THIS IS THE 6TH IN A SERIES, DONE ONCE EACH YEAR SINCE THIS WEBSITE HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED. A COLLECTION OF SOME OF THE BEST BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS FOUND FROM SOME OF THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHERS FROM THE INTERNET. THE INTEREST IN BLACK AND WHITE HAS INCREASED AND THE QUALITY OF THE PHOTOS AND THE AMOUNT TO PICK FROM HAS INCREASED AS WELL. THAT JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU THAT PHOTOGRAPHY IN GENERAL IS BECOMING A HUGE ART FORM IN THE WORLD. WHEN YOU SEE THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS, I THINK YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT THE QUALITY OF THE PHOTOS THAT ARE COMING THROUGH.
Picking this year’s photos was a real challenge. There are so many good photos to choose from and so many amazing photographers. The criteria for picking these photos are as follows:
- A photo with good contrast, exceptional contrast between blacks and whites
- Does this photo look better in black and white than in color (that is a real challenge, and in some cases, at least as good)
- In portraits, are the skin tones have real nice grey tones to them.
- Is the subject material unique for black and white? Could this photo have been this interesting in color?
- Can you see this photo on the wall as a masterpiece in black and white, rather than color?
So, my criteria for choosing the black and white photos are very strict. But, following these guidelines, it makes it much more difficult to find these kind of photos. BUT, you will agree that these photos are absolutely amazing.
Without any further explanation, here are the chosen photos for the year 2019! And congratulations to those chosen to be in this presentation.
This photo was chosen because of it’s high contrast and of course, this photographer knows that the best time to get good contrast in lighting, is to take it early in the morning or evening. Notice how every single brick on this walkway has cast a shadow, thus, adding to the beauty of this black and white of this photo. Plus, the composition is so perfect, with leading lines leading our eyes back into the subject. A perfect photo taken by the Photographer. Thank you for sharing this amazing photo.
David has been taking photos in Black and White for some time. This photo was posted in the group: 123Photogo Group, and was a favorite of mine immediately. The contrast of the photo, and the composition is just perfect. The photo is titled: Manhattan Sunset. And the lighting was caught just right, with the lights on in the building, plus the light behind the building. The other thing I like about David’s photos, is that he adds that nice touch of putting a border around his photos, just to add a more professional touch to his photos.
David is a professional photographer and does have his own website. If you want to see more of his great photos, please go to his link at
https://kippingphoto.com/
When I first saw this photo, I was taken back by the interesting contrast, and when I did some more reading about this, I realized it was an infrared photo. It has been a long time since I had seen any photo taken in infrared. This photo was posted in the group: Foto Arte Black and White, and further looking in Mr. Chamberlin’s photos, I discovered more photos that he had posted with his infrared filter on his camera. They are all just amazing photos. Thanks Jack for providing a unique approach to black and white photography.
I like a good winter photo in black and white. Sometimes when you go out and take a winter photo, it seems like it’s all black and white anyway. This photo by Ron, wasn’t that easy to take because, you can see by the motion of the water, it’s a long shutter speed. I love that type of photo, and you know this has to be set up with the tripod, and freezing temperature, etc. And this turned out amazing. Also, with the logo he uses for his photo, I think Ron is an accomplished photographer. It’s time he got some recognition. Thanks Ron.
