Black-and-white photography is where nature photography started. I am always so impressed by what William Henry Jackson did in the early 1870s, photographing Yellowstone before it was Yellowstone National Park, and that led to its preservation. And then there was Timothy O'Sullivan who shot the West around the same time. Both used huge view cameras and glass plates for "film!"
(c) Rob Sheppard
I used to shoot a lot of black-and-white when I first started photographing as a teenager and through college and beyond. I went through the view camera stage and Ansel Adams was my hero. I even had the opportunity to shoot with an 8x10-inch view camera (for those not familiar with such a beast, this is a camera that uses an 8x10-inch film, one per shot) - amazing results, but very expensive to shoot and process.
Over the years, I discovered the joys of Kodachrome and the wonderful work of Ernst Haas. I was very privileged to have a workshop with him (he must have been in his 70s at the time - amazing photographer). He did a book, Creation, that still has some of the most inspiring nature photography I know. And then the publishing industry began to favor color, so I did more of that, too.
Two things really brought me back to working with black-and-white. While I had done some such work in Photoshop, it was never fully satisfying to me. Lightroom changed this with the Black-and-White adjustment (originally Grayscale, which is a very poor name for the richness of the tradition of black-and-white) - it made conversion to black-and-white such a joy.
And then came Nik Software Silver Efex Pro. I admit that I love Nik Software products. They are among the most truly photographer-friendly software programs on the market. I know the Nik folks and I can tell you they truly care about photography and photographers, not just computers, and it shows in their software. Silver Efex Pro was the best software for black-and-white I had seen. It was both easy to use for photographers new to black-and-white, plus it had advanced features that even a long-term black-and-white photographer would benefit from.
Well, they recently introduced Silver Efex 2. I have to admit that while I knew it would be good given Nik's track record, I was not sure how they could really do much better than the first version. Boy, was I wrong. This new version is simply outstanding. There is no reason to have any other software for black-and-white work.
(c) Rob Sheppard
color version (c) Rob Sheppard
But even more, I found using the new program inspiring. That doesn't really happen that much with me. But it was. I loved what was happening with my images as they became black-and-white. Nik includes some new and phenomenal algorithms for dealing with black-and-white in their new program. Plus they include some funky looks, including cool edges, that I would never have tried without this program. I am falling in love with black-and-white all over again. If you have any interest in black-and-white at all, you must check out this program.
I do have to qualify this a little. Silver Efex Pro 2 is no magic piece of software that instantly makes any color image (or even an original black-and-white image) into a stunning black-and-white photo. Black-and-white is not that simple. Some scenes look better in color no matter what you do. And some compositions never really look good in black-and-white because the original composition is truly based on color. You have to work with black-and-white a while to understand what it can and cannot do, but have fun doing that! Play with it and see where it looks good and where it doesn't.
If you are new to black-and-white, play with black-and-white using a lot of different color images just to see what you get. Don't worry if it should be black-and-white or not. Just try it. And never base your ideas of what a color photo will look like in black-and-white based on what you see when an image is converted to Grayscale or when Desaturate is used in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. That is generally a very poor conversion. With Silver Efex Pro, you instantly see all sorts of excellent conversion styles that you can choose. That makes it really easy to get good looking black-and-white images.
If you are an old hat with black-and-white, then be prepared to be amazed by some of the new features of Silver Efex Pro 2. I can tell you that I was. Structure is a phenomenal feature introduced in Silver Efex Pro -- now you have finer structure controls. You have to experience the new amplify whites and blacks feature which really increases your capabilities in getting the most from tonalities quickly and easily. And there is more. Check it out for yourself at Nik Software.
You don't have to believe anything I have written. As I mentioned, I like Nik Software and the folks there are friends. But you don't have to take my word for this. Nik offers a free trial of a fully functional program - try it.
If you do, and if you like black-and-white photography, I think you will be in for a renewed interest in making excellent black-and-white photos!
Note: Outdoor Photographer editor at large Rob Sheppard teaches many outstanding online photo courses at BetterPhoto.com, including Impact in Your Photographs: The Wow Factor, Composition Boot Camp, and Creating Storytelling Photos.
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