Halloween is almost
here and you’ll be taking those traditional photos of your ghosts, goblins and
fairy princesses. A fun way to capture some Halloween spirit is to turn some of
your color pictures into black and white.
It is very easy to do using Studio J, just drag and drop your photo into
a layout, click on the Filter drop down and you can change it to Black and
White or Sepia. Using these filters is a perfect match with the new Mischief
paper. Don’t be scared – give it a try!
Here are 5 Tips for
your Black and White Photos to come out looking sharp.
Shape and Form - When looking for a good shot, look beyond the
colors in a scene and instead focus you attention on the shapes. Try to create
an interesting composition.
Contrast - Without differences in color to separate elements
in your shot, you must instead introduce contrasting shades. Use contrast to
help your main subject stand out – such as a light subject against a dark
background.
Pattern - Black and white photography gives you a much
better chance of capturing interesting patterns because it focuses the viewer's
attention on the shapes formed by the elements in a scene.
Texture - In the same way that patterns can be lost in
color photography, textures can be too. With black and white photos, the mind
no longer has that color information to work with, so it pays more attention
and focuses on the elements such as texture and pattern.
Lighting - Lighting is absolutely key to a good black and
white photograph because it affects all of the above elements - shape, contrast,
pattern and texture.
Side lighting often
produces the most dramatic black and white photos. It picks out the edges of
shapes and increases contrast by adding highlights, and the shadows it creates
add interest to the scene as well as enhancing textures and patterns.
