5 Tips for B&W Printing
The black-and-white print is an art unto itself. There’s a lot to consider, both creatively and technically. Without color to lean on, we must put more thought into how we render our image’s textures, patterns and contrast. We might need to dodge and burn to direct the viewer’s attention either toward or away from certain parts of our composition. We want to know which paper or other medium will best express our vision. We must calibrate our monitors and consider the use of profiles.
Like with any craft, we practice and pay our dues through trial and error as we get familiar with what works and what doesn’t in order to master the black-and-white print. There’s no way around it; you can’t just read an article like this and walk away making perfect prints. I’ll do my best to make things easier, though, as I have a bit of experience printing for myself and for others.
For over 15 years now, I’ve been teaching digital workflow. In that time, I’ve grown to be a firm believer that printing is one of the most important—if not the most important—phases of a photographer’s workflow.
There are so many reasons why printing matters. I’ve witnessed that the photographers who regularly make prints look more critically through their bodies of work than the photographers who simply intend to post low-resolution versions of their images on social media. Photographers who print consider consistency
