Category: Originals
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Does Sensor Size Matter in Black and White?
A bigger sensor buys light, and light buys clean shadows. In monochrome the noise you are avoiding looks like grain, which changes the arithmetic. Here is what format actually gives you, and what it cannot.
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The Invisible Photographer
Henri Cartier-Bresson made some of the most famous street photographs ever taken, and almost nobody in them knew he was there. Here is how he worked unseen, and why it mattered.
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What the Pictorialists Got Right
Pictorialism was the movement that fought for photography to be taken seriously as art. Here is what it was, how it began, and why its core idea still makes for better black and white photographs today.
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Stop Asking “What Camera Did You Use?”
It is the question every photographer hears in galleries and in comments. Here is why the camera tells us almost nothing about a photograph, and the better questions worth asking instead.
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Overexposure, Underexposure and the Mood In Between
Your meter aims for middle gray, but the best black and white photographs rarely live there. Here is when to underexpose, when to overexpose, and how to do both on purpose.
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The Other Kind of Focus
A photograph can be perfectly sharp and still leave us cold. Here is the difference between optical focus and emotional focus, and why black and white photographs depend on getting the second one right.
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How Our Minds Organize a Black and White Photograph
Nobody has ever seen a hunter in the night sky, yet we all see Orion. Here is Gestalt psychology in plain terms, and how the way our minds organize what they see can make black and white photographs stronger.
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Cartier-Bresson Never Said a Word. Diane Arbus Knocked on the Door.
Henri Cartier-Bresson worked unseen. Diane Arbus walked up and got to know people. Two of the greatest black and white photographers, and two opposite answers to how close we should get.
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Two Filters That Monochrome Photographers Need
Most filters have been replaced by software. The black mist filter and the ND filter have not, because they change the light before it reaches the sensor. Here is why both belong in a black and white photographer’s bag.
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Rhythm Is What Keeps the Eye Moving Through a Photograph
Rhythm is what keeps the eye moving through a still photograph. Here is what it actually is, why the eye enjoys repetition so much, and how black and white photographers can find it, shape it and break it.