Nature Photography How To

Many of history’s greatest photographers gained their fame making b&w landscape images. With today’s modern cameras, and the digital darkroom, most of the goals remain the same but techniques often differ.

In the video below, a top pro explains how to achieve the best results possible by avoiding seven common mistakes. Romanian photographer Toma Bonciu is known for stunning images, helpful instructional videos, and popular tours and workshops.  In this episode, he demonstrates how to up your b&w game in barely nine minutes.

Bonciu provides several shooting tips and reveals his post-processing approach for converting color images to b&w. He begins with this important note: “Even if you set the camera’s color profile to b&w, there will still be color information in your Raw files.” Understanding how to deal with this fact in post is very important for optimum results.

In the past, when b&w film was the only option available, photographers proceeded accordingly. Bonciu explains that today, when most of shoot in color, it’s important to modify your composition techniques and learn how to deal with light differently when capturing the image. This facilitates the conversion process that follows.

The seven mistakes Bonciu discusses involve both shooting and editing techniques. And while they’re not particularly complicated, we recommend that you have pen and paper handy to jot down a few notes while watching the video.

Of course avoiding errors is only half the battle, because you also need to know what to do instead. And, as always, Bonciu has you covered with some really great advice. The result is that your future b&w landscape work will be more compelling than ever.

There’s plenty more to learn on Bonciu’s YouTube channel and in another recent tutorial we posted, explaining five more tricks for better landscape photos.