Guest Post: ‘Black and White Photography and The Ethics Behind It’ by Etienne Oosthuizen

When asked Gerry me to be a guest blogger on Photo-Africa I was delighted at the opportunity. Especially to be considered to be at the same level of the people that have contributed to this site before and will after me…. so thank you.

I had posted some black and white photos on my blog and I think this is what caught Gerry’s eye, these images were useless to me in color so I changed them to black and white to get a stronger effect, but more of this later…

In the digital age most photographers will take a photograph and later convert it to a Black & White image. This process in itself has made people look at Black & white images as an afterthought, I am not saying that there is any thing wrong with this but with a little extra thought the photographs would have more impact. Changing a photograph in any way or form has been has been the center of many a heated argument in the photography world.

One of the fundamental things about being a wildlife photographer is being able to show in your photographs a true representation of what was seen out in the bush. So Removing the color from a image to create a black and white photograph is in it self digital manipulation. Now here is the big Grey area in digital photography, what can you do to your images on a computer and still show an ethical representation of the scene that you took a photograph of…

“I eagerly await new concepts and processes. I believe that the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to comprehend and control them.”- Ansel Adams forward to his book “The Negative”, published January, 1980

I personally have two chains of thought on image manipulation – documentary photography and photography as art.

If you are documenting the lives of an animal as many wildlife photographers do, and then the image must be a true representation of that animals moment in its life.

Here is a short view on how I go about it…

Generally Allowed:

- Brightness/contrast control
- Color correction
- Cropping a frame to fit the layout
- Retouching of dust & scratches

Never Allowed:

- Adding
- Moving
- Removing objects within the frame

So taking away the color within a photograph would in my view be pushing the limits of documentary photography, but B&W images are generally expected as the middle ground between documentary photography and photography as Art… but I believe that B&W photography falls under the Photography as Art so when I convert a photo, I do so to make the photo as compelling as possible… not really worried of what I can or cannot do.

But not all photographs look good in B&W. Most people when going through there photographs on a computer will play with a few images turning them into B&W images, but for the best results you need to think about these images when you taking them to get the best possible results when you convert them later.

NOTE: As a wild life photographer you are documenting the lives of your chosen subject, they should be wild and free to live their lives with out restrictions. If an image is of a captive animal then it should be stated as such….

There are key ingredients that you need to visualize in a scene to make it work as a black and white photo. What i have done in the last few weeks is go over most of my photos stored on my hard-drive and look at them again in the idea of converting them to B&W images. I am not afraid to play with these images any way or form. It about what is visually pleasing to me, and the people that look at them.

Contrast

Contrast is really important, as your eye will naturally considerate on the various colors within the scene. But you need to look at the dark and light areas. What is the contrast between these areas and just as important is the shades between the lightest light and the darkest dark. The clearer the distinction the more impact your image will have.

Light

Key ingredient in any photograph and this is linked to contrast. But more importantly from which angle is the light coming in from. Direct light will add contrast. Sidelight will highlight textures and surfaces. Backlight will point of shapes, silhouetting them.

Shapes, Patterns and Textures

This is an area where a color photograph looses out on, as the different shapes in an image would probably be of a different color highlighting that way. but patterns and textures in a B&W photo really come to life.

Some tips to help when taking a B&W photo…

- Shoot in RAW: This offers the Superior control when an image is converted to B&W
- Shoot in color: Do the conversion on you computer – its just better but you need to think about it in your head as a black and white image when pressing the shutter button down.
- Low ISO: Even though a B&W image can be more forgiving when it comes to noise – try to keep it down and much as possible
- When to shoot : I found I get the best results during the gap of morning tea and afternoon tea, this a time of day when contrast is at its highest, but remember there must be shades between the lightest light and the darkest dark.

So I suggest going through your hard drive and converting a few images, as a starting point select the photos that where taken when the sun was high in the sky…. and don’t be scared by what people will say about digital alterations, the technology is there use it, just be able to admit it.

Etienne Oosthuizen

Etienne’s Links:

- Website: Photographic Africa
- Blog: Photography Africa Blog