Level-Up Your Black & White Processing
When I mention notable photographers like Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and Michael Kenna - what pops into your mind’s eye?
If you thought “masterfully crafted fine art black and white photography,” you’d be correct.
The work of Ansel Adams and Michael Kenna specifically, along with that of Herb Ritts, greatly influenced my approach to black and white imaging going back to when I first took photography in high school. While bright, I was not the best student. I found school dull and uninspiring, excelling only in the photography courses where I studied exposure basics while using cameras like the Canon AE1 and Pentax K1000. I loved every minute of learning how to process my own film and printing images in the darkroom, secretly wishing that I could quit school and focus my time and energy on pursuing photography.
Not only did I fall in love with photography in high school, but I also fell in love with a girl the moment I saw her in our 9th-grade art class. Day in and day out, my two passions consumed me, and I pursued them with equal focus throughout high school. This girl would not only become my high school sweetheart in 10th grade but also my wife and the mother of our nine children. Both she and photography are still with me to this day - I am a lucky man. Obsessed with photography, I would spend all my time photographing everything I could, studying and mimicking the work of the masters. I would take hikes and photograph nature, landscapes, abstracts and create portraits of my sweetheart constantly, developing and printing the images in the school darkroom.
One print that I still have today is the one I made of her as part of her which she ended up using for graduation photos.
Original print I made of my high school sweetheart. Printed in 1994
Fast forward to May of 2000; I had converted my photography business to a complete digital workflow using the Fujifilm S1 Pro. While this was a good camera for the color photos I was producing for my wedding and portrait clients at the time; I was still using black and white film for my personal work. However, I was enjoying the new digital process and would spend many hours in software teasing out the best ways to process my digital color files into black and white for printing as “fine art” giclee (i.e., inkjet) prints.
One of my favorite “test” images from my first day of working with the Fuji S1 Pro
Twenty years have passed, and while I am always learning, I have found the best way to get masterful black & white results with the least amount of steps is by easily tweaking the various color channels in the “Black and White tool pallet” within Capture One Pro. Having used Lightroom, Photoshop, and many other programs over the years, I prefer the look, feel, and quality of my images when processed utilizing this program.
Black and White photography will forever stand out in a sea of color images. Its emotion, simplicity, and timelessness inspire the viewer to slow down and drink in the photograph. If you want to level-up your black and white process, please consider watching my free tutorial below.
In it, I share my effortless black and white processing workflow while editing various images within Capture One Pro. Using the minimalistic approach I share will provide you with the confidence to produce photographs you are proud to share and print.