Great video mate & awesome tips with a wide array of beautiful shots! I’ve always been drawn to patterns & textures myself & black & white shots certainly have something special about them. Composition & technical approach becomes more important as you can’t hide behind colours as well haha. 🙌👏👏👍👍👍
Your photos are wonderful. Using external artificial lighting makes the picture as apposed to using natural light. Best to use continuous lighting then Flash as it works differently. Oh and btw, using B&W brings out the natural shadows as apposed to color.
I think you are absolutely right. Where I've captured similar images in colour and monochrome, the monochrome holds my attention for longer because I'm drawn to the details revealed by the tones, rather than being distracted by the colours.
Hi Robert. Glad you agree. I do like to mix in a little black and white here and there. And I agree that monochrome helps hold the attention. Thanks for watching.
Great presentation and a whole new way of macro photography. I really appreciate your clear, to the point explainations. Your photos are awesome and inspiring. I want more so I have subscribed and look forward to learning from you and immersing in some of your excellent, and refreshing philosophy. Thanks.
Great vlog mate, takes me back 40 years to the black and white days. Grevillea flower in B&W is a favourite of mine. Thanks for the inspiration, I might jus have a go again. Happy Xmas to all
Well where do I start first time I’ve seen you on RU-vid been watching it for a long time don’t get on here as much as I would like I have Covid at the minute so can’t do much else glad I found you excellent information open my eyes to black and white love macro photography never done black and white going to have a go I have subscribed look forward to seeing more of you thank you very much
Hi there Andy. Sorry to hear you've got Covid and I hope you're OK. I'm just getting over it myself. It really took away all my energy for a few weeks and because of it, yesterday was the first time I have managed to get out with my camera for about a month. I'm glad you enjoyed the video and hope you enjoy giving black and white macro a go once you're better. Take care and rest up.
Excellent. Old argentic years photographers know these tips espec. High and low Key and tonal contrast (we were using color filters for B&W shots to control tonal contrast). You are right to make this vidéo especially for young people who did not experiment argentic and believe that knowledge of the light and of the basics is not necessary because modern cameras can deal with everything
Thank you Stéphane. You are certainly right, and whilst all of this could be achieved in the computer, it is a much better method to visualise the final photo upfront. Thanks for watching.
I have always enjoyed taking B&W pics, but surprisingly have never considered Macro B&W. You have piqued my interest in what to me will be a new style of photography to explore - Thank You!!
What a fascinating video. This has given me loads of inspiration and ideas. I've only recently got into macro but I'll definitely be using your tips going forward. Thank you 😊 👍
To think that I almost skipped this lovely video. Learned and chilled out at the same time, what more can I ask. Thanks, definitely going to try B&W macro and closeup photography and yet watching your video, now subscribed. Thanks once again.
@@WalksOnTheWildSide I shall, I am shooting with a LUMIX S System L Mount camera, the kit lens is a 24-100 macro, a close focusser oppose to true macro 1:1, I have been practicing with the Nisi 2x filter (the magnifier!) screwed to the end of the lens with mixed success DoF being the issue downing macro this way, closing down doe help but it’s very shallow but I’m a determined one! I won’t flog a dead horse though so will probably end up investing in a true macro, the Sigma 105, it’s the only true and affordable, well, reasonably priced at least, L Mount macro lens, can’t afford the Leica!! Like most cameras these days the LUMIX system has a couple of B&W profile setting so will take your guidance and shoot in B&W for the tonal information and live view and to try and get it as close to the required exposure in camera for the reasons you mention. Thanks again. 👌
Good stuff. It's tough with magnifying filters. A good way to get into macro, but then once you've caught bug for it, you just want the real thing. The Sigma certainly has a good reputation, but I've never shot with it. The Laowa 100mm f2.8 is well worth considering too and I believe it is available for L mount. It might even be cheaper than the Sigma.
An excellent and insightful video. I'll be re-watching it a few times to make sure I catch everything. I recently got a dedicated macro lens and will definitely be trying out black and white macro.
Scott, One thing I forgot to ask you was, Do you prefer cloudy days over sunny days when shooting B&W Macro? Thanks, Bob. (By the way, I also subscribed to your channel).
Thanks for subscribing Bob, much appreciated. Overcast days are definitely great for all kinds of macro, but you get much more contrast on bright days - which helps more with B&W. For colour macro the light is best on cloudy days, but there are often more insects about on sunny days. So it swings in roundabouts.
Such amazing work. Thank you for sharing. I currently have a Leica Q2 monochrome as my only camera. Do you think this camera will be able to produce similar results with a 28mm fixed macro? Also any books on this subject you’d recommend?
