What makes an image a good candidate for B&W conversion?

Norris Cox Drill Truck. Cisco, Utah, 2013

I really like black and white images. I like to think that a monochrome image helps focus the viewer on the composition, the story, the subject. Sometimes color can actually distract!

To that end, which of your digital images would be good candidates to convert to black and white? It can be a tough decision. With time, though, your eye will begin to “see” in black and white as you shoot. In the meantime, as you learn how to see the world in monochrome, here are a few things you might look for in a potential color-to-B&W conversion (and I’ll throw out a useful learning technique at the end):

–Strong, simple composition

–Images with textures, forms, shapes, patterns, geometry, strong lines or diagonals

–A strong directional light source or interesting light and shadow interplay

–The image is already somewhat monochromatic

–A wide tonal range (Be aware, though, a B&W image doesn’t necessarily have to have the entire tonal range from pure white to pure black–it depends on the image and your personal vision for the image)

–When simplicity is important

–When color is NOT an important compositional element or if color actually distracts from your subject or your intent

–If the subject matter “fits” the concept of B&W–for example, old buildings, old cars or trains, antiques, ruins, etc.

–High contrast–which can mean that some of your mid-day color captures could look much better in B&W

A Useful Technique

An easy way to help educate your “monochrome eye” is to set up your digital camera to capture both RAW and JPEG, then also set it up to display a monochrome image on your LCD. Your camera manual will tell you how to do this. What you will then get is instant feedback on the LCD in B&W so you can see immediately if a particular capture might work when converted. You also still have the RAW image, with all the color data, which will let you create a color image or give you a lot more flexibility when converting the image to monochrome. Note: DO NOT simply set your camera to capture monochrome JPEGs and nothing else–you will be throwing away very useful data and the in-camera conversion usually leaves something to be desired–and the resulting JPEG cannot be manipulated to the same extent as a RAW file.