. All of this analysis was really what taught me the most about seeing and creating images. Even though I don’t use this anymore, I still unconsciously consider it when I shoot, and it is really the basis of understanding color as well.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and White photography is important to me because it makes me focus on ALL the components of an image. I see light, texture,shape and patterns more easily when I am not distracted by layers of color.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
I felt an intrinsic link to black and white photography from a young age, stemming from an exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work that appeared in Edinburgh’s Gallery of Modern Art. Like so many others, I was drawn to the aesthetic he created and how his use of monochrome allowed the viewer to focus on tiny details within the image, or the purely human element, without distraction.
There’s a transgressive quality to a gritty, contrasty black and white shot that colour cannot match. Indeed, in a colourful and vibrant world, reducing an image or scene back to monochrome can tell a much more blunt yet textural story. A Thai street food market, a Scottish arts festival or a busy Parisian neighbourhood can all be drawn into sharp focus through black and white photography, without the potential for unnecessary clutter within the image. Simultaneously, it’s unforgiving and requires composition skills to be on-point otherwise the end result can look like nothing interesting at all.
What makes Black and White photography so important to you?
Black and white photography is important to me because it helps create a timeless image. It is also a tremendous way to capture emotion and create a dramatic photo. I love how you can accentuate lighting and shadows using black and white as well. I believe that color only distracts from the emotions captured in a persons eyes and expression. To me B&W helps draw the viewer in and feel what the person in the image is feeling at the time. There is nothing more powerful than evoking emotion in someone through an image that I’ve created.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white is important to my music photography because of the ever-changing, uncontrollable and intense stage lighting conditions at concert venues. You don’t know what to expect from concert to concert. It’s exciting and fun, yet challenging and unpredictable. Venues are generally dark. When there is light, you often have to battle with red, blue and green spotlights that cause loss of detail in your photographs. The solution for much of my concert photography has been shooting in black and white.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
I view the world from a spiritual perspective. All that I “see” is an illusion, a reflection of my inner life, whether I am conscious or unconscious of all that makes up my inner being. Black and white is important to me because it simplifies the illusion for the moment captured, strips it down to light and dark allowing me to feel and explore those shades of gray after the moment has passed.…
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black&White makes photos look special. I guess most of photographers of any kind will agree that what we’re trying to do with our work is makereality look more interesting than it really is.Black&White is great for that. It’s important for me because in spite of my fascination for colors that constitutes more than half of my work now, I still thinkb&w photographs are simply stronger.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
I love the drama of black and white images, and how they bring a different feeling to the story. There is an amazing quality of timeless in black and white photography. Shapes and shadows, lines and textures. Black and white focuses your attention on the subject and interaction within the frame. I loved shooting with Polaroid positive/negative film. Making the exposure and waiting for those precious seconds to expire, before you could pull back the positive, and swipe it with the clear coating stick, then turn your attention to preserving the negative. Photography has always been for me a labor of curiosity and passion.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white is important to me because of how it makes me work and think. It strips away all other elements, leaving me to work with what matters most: composition and subject. To me, those two qualities are vital to creating memorable, powerful photographs.…
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Well, as someone who works with light – I see the everyday world in colour, the trees the sign posts the buses, everything is bright and bold. Everything competes for attention – the world can be a visually confusing place. These days creating black and white images can provide a little bit of simple in a complex world. Black and White has that – ‘artistic’ feel that seems to provide a more character based image. People look for the story rather than the 'real world’ caught on paper.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
For me black and white allows me to see past the distraction of color and focus on the emotions of the subjects. I think it also helps the viewer focus on the subtleties of the image such as people expressions, gestures, geometry of the scene, and the beauty in the tones of light.…
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
My brain just simply works in black and white. I can see an image waiting to happen and its always stronger in black and white. Color is rarely important to what’s happening in my personal work. For commercial clients, yes, I can work with color but it never feels as satisfying or rich. I’ve got some regular clients now who have come around to allowing me to shoot an assignment in black and white if I feel it produces stronger images… and they’re always happy. …