Why Don't We Photograph Landscapes in Black and White More Often?

Black and white is a limitation of the technology. If color had been used from the beginning of photography, there would never have been such a thing as a choice for black and white in camera or Photoshop.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Tuesday 20 September 2022 at 10:39  | reply

Nando, by and large I agree with you. A landscape should also work in b&w. I do think that the landscape needs to lend itself to it. It doesn't always work. In the past, in the analogue era, you of course had b&w film. In addition, you could still use filters such as red, yellow, green and orange filters. Nowadays you have to do the conversion in post-processing on the PC and you can also apply digital filters then, but it is a lot more difficult to get it the way you want. At least, that applies to me.
Photographing directly in b&w with the camera is also possible, but my experience is that something like that still doesn't work satisfactorily. You still have to make a lot of corrections in post-processing.
I read your article with great interest. As I said, I agree with you by and large. But as is often the case, it is easier said than done. I used the filters mentioned above a lot in the analogue era because they determine the atmosphere. For now, in digital photography, I have not yet found a satisfactory solution for that.

Dear Nando, I completely agree with your argument. A good photo was said not to need colour in the past. In my opinion, it is more nuanced. It depends on what you want to show. Is it about the splendour of the colours, then colour of course. But often the essence lies in the character or composition of the image. Then black/white is often many times better. And just like with colour, you have to master that to do it well in the development or post-processing.
Good light, Adrie Gouweleeuw

I received my older Olympus E-M1, modified to full spectrum, about 10 days ago. In the meantime I’ve taken a series of IR photos … but still have a lot to learn.
It has struck me that with a higher nm filter (I have one of 750nm) the b&w photos of landscapes can really be made spectacular. I expect to shoot a lot more b&w landscapes in the future, albeit through IR application. Long live b&w !

I don't really agree with you that not photographing in black and white (or not wanting to) would also immediately mean that you wouldn't find Ansel Adams' photography beautiful. That overlooks the specific qualities of Ansel Adams and of the landscapes he photographed. Because of their depth and contrast, mountain landscapes are in any case almost always better suited to black-and-white photography than a flat landscape with little or no texture, depth or dynamism.

The photos you show yourself also illustrate that. Well-known Dutch landscape photography also often mainly shows photos in which the emphasis is in any case even on that texture and dynamism.

I myself have photographed a great deal here nearby on the island of Dordrecht and in the Brabant Biesbosch, especially in fog. In that case, the sparse colour present is precisely an advantage in those photos, which disappears in black and white.

I personally consider Saul Leiter a photographer par excellence who has produced fantastic photos in both colour and black and white, although not directly in landscape photography.

Black and white like back then with the zone system was fantastic, especially with the technique and manually printing on the beautiful baryta paper (who still remembers it ??) by now we work with printers and there are still some beautiful fine art papers, but we mainly want to share photos via screens (social media / phone etc.) then black and white becomes a lot less impressive after all imo. And who still prints photos on a large scale ? I don't, in any case. So it is almost always color for me (and I used to be an avid zone system photographer !!)

Fortunately, there is nothing wrong with my eyes, so I can see colors. Why pretend that you have something wrong with you and are limited in your vision. Current technology makes it possible to photograph in color.B/W is a limitation in photography. Why go back 50 years or more in time.If you're going for B/W anyway, then an analog camera with an Ilford fp4 film and a darkroom with baths and an enlarger. That is nostalgia then.

Black-and-white photography starts with a color photo edited as well as possible. A good conversion from color to black and white is preferably done in Photoshop with three adjustment layers, where the color conversion in particular is addressed. Because the opacity of each of those layers can be adjusted individually, there is enormous room to influence the texture, the dynamics and the contrast in the final image. Black-and-white editing is a technique that can produce a drab, meaningless image, but also a work of art that can in no way be a less impressive image than a color photo. That certainly does not mean that every fantastic color photo will also be able to produce a beautiful black-and-white image. In my opinion, black-and-white photography is a very valuable medium that has a place alongside color photography.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Tuesday 20 September 2022 at 18:26  | reply

@Koen from Venice, with all due respect for your opinion, but doesn't that say more about you than about the dozens of famous photographers whose work is mainly b/w photography? I think it's a shame that you feel that way. I actually think it's impressive to be able to think in shades of gray, making thinking about the right composition much more important.

Black and white is masking insurmountable presents that would be distracting in color regardless of the subject.

In other words, in black and white it still looks like something.

Glad that I get to behold the world in its full colors and capture it that way!

Donald Willemsen wrote on Wednesday 21 September 2022 at 17:01  | reply

@Nando, exactly, you take the words right out of my mouth.