Black and white photography was my first love. I have been asked how I know what will make good black and white images. Have even been asked if I “see” in black and white before I shoot. I actually do not “see” in black and white, but before I shoot an image I observe the way the light is falling on my subject. I look for light and shadow in my work and prefer split lighting and the depth created by directional light. I’ve written about black and white film photography and I’ve written about black and white digital photography - digital image captures which I always shoot in color and then convert to monochrome. There’s a lot more to these processes than meets the eye. The effects produced and the parameters you have to work within film and digital are different, and can produce interesting results. In fact, I can see results in my digital images post-processed comparable to film photography.

My initial experience with photography of shooting on black and white 35mm film helped me to hone my composition skills. I would think more about what I was capturing in a composition - as opposed to just pointing- and-shooting and wasting a frame of 35mm film. A mentor in the craft made it clear to me the benefits of shooting in black and white film - From the timeless nature of the image to the way it enhances the mood and tones in the photo. This forced me to see what is in a frame differently - which grew my composition skills. Took it to another level with digital imaging. While there is an option in many digital cameras to shoot in black and white, as mentioned, I shoot all my images in color - and then post-process to black and white. I visualize and create my black and white images shooting in color by focusing on composition. My grey scale visualization removes the distraction of color and makes me focus on other aspects of the photo - rather than colorization. The subject, the textures, the shapes, the patterns.

When shooting film, the idea of not wanting to waste money on film and development provided me the “focus” to be a careful photographer when taking a frame. I continue to use the think twice, shoot once philosophy learned as a film still photographer using my digital cameras. Mistakes can get pretty expensive if you’re not sure what you’re doing with a film camera - so this forced me to learn quickly about what I was doing, and how to do so correctly - not a bad habit to have as a photographer, in my humble opinion.

If you are a black and white photographer - would love to hear [and see] how you create black and white images.

Posted image taken at Custer Park, South Dakota
Nikon D700
Nikkor 28-300mm VR
ƒ/4.5
50mm
1/4000
ISO 400

Black and white photography was my first love. I have been asked how I know what will make good black and white images. Have even been asked if I “see” in black and white before I shoot. I actually do not “see” in black and white, but before I shoot an image I observe the way the light is falling on my subject. I look for light and shadow in my work and prefer split lighting and the depth created by directional light. I’ve written about black and white film photography and I’ve written about black and white digital photography - digital image captures which I always shoot in color and then convert to monochrome. There’s a lot more to these processes than meets the eye. The effects produced and the parameters you have to work within film and digital are different, and can produce interesting results. In fact, I can see results in my digital images post-processed comparable to film photography.

My initial experience with photography of shooting on black and white 35mm film helped me to hone my composition skills. I would think more about what I was capturing in a composition - as opposed to just pointing- and-shooting and wasting a frame of 35mm film. A mentor in the craft made it clear to me the benefits of shooting in black and white film - From the timeless nature of the image to the way it enhances the mood and tones in the photo. This forced me to see what is in a frame differently - which grew my composition skills. Took it to another level with digital imaging. While there is an option in many digital cameras to shoot in black and white, as mentioned, I shoot all my images in color - and then post-process to black and white. I visualize and create my black and white images shooting in color by focusing on composition. My grey scale visualization removes the distraction of color and makes me focus on other aspects of the photo - rather than colorization. The subject, the textures, the shapes, the patterns.

When shooting film, the idea of not wanting to waste money on film and development provided me the “focus” to be a careful photographer when taking a frame. I continue to use the think twice, shoot once philosophy learned as a film still photographer using my digital cameras. Mistakes can get pretty expensive if you’re not sure what you’re doing with a film camera - so this forced me to learn quickly about what I was doing, and how to do so correctly - not a bad habit to have as a photographer, in my humble opinion.

If you are a black and white photographer - would love to hear [and see] how you create black and white images.

Posted image taken at Custer Park, South Dakota
Nikon D700
Nikkor 28-300mm VR
ƒ/4.5
50mm
1/4000
ISO 400

Black and white photography was my first love. I have been asked how I know what will make good black and white images. Have even been asked if I “see” in black and white before I shoot. I actually do not “see” in black and white, but before I shoot an image I observe the way the light is falling on my subject. I look for light and shadow in my work and prefer split lighting and the depth created by directional light. I’ve written about black and white film photography and I’ve written about black and white digital photography - digital image captures which I always shoot in color and then convert to monochrome. There’s a lot more to these processes than meets the eye. The effects produced and the parameters you have to work within film and digital are different, and can produce interesting results. In fact, I can see results in my digital images post-processed comparable to film photography.

