Seeing in Black and White (again)

During my transition to digital I noticed that I was seeing less and less in black and white while out photographing personal work. It eventually got to the stage that I was only really seeing the potential for a black and white print while I scanned through the files after loading them onto the computer. This didn’t seem a problem whenever I was commissioned to provide B&W for a corporate client - I guess my professional eye would just work to the brief.

For a while I wasn't sure why I was seeing less B&W scenes until I went back over how I learnt much of my photography. For many years I only shot 4"x5" or medium format, often exposing a polaroid first. I would have the (almost) instant gratification of seeing a print of the scene in either  B&W or colour. I think this is what helped train my photographic eye to almost instinctively assess a scene in terms of it's colour saturation or monochromatic tonal range. 

Remastered Prints - Images by Paul Foley

Like most photographers I left my LCD screen to display in colour  - even when making black and white images. To help reignite my black and white imagination I began wandering around on self assignments determined to only photograph scenes that would suit a fine art black and white print. So, to re-capture the old process of shooting a B&W polaroid, I  set the camera's LCD to display a monochrome image and tested my ability to ‘see’ in black and white.

Once I had found what I considered a suitable scene then thoughtfully set the framing and exposure, I would open the shutter and check my visualisation against the LCD. Whether using a tripod or hand held I slowed the whole process down to better appreciate the nuances of light, shade and tone.

I even used the mindset I operated under in my learning days: polaroids and large format film were very expensive so I would look carefully at every scene, fine tune the composition and make a lot of spot metering measurements before I made an exposure. Quite often during this process I would decide not to take a picture at all! I know how ridiculous that sounds in these times of free pixels.

So, I think the slowness of my money pinching mindset is also part of the process. As I only ever capture Raw files and even though the camera is making a B&W jpeg to show me on the LCD, I still have all of the information I need to make a fine art print.

This is, in effect, the digital age workflow of how I would make many of my black and white pictures all those years ago. Back then Polaroid made a beautiful Pos Neg film (Type55 I think) which allowed me to get a polaroid print and an excellent negative in the same exposure. The only drawback being the requirement to carry around a small bucket of solution to wash the negatives. Not quite as convenient as checking an LCD - especially when trekking around the bush! 

From time to time I revisit older pictures and apply new techniques and knowledge to the original RAW files. Sometimes the changes / re-workings are minor, other times I see the original completely different to how I saw it at the time of capture. While I would do this back in my B&W darkroom days as well, the immediacy and accuracy of these digital times makes such revisiting original files an important part of my personal photography practise today.

As my digital black and white conversion skills improve and with the help of the technique I  have adapted from the 'old days' I am again ‘seeing’ in B&W. The gallery here has some comparison pictures to show how my interpretations can change with time and skill. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.