Arguably, the closest thing we have to modern romance these days in digital photography is the black and white photograph. Black and white takes us back to a classic time that hits deep in our emotions in a way that some folks just don’t understand. For years, the photography world shunned the black and white photograph because it was just so easy to make great. Honestly, everything and anyone looks great in black and white. But even more important amongst all of that is the fact that they should be printed. And if you shoot a lot of black and white photos, consider it.
Black and white photos are inspiring in ways that can’t simply be put into words. Part of it comes from the bravura of the greats like Sebastio Salgado, Platon, Sally Mann, and several others. Many of them teamed up with master print specialists that made photos look positively incredible when seen in person. Most importantly, these photographers understood that printing was the final signature of an image being done and ready for final production. These days, we do that by exporting those images to social media or the web.
But this article has to do with printing black and white photos. The truth is that all of your very best images should be printed. However, black and white photos tend to be so special when it comes to prints — that’s all because of how versatile they are. They look good on glossy and matte paper, and all that needs to be done is adjusting the brightness of the final image.
Here are some essential questions you should ask yourself before you consider printing black and white photos and putting your final stamp of approval on that image:
- Is this one of the best photos that I’ve shot in the past year?
- What’s so special about this photograph?
- Does it need to be cropped?
- Does it need brightening and darkening in certain areas?
- Is everything that’s important to the photo present in this image?
- Is this photo important to me?
- Is this photo important to my portfolio?
- Would someone possibly want to buy this photo and make it part of their wall decor?
- Could I see this photograph in a museum or a hotel of some sort?
- What would other people think of this print?
- What kind of lighting would this print look best in?
Most of all, you should ask yourself if the printed image looks better than it does on a computer screen! And yes, that’s possible. I’ve shot several frames like that in the past that I really enjoyed. In fact, many of those images I still look back on at times, and I thoroughly enjoy the way that they look. They don’t have to be made with the latest or greatest cameras either.
I typically print black and white photos at 17×22. And to do this effectively, you don’t need more than 24MP. I say this because most people might talk about things like the best-recommended viewing distance. But in today’s day and age, that’s not necessarily taken into consideration. People get up close and personal with prints all the time to see the details that they’d be missing otherwise.
Spend some time working on the image to get it absolutely perfect in-camera. Then edit it accordingly. After that, be sure to print your black and white photos to make them into something special that you’ll be truly happy with.