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Art Presents Advanced Techniques in B&W Photography

Janina Krach | Published on 8/15/2026
The August meeting had four parts: 

•  Before Meeting Photo Collection (BMPC) photos were displayed, and each photographer gave their comments about why, how and where each shot was taken.

•  Art showed a youTube video by David BergmanWhy YOU Should Shoot in Black & White

Key takeaways from David Bergman: 
a) Shoot RAW
b) Shoot first in color
c) Convert the color shot into black & white in post-processing or via your camera filters
d) Within your monochrome conversion, use color sliders to dramatize darks & lights.
 
(For example, applying a red filter to a B&W shot transforms the skies, since the filter allows red light to pass through, while blocking and absorbing the blue light in the photo. )

DB_bergman
DB_ landscape without filter
DB_landscape with red filter
DB_filters on bw in skintones

•  After the David Bergman vieo, Art demonstrated his own techniques for "bumping up" a black & white image.

See Art's complete slide presentation on the Meetings page here  >   Meetings  

He converts a RAW color shot to B&W, then masks the sky and uses a Curves Adjustment layer to accentuate the shadows, making the sky more dramatic. Or in a portrait, he masks the eyes and uses Curves to lighten them.

Art's photos clearly show the difference between simply converting a color shot to black & white, and working on sections of photos via Curves to introduce drama.

•  Finally, Art showed his own video set to music, consisting of many examples of powerful black & white images.

See Art's 5 minute video here  >   Meetings  

Attending the meeting were Art, George, Bob, Janina, Agnes, Gerta, Karolin, Dorothy, Dick, Jonathan, Mike and new member Frank Rende.