My initial experience with photography of shooting on black and white 35mm film helped me to hone my composition skills. I would think more about what I was capturing in a composition - as opposed to just pointing- and-shooting and wasting a frame of 35mm film. A mentor in the craft made it clear to me the benefits of shooting in black and white film - From the timeless nature of the image to the way it enhances the mood and tones in the photo. This forced me to see what is in a frame differently - which grew my composition skills. Took it to another level with digital imaging. While there is an option in many digital cameras to shoot in black and white, as mentioned, I shoot all my images in color - and then post-process to black and white. I visualize and create my black and white images shooting in color by focusing on composition. My grey scale visualization removes the distraction of color and makes me focus on other aspects of the photo - rather than colorization. The subject, the textures, the shapes, the patterns.

When shooting film, the idea of not wanting to waste money on film and development provided me the “focus” to be a careful photographer when taking a frame. I continue to use the think twice, shoot once philosophy learned as a film still photographer using my digital cameras. Mistakes can get pretty expensive if you’re not sure what you’re doing with a film camera - so this forced me to learn quickly about what I was doing, and how to do so correctly - not a bad habit to have as a photographer, in my humble opinion.

If you are a black and white photographer - would love to hear [and see] how you create black and white images.

Posted image taken at Custer Park, South Dakota
Nikon D700
Nikkor 28-300mm VR
ƒ/4.5
50mm
1/4000
ISO 400

Black and white photography was my first love. I have been asked how I know what will make good black and white images. Have even been asked if I “see” in black and white before I shoot. I actually do not “see” in black and white, but before I shoot an image I observe the way the light is falling on my subject. I look for light and shadow in my work and prefer split lighting and the depth created by directional light. I’ve written about black and white film photography and I’ve written about black and white digital photography - digital image captures which I always shoot in color and then convert to monochrome. There’s a lot more to these processes than meets the eye. The effects produced and the parameters you have to work within film and digital are different, and can produce interesting results. In fact, I can see results in my digital images post-processed comparable to film photography.

My initial experience with photography of shooting on black and white 35mm film helped me to hone my composition skills. I would think more about what I was capturing in a composition - as opposed to just pointing- and-shooting and wasting a frame of 35mm film. A mentor in the craft made it clear to me the benefits of shooting in black and white film - From the timeless nature of the image to the way it enhances the mood and tones in the photo. This forced me to see what is in a frame differently - which grew my composition skills. Took it to another level with digital imaging. While there is an option in many digital cameras to shoot in black and white, as mentioned, I shoot all my images in color - and then post-process to black and white. I visualize and create my black and white images shooting in color by focusing on composition. My grey scale visualization removes the distraction of color and makes me focus on other aspects of the photo - rather than colorization. The subject, the textures, the shapes, the patterns.

When shooting film, the idea of not wanting to waste money on film and development provided me the “focus” to be a careful photographer when taking a frame. I continue to use the think twice, shoot once philosophy learned as a film still photographer using my digital cameras. Mistakes can get pretty expensive if you’re not sure what you’re doing with a film camera - so this forced me to learn quickly about what I was doing, and how to do so correctly - not a bad habit to have as a photographer, in my humble opinion.

If you are a black and white photographer - would love to hear [and see] how you create black and white images.

Posted image taken at Custer Park, South Dakota
Nikon D700
Nikkor 28-300mm VR
ƒ/4.5
50mm
1/4000
ISO 400

Very nice! You are getting the gray tonality to show the richness of the image. And I love it.

I have enjoyed using a camera modified to full spectrum IR and to use filters to get the look I want. The following image was posted on this site in July where I went through the steps to get a B&W image from one of these results from that camera.

For this one, I used a 590nm (red) filter, and then swapped red and blue channels. Then I did a white balance on some leaves which turned them from yellow to white. Then played with Lightroom sliders to give it an interesting look. Then converted to B&W using NIK's Silver Efex Pro and I used the WetRocks slider. Then used Denoise AI. And produced this. My goal is to have a lot of gray tones without to much into deep blacks or into saturated whites. Using IR allowed control over the look of the trees which I didn't want to have them looking too dark.

For many years I used Tri-X with Kodak HC-110 Sol. B. I also used T-MAX 100 with Rodinal. That was obviously when I was using film.
In the digital era I shoot color and then I make conversions using Affinity Photo or Topaz B&W Effects 2. My tendency is to add a small amount of warmth to the images using Color Balance in Photoshop to simulate the Agfa fiber base paper I was using for my prints.

Here are two of my images. The first one has a pre-set and it was shot in the Canaan Valley in West Virginia. The second one also shot in the same location. I tend to be simplistic with my b&w images but continue to use dodging and burning in like in the old times. Love contrast with my images when I believe they require it. Like you I watch the light and usually sidelight and backlighting are my favorites. Both give more "life" to the monochrome images.