Visual Wilderness
  • Get Started
  • Shop
    • SPECIAL OFFERS
    • STREAMING SERVICE
    • Browse by Topic
    • Learn To Shoot
    • Post Processing
    • Online Classes
    • eBooks
    • Landscape Photography Guide
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Guest Photographers
  • About
  • My Account
    • My Account
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • 0Shopping Cart

When to convert to Black and White

January 25, 2019/in Q and A/by Lace Andersen

I consider black and white nature photography to be a very emotional interpretation of a scene. There are no vibrant colors to distract. It almost feels like a form of sensory deprivation. When the color is removed, the other senses kick in stronger and you become aware of tones, textures, shapes, and patterns. Some images convert to black and white much stronger than others. Below are some tips of what to look for in a RAW file to successfully convert it into B/W.

Black & White Nature Photography: Textures and Contrast

Black & White Nature Photography: Textures and Contrast

Muted Tones

When you think sunset is going to be amazing but it ends up being flat with no color, this is where you can salvage your time and switch to your “black and white brain”. I start looking at my environment in black and white tones. I look for the darkest blacks and the brightest whites and try to find a scene that has strong contrast in the tones. These images convert well to black and white.

Textures

Take some time to observe the textures in your location. Is there smooth sand with curves? Are there rough, jagged rocks in your foreground and wispy clouds in the sky? Look around the environment and notice the differences in the objects you can physically touch. These little variances create interest in a black and white image.

Black and White Nature Photography to bring out textures in the clouds

Black and White Nature Photography to bring out textures in the clouds.

Patterns

Look for anything that visually repeats itself. Lines carved into the sand at a beach, stripes in layered rocks, leaves that have fallen on the ground, etc. Simple nature patterns can make very dynamic intimate B/W nature photos.

Shapes

Leading lines, curves, triangles, etc. … look for these shapes because they make strong anchors in landscape photography. Look for anything that draws your eye out into a scene to visually explore it. This applies to both color and black and white images. It is a crucial element for any photograph to be successful.

Black and White Nature Photography to enhance shapes.

Black and White Nature Photography to enhance shapes.

When the Scene is Iconic or Timeless

Some nature photography locations just scream to be in B/W. One of my favorite places for this is Yosemite. It is such an iconic location that is just stunning converted into black and white. Those granite monoliths are nostalgic classics. A strong black and white image is classically timeless and rich locations like Yosemite fall into this genre.

Black and White Nature Photography to create moody photos.

Black and White Nature Photography to create moody photos.

When You Want to Convey a Particular Mood

When I’m out shooting,a dark and stormy day makes me feel heavy and moody. This is the feeling I want my viewers to experience as well. Some feelings are better conveyed in B/W vs. color. The dark and stormy picture screams for black and white. A sad dreary mood also looks stronger in black and white conversion. So you just have to determine how a scene makes you feel, as it also dictates your post-processing choices.

These are some of my tips for when to convert to black and white. My main suggestion is to just be very observant of the roll color plays in a scene. If it distracts or doesn’t add anything, usually black and white is the way to go!

About Author Lace Andersen

Lace is a full-time freelance photographer. She grew up in the farm town of Templeton, CA and majored in Graphic Communications. She started taking basic photography classes in 2008, and discovered her passion to create and be outdoors. She spent 8.5 years living on the island of Kauai, and moved to Utah at the end of 2020. When she doesn’t have a camera in hand you can find her hiking, camping, climbing, and playing sports.

Website | Instagram| Facebook | Flickr

NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY NEWSLETTER

Join 45,000+ Nature Photographers and get the free eBooks, free creativity course & discount codes right in your inbox.

loader

Note: We never share your email address with anyone. More Info.

Blog | Shop | About

 Email Policy  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms

INFOCUS NEWSLETTER

Join 45,000+ other photographers and get the Free eBooks, Free Creativity Course & Discount Codes right in your inbox.


loader

Note: We never share your email address with anyone. More Info.

All Rights Reserved, © Copyright Visual Wilderness

The Single Best Investment for Landscape PhotographyLandscape photography blog article cover by Josh Cripps5 Winter photography tips to capture stunning photos
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OK

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Learn More
NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY NEWSLETTERJoin 45,000+ Nature Photographers

Unlock Your Photography Potential! Get Free Webinars, Tips, eBooks, and More Delivered Straight to Your Inbox! 📸✨

We never share your email address with anyone. More Info.

Enter your email address