The Best Black and White Landscape Photography Techniques to improve your photos

Using these black and white landscape photography techniques, your landscape scenes will soon become some of your most dramatic black and white photographs.

These strategies will help you overcome some of the difficulties of photographing landscapes – such as, tonality, light and shadow, composition, and contrast.

Using these proven black and white landscape photography techniques, you’ll be taking striking landscape photographs the next time you go shooting!

1) DON’T Forget About Color in your Black & White Landscapes

One of the most critical black and white landscape photography techniques, is to keep you eye out for color. I know what you’re thinking...if my photo is going to be black and white, why do I need to think about color?

It’s a great question. Here’s the deal:

Just because a scene looks great in color, doesn’t mean it will look good in black and white.

How come? Well, when colors are reduced to shades or grey, they often will have the same tones, contrasts and intensity.

See the diagram below? The black and white image is the exact same image as the color one, but “converted” to black and white. See how some of the shades of grey seem to be the same, even though when you see them in color, they are dramatically different?

A yellow field of corn and the contrasting green of the surrounding fields will look dynamic against a stark blue sky, when we see it in color.

In black and white landscape photography, the colors will all “melt” into similar shades of grey, and your drama will be lost; like the black and white cube that is second from the right.

This is what I mean when I say don’t forget about color! Learn how color translates to black and white, and be aware of the tones and shades in your composition, so your final photograph will reflect the drama of the original scene.

Here’s another example:

If you're like most people, you'll like the color one better - a black and white sunset of this kind, doesn't add anything to the scene.

So thinking about color, and choosing the right subjects for your black and white landscape photography will help you take better photographs guaranteed!

Follow these links for MORE black and white landscape photography techniques!

1) Shadows and Light, Secrets of Tonality
2) Composition for Black and White Landscapes (coming January 2011)
3) Adding Depth to Landscapes – how to use a wide angle lens
4) Special Techniques for Digital Black and White Landscape Photography (coming 2011)
5) Ansel Adams zone system for digital landscape photographers