5 Tips to Enhance Black and White Portrait Photography

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Tips to Enhance Black and White Portrait Photography

Photography is a favorite hobby or profession for several people. A 2018 (USA) report shows that 31.36% of the respondents (having high incomes) said photography was their hobby.

As a hobby or profession, people pursue different types of photography and black and white portrait photography is one of them.

You would wonder why black and white portraits. You can see it this way.

We see colors all around us – be it television, banners, or movies – everything is colorful. That’s why black and white stands out from the crowd. It also gives nostalgia for the previous eras.

In previous eras, black and white was the only option, whether in movies, photographs, or other visuals.

However, nowadays, it’s a creative choice for people. The same goes for portrait photographs. Black and white portrait photographs have gained high popularity.

Why go for Black and White Portraits?

Black-and-white portraits use only shades of grey, white, and black. This allows the viewer to emphasize the photograph’s main aspects, including the subject, texture, and image composition.

People do focus on such elements in a color portrait. However, black-and-white pictures emphasize these aspects more.

Some photographers believe that black-and-white portraits bring out the subjects’ emotions better.

Moreover, these types of images are more straightforward. You can take a black-and-white portrait photograph when the pattern, subject, or texture is more compelling than the color hues.

Let’s check out the camera settings required for black-and-white portrait photography.

Camera settings for black and white portrait photography

When you plan to take monochrome or black-and-white portraits, you should consider changing the camera settings as per the requirements.

You can ensure perfect images by tweaking your shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Let’s see what you should keep in mind to improve your black-and-white portrait photography. 

Camera settings for black and white portrait photography

  • Shutter speed: You should keep the shutter speed as fast as your camera’s focal length. It will help you to avoid any motion blur, as a slow shutter speed may lead to blurry portraits.
  • Aperture: If you want to focus on the subject and grab the viewer’s attention towards the subject, you should use a wide aperture. The reason is that the wide aperture blurs out the background and puts the main emphasis on the subject.
  • ISO: When shooting black and white portraits, aim for higher ISO compared to colored ones. The increased ISO will add a classic film grain look to your pictures, making them look classy.

Best Lens for black and white portrait photography

When it comes to choosing a lens for your black and white portraits, it depends on your photography style and requirements. However, specific lenses are better for portraits, whether black and white or color.

You shouldn’t use ultra-wide lenses as they can distort your subject. Also, using telephoto lenses will put you too far from the subject most of the time.

To get the best results in your black and white portraits, you should use portrait lenses with a 50-85mm focal length range. Most photographers prefer the 85mm range.

Also, ensure that you choose lenses having a wide aperture and low f-number, like f/2.8 or lower. It will create a soft bokeh effect which helps to put more emphasis on the subject and less on the background.

5 Tips to Get the best black and white portraits

In portrait photography, black and white shine incredibly. However, you can improve the looks of your black-and-white portrait by following these techniques. Hence, if you want to enhance your black and white portraits to the next level, read more:

5 Tips to get the best black and white portraits – Emphasize the eyes

1. Emphasize the eyes:

In most portraits, the eyes are the central part of the focus. They are usually the focal point around which the rest of the photograph is built. It’s true, especially in the case of black and white portraits.

Hence, if you want to grab the viewer’s attention, then put emphasis and sharpness around the eyes. Also, ensure that your subject’s eyes are well-lit and in the focus of your photograph.

2. Use different expressions:

Like the eyes, your subject’s expressions can become prominent in your black-and-white portraits. You can take advantage of different expressions of your subject in the portrait.

You can ask the subject to change their expressions, such as raising their eyebrows, twitching the corner of their mouth, or creating smile lines under their eyes. This will improve the portraits.

Use different expressions

You can prepare a list of words and ask the subject to read it while you shoot.

You can use terms such as sadness, love, joy, anger, and cheese. You can also use different words to express diverse expressions and photograph the subject saying those words.

3. Focus on lighting:

You can experiment with lights and create different effects in a black-and-white portrait photography session. This technique works effectively, especially if you are shooting indoors. You can choose a more complex light source if you want a high-contrast portrait.

However, if you want a subtle picture, choose a soft light source. High-contrast lighting adds a dark or moody effect to portraits, while bright and smooth light creates a light and airy feel.

4. Add contrast with light:

For better results, you should also focus on contrasting your black-and-white portraits. To achieve a high-contrast picture, you should add contrast to the light.

You shouldn’t crank up the contrast to 100, as it would make the portrait unflattering. Instead, keep the contrast between +15 and -15. You can also adjust the contrast when editing the picture.

5. Choose the right background:

Another essential point in portrait photography is choosing the background. A black background or a uniform pattern is recommended.

You wouldn’t want any new focal points in the portrait except for the subject. Keeping the background darker can help you emphasize your topic more.

5 Tips to get the best black and white portraits - Choose the right background

Choose the right background.

How to Edit Black and White Portraits?

Just like other photography, black and white portraits also benefit from post-processing. Some tips that will help you to edit the black-and-white portraits include:

  • Use photo editing software or tools such as Adobe, which is available for Windows and Mac. You can use Lightroom or Photoshop to accentuate shadows or highlights. You can also try a tinted monochrome image or pump the shadows in one layer and highlight them in another.
  • You can also use editing tools such as burn, dodge, and curves to amplify the settings differently. For example, you can change the levels of brightness or darkness to get different results. Since your portrait is already in black and white, you have much room to edit it to improve it.

Conclusion

These are all the essential points of black-and-white portrait photography. Whether you are starting out professionally or performing it as a hobby, this article will help.

For a perfect portrait, you must focus on the subject, background, expression, and light.

Moreover, you should change the camera settings to match the black-and-white portrait requirements. Once you’ve done this, you can edit the portrait a bit and see incredible results.

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