How to Create an Amazing Black & White Photograph

Black and white photography is an interesting artistic styling that can really make or break an image. While original photography started out as black and white images, it seems that over the years many photographers have forgotten how to make a black and white photo. I’ve met many people who seem to think that simply converting an image to greyscale or desaturating and image is all that is required. These methods, while they do convert to black and white, do not apply the basic principle of black and white photography: Contrast.

Contrast is what makes a black and white photo truly stand out as a work of art. Strong contrast between the black shadows, the white highlights, and the shades of grey in between are the key to a beautiful black and white image. Strong highlights can make an image seem more live and friendly, while strong shadows can make an image seem more deep and brooding. Typically with Black an whites you want to avoid a large array of “middle grey” as this makes images seem bland and boring.

fix it first

White Balance

If your white balance is wrong (your picture looks blue or orange) then it is very distracting. Make a curves adjustment (if you’ve never used curves, it’s ok, we’ll make it easy). Under the channels option in the curves dialog, change it from RGB to one of the colors (red, green, blue). Click a point in the middle of the box and if your picture needs more of that color, slowly drag your mouse up. If your picture needs less of that color, slowly drag your mouse down. (In this picture, you can drag the red down, or the blue up.)



Distracting elements
Next thing to focus on is getting rid of distracting elements. Often times, some examples are telephone poles for landscapes, acne for portraits, or perhaps that shoe you left in the middle of your floor that you didn’t see when you took the picture. Editing these things out isn’t “cheating”. The purpose of editing is to make the picture look like what you saw, and often time you never see these distracting elements until you see it on your computer, because now you have time to study all the defects, and in person you were just there experiencing whatever it was you were taking a picture of.

Look at the edges
Being a photographer, you are responsible for making every part of your image look good. If there’s something weird or distracting in the corner, or along the edge, you need to see it.

Photo taken, what to fix first

  Have you ever had that picture on your hard drive you really like, but there’s something not quite right? How do you start fixing it? What do you look for?

          Now you have that cool picture from your vacation, or a cute picture you just snapped, but right now, it’s just that. A snapshot. What things do you look at in Photoshop to make it good? First thing to fix is what bugs you the most. Whether it’s a quick snap from vacation or a 6 hour photoshoot, every picture has something that needs to be fixed. But if you’re not sure where to start…

We will be telling you some beautiful tips in upcoming posts to fix your photos......
till then save those pictures, don't delete them

what? watermark! Oh!

          In a country like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh where there is no proper control over piracy, and there is no trend of getting copyrights, it is very difficult that a person publishes some photos with good resolution and those photos don't get copied.
          Also, There are certain websites, on which if you upload your photos, those photos are made available for search engines, and for download by all the world. and the photos are available for download in best resolution.
          I have seen myself people on net claiming others photos to be theirs So, for protecting your photos from piracy, i would suggest some simple steps that i have seen people applying.
          You can get a properly documented copyright, you can upload images in a bad resolution, so that if available to others, its in a bad resolution, so you may prove your ownership. Windows provide Microsoft Office Picture Manager for editing of the photos, you can re-size photos in it to given default smaller sizes as per required.
          Third thing which i have seen most common is adding a watermark on the photo, so that if someone copies, the photo will still be with your watermark. This addition of watermark makes photo a little weird, that intrigues the viewers, but is good for protecting the image from being copied.
          One thing that is in my mind and I still haven't tried it for myself is that a water mark can be removed by using adobe Photoshop, so I personally prefer the uploading of smaller size of photographs for preventing from piracy.
          Let me know your views...

Landscapes, you don't have to travel

I used to believe that one have to travel a lot to capture good landscapes and scenes, and I think that same is the belief of many of you...
     But I soon realized this thing that the landscapes are every where around us. Its just that we don't value what we have, and admire the things that are out of our approach. Do you agree?
     If you dont, soon you will after this example i am going to quote.
When you go to Karachi, you do photograph big flyovers and heavy traffic, this all seems to be a little exciting to you, but is just a mess for the residents of those places. Similarly, when a person from Karachi side goes to hilly/snowy areas, he is highly delighted to see and be in snow, but the residents of those places have to face other consequences while living there.
     Its best if you try to capture scenes nearest to you, try to explore new ways to show them. A desert can be pictured in thousands of ways..... similarly a road and a snow fall too.

Let me know of your views too. Do Comment.

Never Exploit, My request

                I have heard of that photo from many sources that was able to bring a big money to its photographer in which a starving child lying with hands, legs and belly on ground was being watched by a vulture.this was the photograph,

                It’s a very heart breaking moment when poverty or critical situation of affected persons is shown in a way that is very close to brutality, and you know that photographer suicide after one year due to haunting from photos he taken during that trip to affected areas in Saudan.

                I know, many competitions and exhibitions focus on the poverty but remember people, the poverty of a person can also be shown by the type of sleep he has, by the type of work he has, his clothes rather than what that photographer pictured

                This photography competition might also be giving the topic of poverty some day or you might be photographing poverty by yourself, what I want to say is that I want you to take a snap that conveys poverty without exploiting it.

                I hope you also happen to view that photograph and become cautious to maintain difference between conveying and exploiting.

Capture what...?

         In daily routine when you have lost your mood a little, then you surely take photographs and delete them not liking them. Don't you? :)
         At moment of such a stressed mind, i would suggest you to capture things instead of scenes or flowers. the point is that try to make things look like what they are not. try to picture a building under your fist, a tree from a friends head, a car under your feet or something like that.
        Your mind are factories of ideas, you will have to think of newer ideas and implement them successfully.
Here is what i did once,

          I hope that doing this, you will surely lose your stress and will come in a very good mood. I don't guarantee it but my hopes are high.
          Some people will not be understanding this. If someone tries to change or cool down his mood with taking snaps of flowers and/or nature scenery, he will fail, because good shots of nature can only be taken in a good mood, otherwise you won't get a good shot and this will displease you more.

Must try this some time...

Don’t do it everywhere

Photography looks like a very charming thing but sometimes some wars may break out due to this.

                You must be getting enthusiastic that how the hell can photography cause disputes. I’ll show you how!

                In functions like college parties, marriage proceedings, and others, only some designated people are allowed to take the photos for the sake of privacy.

                                                But!!!!!!

                Some people try to be over smart to take pictures at such places and happen to become the cause of the dispute.

                I have seen many such functions, of whom, the ending ceremony got sad due to such disputes.

So, Here’s a little advice and a sincere request that don’t consider every part of this universe a place appropriate for you to do photography. Let the professionals do the group photos & bridal shoot or get permission first.

                Even when shooting a landscape, architecture, a market place or anything like that, try to make sure no female comes in your photo shots.

                It is also a very good thing morally.

Professional photography is really A step ahead

Most of the photographers that use mobile cameras and get better results through editing think that they have done best of they could shoot, but here is a poke that do try photographing with a professional camera, you will surely know the things you can do.

I assure you all that the results you will be able to get with professional camera will be better than what you people get with editing your photos. By editing here i mean the color correction, auto contrast, bloom and such other edits.
Some people do other effects as sepia, brown, etc to make their dumbest photos look best. They also get some likes and supporting comments for those but in real and what is close to a real photographer's heart is that such photographers are not doing their work honestly. See this one from my point of view.

Photography is'nt hard in Pakistan

Photography is not a difficult thing in a country like Pakistan, whose culture, living standards, history, architecture, and everything else is so diverse, all you have to do is to have a good esthetic sense and a littley good camera.
    Wherever you drop your feet in Pakistan, you have lots and lots of shots to take, probably more than you can take in your time.