Going monochrome

In the next twelve days,I will be exploring the theory and good practice of B&W photography.Herewith I uploaded four photos that were converted to B&W from my existing  colour photos.The chosen photos have some features that would make them look better in B&W, hopefully.

Why suddenly I want to shoot in B&W? Actually,my interest began more than a year ago when I started  to take part in Street Photography,where most photos are in B&W.Slowly,I began to see its beauty without colours.To me,colours are more real than B&W.The coloured photos reflect reality of the world as it is.At my age of 60 years plus,I have never seen this world in black and white.To me then ,B&W are just images of the reality-in two tones!

Last weekend,I came upon an old Digital Camera Magazine,Dec.,2008.Reading it again after seven years,I saw a series of articles on B&W photography.I counted 25 pages of them.After reading and pondering on this subject matter,then I came to realise colour exposes the physical aspect of the photo,but its  mind and the spirit are shown more in B&W Photography,so to speak.

When we remove the colours,what are left are light,texture,tone,contrast and composition.In the last few months I saw the B&W photos taken by Ansel Adam and Henri Cartier Bresson and other masters.At the same time I keep browsing photos at 500px.com and Flickr.com to keep me updated.This study of works by the great masters and professional photographers has given me insight into the beauty and the challenges of B&W Photography.

I plan to learn and explore this old time genre,putting time and efforts to be a better B&W Photographer and having fun at the same time with colour photography.From my shallow knowledge and lack of wisdom,both have their own strenghts and weaknesses.I think they complement each  other.

Below are some photos that I have converted from colours to B&W because they have certain features that make them looks equally good or better in B&W.  

How do I go about shooting B&W photos:

Most of my learned friends in photography advised me to shoot in RAW and edit to B&W later using Light Room.I decided to shoot in B&W in JPEG like a layman and may be later chose the pro way.At my early stage of mastering B&W,I will focus more on selecting my subjects and composition.Later perhaps,I will be more technical.In other words,I prefer the humane side of the photo than the optical and the softwares engineering.