Black and white landscape photo license#

Black and white landscape photo license#

All of this means that I feel I have more license to work on an image to communicate feelings and emotion. And because it’s non-literal in this sense, viewers of black and white photographs seem more accepting of manipulated images (you don’t get the ‘you cheated in post-production’ response that is a more common reaction to heavily worked color shots!).

The absence of color forces the viewer to work harder – they are hopefully encouraged to go beyond a superficial acknowledgement of an attractive landscape to extract a photograph’s deeper message.”Ī black and white image demands a level of engagement (from both photographer and viewer) that is different to that required by color photography.Īlso in removing color, black and white is already one step away from reality so it’s never going to be an accurate record of a scene – the emphasis is immediately on interpretation rather than representation. There are times when color doesn’t add anything – or worse, just seems to get in the way. “Personally, I like the fact that working in monochrome removes the distraction of color. Learning to see in black and white requires the photographer to develop a new vision that reduces the landscape to interlocking shapes and tones. So, although I do occasionally shoot color, my default is to see the world in black and white. “I’ve been taking photographs since the age of seven, and when I started out, black and white film was the only realistic option (color film was expensive to buy and to process) so I grew up seeing the world as a black and white photograph.