Compelling Black and White Images

I don't like to subscribe to magazines because I randomly receive them by mail. For years, I've only kept one subscription, Outdoor Photographer. Once a year they usually put together an entire magazine edition on Black and White Photography.

I am not a fan of black and white photos either, I’d usually prefer color images. It is the reason why I like to tinker with Adobe Photoshop Elements and Topaz Clarity editing programs.

One of my biggest frustrations is capturing a picture and realize it did not come out the way I intended. Take for example the image shown above of the Philadelphia City Hall. To be able to make the image look the way I like, I played with Topaz and Adobe Photoshop Elements black and white conversion.

I was lucky the image converted nicely into black and white, I’d tried with other images in the past and they looked flat. Maybe is the way the City Hall building is designed, or the architecture strong lines.

The bottom line is that until recently, I didn't realize that I can transform and rescue any images that didn’t quite make it as color photos. As I said earlier, I prefer color images. In this particular case I chose black and white as a last resort when things weren’t working in color. The gamble paid off because I love the way the Philadelphia City Hall image looks in black and white.

Taking compelling black and white images is an art that maybe someday along this photography journey I would fully embrace.