Classic Black And White Sessions

June 21, 2021

What’s old is new again. When photography started it was only black and white then along came color and we never looked back. Sure a lot of photojournalism was still in black and white but portraiture by and large reverted to color. Black and white comes in and out of style from time to time —it has a certain cool factor. But in reality many photographers love black and white because it strips away the distractions of color and focuses on the subject. The lighting and shadows only enhance the subject matter.

We choose to offer black and white portraiture because of it’s simplicity. These sessions are done only in studio and are a different business model from our headshot work. Thought done sometimes for commercial use these are by and large commissioned portraits for people wanting a great piece of wall art.

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Character Studies in Black and White

April 6, 2018

Some of the best portraits are ones I call a Character Study—that is a portrait of one or two individuals that focuses on mostly their faces. These are best done in either very low key color or my preference is to do them in black and white. If you strip out the color the viewer tends to focus more on the subject matter.

Why a character study? What better way to preserve a memory of a loved one than to have a wonderful classic portrait of them. This can be a child, a parent and child, a grandparent or a combination of any family members.

Classic Black and White Portraits

August 17, 2016

Black and white portraits come in and out of style. With so many apps that you can click to change the filter/look of an image people are creating black and whites out of most any shot.

What Makes A Great Black and White Photograph?

Can any color shot look great as a black and white? No. You can certainly make any color image a black and white but that doesn’t mean it’ll look great. I remember shooting my first roll of black and white film during my teen years. I photographed some scenes, a few people outside then sent off the film (I didn’t have a darkroom in those days). When I got the images back boy was I disappointed. They were really flat—grays and no real blacks and whites—no contrast. From then on I vowed to learn how to make a greatblack and white photograph—something I’ve been doing for more than 30 years now. I moved from film which I processed and printed myself to digital. With digital people always just assume you just click a button and boom you get a fantastic image. Not true. In fact I usually can tell the amateurs and beginning pros who do this very thing. The resulting image just lacks a certain something.

What Makes A Great Black and White Portrait?

April 13, 2015

It used to be that if you wanted a black and white photograph you used black and white film. Now with digital much has changed. But has it really? Sure with Instagram and other Apps you can literally push a button and convert that photo to black and white. But is it always a good thing? What exactly makes a good black and white portrait?