This photo by Tammy is another one of those scenery photos that is really good in black and white. The stark contrast in the building, and then the scenery is amazing. It gives you the feeling of just wanting to go there, but, especially because it’s so peaceful. The mirror image of the home and the woods in the water is really hard to get in any situation, and this was spot on. Tammy is a great photographer and has her own website on Facebook as well. Her Facebook “Like Page” is titled: Shutter Life Images, and if you want to follow her, I think you would enjoy seeing some great photos. Just go to her website : https://www.facebook.com/PhotographybyTammyNash/
I went through about 100 photos this night on the internet, came across this one and stopped, and thought, yeah, this is an amazing photo in black and white. I went to Marja’s website, and actually saw it in color as well, and thought, this is really well done in black and white. I thought this was an amazing photo of the buildings, all lined up on the hill, and so many of them with their satellite dishes. Tells a story of lifestyle doesn’t it. Photography is all about telling stories too, isn’t it. And Marja caught the lifestyle of this town. Marja van Doorn is an amazing photographer as well and posts most of her photos on Instagram. If you would like to follow her and see more of her other photos, please go to her Instagram page at:
https://www.instagram.com/marjavandoorn/?fbclid=IwAR0_2JnYI3DXv0blNoMDpqZToLBZ_ljPUh23ZhmdBJwHGWhCgImOWD6ztuw
Just recently I had put out a couple of blogs on “negative spacing” and “simplicity in your photos” to study. And this photos fits both those subjects. This has been a very popular type of photography lately because it generally brings out a certain mood in a photo. This photo is no different. The photo is titled: “FORGOTTEN” and with that, it make a whole story, with just that title. Knowing that, what do you imagine is going on? What kind of story do you imagine happened? That is the beauty of photography. Nuno Gomez has captured this amazing photo, and put stories in your mind. This type of photo is the type now, that if you put it up for sale in a store, would be one of the first to sell. This is a great photo. Congratulations
Just like the photo above, this has the title: “GOING TO SCHOOL”. A photo that tells a great story. And you can see the story of a culture difference, where the father is taking his son to a game. The rest of the photo is the foggy, mist space, that fills the photo, similar to the photo above. This is what makes this photo so great. That big space just makes this photo stand out and become great. It makes me think this river is huge. This is another one of those photos that just tells a story about life. It’s an amazing photo, and Max Bowen has captured this life story so well. Congratulations Max for this fine photo.
Pexel photos is a group of photographers that have graciously donated their photos, so that they may get their name out there to be used for photography purposes. I have used many of their photos in my blogs and on my website and have found their photos to be worthy of exhibit.
Mr. Carbone, takes a lot of other great photos, besides that of just black and white, but, I think that he caught the perfect idea of black and white with the fact that mama bear is dark, but, when baby bear is born, it is white. A great photo.
This type of photo usually ends up in this type of presentation… Usually you would find this type of photo from “Street Photography”. However, this also tells quite a story. Taken with a very large lens to get that compression of street lights. This is actually a very amazing photo. Look at this closely and see if you could ever get that many street lights into one photo like that. It makes it seem like this guy in this photo has walked a mile already. This photo gives you that feeling. Congratulations to David McEacham for this story telling photo.
I have to have at least one portrait in my collection of black and white photos. And I have to find the perfectly exposed photo. And this one is it. And it is even a close-up of this pretty face. That makes it even harder to get this right. The grey tones, the shadows and the lighting all have to be perfect before I would accept a persons face or portrait in this collection. There are probably other great portraits out there, but, I thought this one so outstanding because Alexander Krivitskiy dared to show off his talent with a close-up, and he got it so perfect. Congratulations.
Part of black and white is to get the traditional “Sepia tone” effect of black and white. And Tamas Meszaros had posed this man in a dark alley with some type of foggy night, to get the perfect effect of this photo. This looks like a “pre-color” type of photo but created by the photographer. A great amount of artistic work went into the creation of this photo, and certainly made this photo worthy of being in this special presentation. Congratulations Tamax Meszaros for your contribution to black and white (and sepia) photography
This is just the opposite of some of the other photos so far. This is what we call a “high key lighting ” photo. Just everything is very light. The bird is light, the building is light, the water is light, and it creates a different type of mood to the photo, and it’s a good, happy feeling. This is one that a lot of people would like just because of it’s feeling you get when you do see this photo. Congratulations to Simon Matzinger for the creation of this photo, to get this black and white the feeling and mood he wanted and pass it on to us.
This concludes this edition of “THE ART OF BLACK AND WHITE vol. 6. I hope you enjoyed these amazing photos, and thanks to the photographers who made this possible. We look forward to the next edition (December 2020) for Vol. 7 of THE ART OF BLACK AND WHITE.
