So I’ve been playing around with photography for a while now, mostly color stuff. But last week I saw these moody black and white street photos online and thought – damn, that looks cool. Dug out my old camera and decided to try making my own mono shots.
First thing I did was switch my camera to monochrome mode in the settings. Wanted to see the world without colors right through the viewfinder, you know? Walked around my neighborhood hunting for interesting shapes. Saw this gnarly tree with twisted branches against a plain wall – clicked it but the whole thing looked flat and boring. Lesson learned: shadows matter more than I thought.
Next afternoon when the sun got low, I tried again. Spotted bicycle wheels casting long shadows on the pavement. Moved around until the shadows made these cool diagonal lines across the frame. That’s when it clicked – light and dark need to fight each other. Got way more dramatic results just by chasing those contrasty spots.
Texture became my new obsession after that. Went to the farmers market early Saturday morning. Saw these wrinkled old hands arranging potatoes – all those lines and folds showed up so much better when color wasn’t distracting. Got super close until the skin looked like cracked leather. Couldn’t believe how different ordinary things look when you’re squinting for roughness.
Tried shooting architecture downtown. At first I included everything – street signs, parked cars, random people walking. Total mess. Then remembered reading about simplicity. Zoomed in on just a fire escape staircase with repetitive railings against brick walls. Holy crap – the patterns suddenly popped like a geometric puzzle.
Lastly I experimented with editing. Shot some portraits in color first like the tutorials suggested. In editing software, I slid the red channel way down – boom! Freckles became way more visible. Pushed blues lighter to make clouds stand out against dark skies. Way more control than just slapping a B&W filter on everything.
Biggest surprise? My crappy phone shots actually looked decent when I applied these tricks. That staircase shot printed surprisingly well too. Still got tons to learn but now I’m noticing light/shadow battles everywhere – even while taking out the trash. Weird how removing color makes you see differently.
