John Batdorff - Black and White: From Snapshots to Great Shots

Black and White: From Snapshots to Great Shots
John Batdorff

Peachpit Press
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Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education

Copyright 2012 John Batdorff, except pp. 66-67 and illustrations on pp. 62-63 Peachpit Press
All photography John Batdorff except where noted

Project Editor: Susan Rimerman
Development/Copy Editor: Peggy Nauts
Production Editor: Lisa Brazieal
Proofreader: Elaine Merrill
Interior Design: Riezebos Holzbaur Design Group
Compositor: WolfsonDesign
Indexer: James Minkin
Cover Design: Aren Straiger
Cover Image: John Batdorff

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission reprints and excerpts, contact .

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The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.

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ISBN-13 978-0-321-77457-6
ISBN-10 0-321-77457-4

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed and bound in the United States of America

To my love, Stacinone of this would have been possible without your support, love, and encouragement. I know youre not much into PWA (public writing affection), so Ill simply say youre the bestI love you.

To Anna, my daughter, Im not sure theres much to say that you dont already know. We simply get each other. I love seeing life through your eyes and hearing it in your laugh. Just remember what we always talk about: Be true to yourself, never lie, and work hard (but I think the $5 sitting fee you charged me was a little over the top. Im just saying...).

Mom, thanks for giving me my first camera, lending me your vision, and encouraging me to do more with my art. I wish you were here today to share in it all.

Dad, your gift for writing and your love for the arts have been an inspiration. I appreciate the understanding and especially the trust youve bestowed on me throughout the years. Youre a good friend and mentor, but youre an awfully messy travel partner.

My good friend John, thanks for providing honest feedback along the way.

The Peachpit crew: Thank you for believing in me. Its always a pleasure working with a team of professionals.

Peggy Nauts, thanks for scrubbing my copy, making me sound smarter than I am (always a tough job), and not making me feel guilty every time I said Id have copy to you in a hour but it ended up being more like eight. Youre simply the best!

Susan Rimerman, thanks for all your support and guidance. I truly appreciate your direct and honest approach.

My appreciation to Lisa Brazieal and her team for creating a wonderful layout and making my images look good.

Finally, a very special thanks to all the blog followers who have supported me along the way. This book would never have happened without you. Most important, to you, the reader of this bookI hope you enjoy it. My blog door is always open for your questions.

Ive been taking photographs for nearly my entire life. My passion began when my mother handed me my first Kodak Instamatic in 1977. What started out as a way to keep a young boy out of mischief blossomed into a lifelong pursuit of personal expression. I have taken tens of thousands of photos since then and have come to love black-and-white photography for its honest feel and the potential for a simple frame to become a piece of art. The medium has changed a lot over the years, and while I have clocked my share of hours in the darkroom, Ive always been intrigued by new technology. Film will continue to hold a special place in my heart, but Ill never regret the day I picked up a digital camera.

The quality of todays digital cameras has granted me the freedom to create the black-and-white images I always intended without spending hours in the darkroom. Its a brave new world. Black-and-white photography is no longer reserved for those of us with darkrooms, but instead embraces anyone with a love of the monochrome world. And for those of you who have a portfolio chock-full of film images, this is a great time to convert them to digital and explore the multitude of techniques available with todays digital darkroom.

My number one goal for this book has been to simplify a complicated subject matter to the best of my ability. Photography can be confusing at times, but it doesnt need to beit should make sense. While well be discussing nitty-gritty technical details some of the time, the true learning will come from an overall better understanding of the process of black-and-white photography. I hope youll draw on my experience and combine it with your new knowledge to create your own style. There are many ways to create a black-and-white image: My goal isnt to overwhelm you with a laundry list of techniques but instead to provide you with a handful of tools that Ive used successfully throughout the years. Simplicity leads to creativity!

Well start off by discussing my basic camera kit, settings, composition, and exposure. My equipment is near and dear to my heart, but this book is not meant to focus only on what I use. You can apply the techniques regardless of what digital single-lens reflex camera (dSLR) and lens kit that you have.

Well discuss what to look for when scouting out a black-and-white image. We will cover my mental checklist of characteristics for shooting in black and white: tonal quality, contrast, strong lines, and so on. Once we have our image, we are going to go over how to manage images in Lightroom and convert them to black and white using postprocessing techniques.

Finally, well spend a lot of time in Adobe Lightroom and delve even further into Silver Efex Pro 2 to harness its amazing black-and-white processing capabilities. Ill outline why I use these two programs, when I decide to use one over the other, and the detailed steps taken in editing an image from start to finish. We will cover mood, selective color, texture, how digital filters are used by todays black-and-white photographer, and other aspects that help you create your unique style.