SEEING in TONES

If you spend much time looking at nature photography on social media, you have probably seen a common type of post: A photographer, lamenting the poor conditions at the time, explains how they tried to salvage a photo by converting it to black and white. Before you read any further, I’m asking you to dismiss forever this kind of thinking about working in black and white.

Instead of seeing black and white as a backup processing option when the conditions you hoped for do not materialize, I encourage you to instead think about black-and-white nature photography as an expressive form that stands on its own and holds the potential to open up many new creative avenues for sharing the connections you make with the natural world. Even though the digital darkroom is an essential tool for bringing monochrome photographs to life, a key step in shifting this mindset is learning to see opportunities for black-and-white photography while you are out in nature.

Understanding Tones, Tonal Relationships & Contrast

With black-and-white photography in a digital workflow, the first essential lesson is understanding how colors convert to black, white and gray tones. To start, a tone is simply