I had just spent a couple days on a long anticipated and delayed overnight canoe camping / photographic trip. Early afternoon on that last day had already settled in and the sky was bright and blue with long fingers of clouds accenting the sky. I enjoyed the canoe paddle back to where I had parked on the lake taking my time to simply observe and anticipate any photographic opportunity that might happen to catch my eye. As it turned out I did manage to capture a few images, most being ordinary but enjoyable captures featuring the long terrain surrounding the lake and that amazing blue sky being held aloft by those beautiful clouds. After unloading my canoe and repacking all the gear into and on top of my Jeep, I climbed aboard and headed down the country lane that would eventually take me home. On the way out I noticed a fresh cut field on my left where a myriad of large rolls of hay lay randomly stacked across the landscape. Overhead almost like a supporting cast for that amazing blue sky, those long streaks of clouds stretched their veils above and across the horizon. I slammed on the brakes, pulled out my camera, and began to visually search across the field for a composition that would capture the moment in such a way as to portray what not only my eye perceived, but what my heart experienced.
Sometimes it is difficult to explain to someone who may not possess the same affinity for black and white photography how and why I look for specific elements when capturing a moment and why I love black and white photography. Black and white relies more strongly on composition, shape, form, structure, contrast, and story than a color image. Color images rely on those things as well, and even more so on the light that is available, but often color itself gets in the way. Light, of course, is important for black and white as well, but black and white is more suited for a wider range of lighting conditions than color is. Taking a mid-day color image will result more often in an ordinary and rather bland photograph. Take that same photograph, convert it to black and white. Add a bit of contrast. Throw in a filter or two and that bland image suddenly explodes into wonderful composition filled with story and structure.
I look for opportunities where there is a bright blue sky accented with varying degrees of cloud structures often combined with water and the reflections it offers. It's the clouds that set the sky apart and added to the nostalgic flavor of the image moment. Attach a polarizer filter to the lens and add that blue sky takes on a deepness and depth an ordinary blue sky might lack. Compositionally, I look for story and depth. Both of these go together. Depth adds to the story and carries the viewer into the image. The elements of the composition write the visual story.
I also look for variations in contrasts. A good black and white image should in most cases possess within its composition darks and lights and middle tones that range from almost fully black, to almost fully white. Each composition is different with some containing more darks than lights and some just the opposite. It's that contrast between the darks and lights than spell out the story. A dark black and white sky should be able to move the viewer toward understanding just how blue the sky actually was. Clouds are key to that for clouds provide the sky character and movement and should tie the sky to the surface.
When using the sky I usually try to offer more of it than from the foreground and sometimes I split the image down the center breaking from the rule of thirds syndrome, and I often look for a line that leads the viewer into the photograph taking their eye right up into the sky. To me, the sky is the most important element in a black and white landscape. It's not the only element of course, but it offers an opportunity to provide the viewer with a sense of bigness where the foreground or the landscape itself offers a sense of place. Both work together and when elements of the foreground extend into the sky, then the composition begins to tie itself together.
Learning how to recognize what makes a good black and white landscape composition while viewing the world through the color filter of our eyes takes a bit practice and experimenting. But, when you begin to master that ability, the black and white image opportunities begin to magically appear. Black and white was my first photography love, and I still seek out the allure and strength of what it offers.