Cheers. It's the Kuangren / Venus Optics twin macro flash KX-800. In my view it's the best twin macro flash available because it doesn't sit on the end of your lens like most. The articulating arms are entirely manoeuvrable to get the light in exactly the position that you want. Thanks for your question and for watching.
Awesome shots! I don’t have a macro lens so I’m using a 12mm tube extender with an 85mm. I just want to clarify the focal length of the lens you’re using? Would you also suggest that using and ND filter would be great?
Thank you, glad you liked the photos. They were all shot on the Sony 90mm macro lens. I wouldn't recommend an ND unless you want some motion blur in the picture. You would need to use a longer shutter speed with an ND filter, so unless your subject was perfectly still, it wouldn't be helpful.
BW PHOTOGRAPHY means imaging in greyscale in a colorful world, which is not easy. Awesome! An excellent job has been done thanks for sharing have a nice day. Beyond imagination collection.
The problem with setting the camera to black and white is that its view of the world is modelled on everyman's view. Mine is quite different and my black and white photos don't look like what the camera shows. That fuschia would offer me no problems, and mostly I would have more contrast than you. I shoot in colour and learn what I can do to my photographs to make photographs that I like.
I LOVED this video and your B&W images! Do you do an in-depth black and white conversion, or do you let Lightroom or editing software convert for you? Or take as a monochrome image in camera?
Hi Susan. Thanks. I take the image as black and white in camera so that I can get an idea of what the final image will look like. But photo editing soft ware always converts the raw file as a colour photo, so the black and white image is for reference. I think I'll make a B&W photo editing video at some point. Thanks for watching.
Hi Steven. Thanks for watching and for your question. I do print quite a bit but only for my own purposes. I used to sell a few here and there but it was more hassle than it was worth. I’ve always used Brilliant photo paper and I’ve been very happy with it. I use two types: the museum satin matte - which has a beautiful cotton rag texture, and the supreme lustre - which is just glossy enough to make the colours vibrant but not so much that you get lots of light reflections when it’s hanging in a wall. Brilliant is a German brand of paper, but if you live here in the UK the easiest place to get it is from WEX.
Hi Bob. Thanks for the suggestion. I rarely ever do any photography indoors. It's all about being outside in nature for me. I will be putting out another macro video soon and I have now started including settings with my videos. But if you are interested in indoors macro I would recommend checking out Stewart Wood who makes a lot of indoors macro vids. Thanks for watching.
Scott..I just stumbled across you for the first time and immediately subbed..great observations and your presentation and pics are top notch...thanks !
I love this video. Have always preferred mono, and really trying hard with a recently purchased macro lens. Am inspired to try out mono macro. Your images are brilliant, and I am already looking at tonal contrasts in my garden, which isn't very colourful just now. When you import them to edit, do you change to mono before any editing, or edit them before changing to mono?
Thanks Marg. If starting with the colour raw file I would always change to mono first so that you can see what you're working towards. More often than not though, I start the editing in the camera manufacturer's editing software. If I took the photography using the black & white colour profile it automatically applies black and white to the photo. I then import it to Lightroom as a TIFF file and it stays in mono. I've recently made a video about colour profiles. Most of the photos in the video are wildlife rather than macro, but it still explains how the colour profiles work. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eWoGytzdGc4.html Thanks for your question and for watching.
Hi Scott, Your macro shots are soo amazing and plus your knowledge on macro is so depth and detailed. Mate those black and white shots are pure class! I have been watching this macro content videos on RU-vid and no one has mentioned to shoot in black and white. You have inspired me ❤. This months my learning macro project is to shoot everything in black and white.
What a really clear video, and those images are absolutely amazing. My only request would be to add the info to the images, because as someone new to photography, I'm keen to know the aperture, ISO and speed for those stunning pictures. Really glad I came across this video.
Superb explanations and demonstrations, and of course, images. Macro and/or b/w photography is not really my thing, but I still thoroughly enjoyed your video as you explained things so clearly and I have learned a lot from it. Should I ever wish to try this kind of photography in the future I know I can refer back to this video when I need to. Thank you!
First tip kinda sucks. First: if you're older than thirty, you've shot in film and know what to expect. Second: you should record in color to allow for greater lattitude in editing.
Thank you. It’s the Kuangren Twin Macro Flash KX800. Some independent camera shops stock it, but you can also get it from Venus Optics/Laowa. It’s not much heavier than a normal speed light flash - it maybe weighs about half a kg. Thanks for watching.
Hi. It’s the Kuangren Twin Macro Flash. I bought it from Laowa/Venus Optics. It’s a manual flash (no TTL) but it’s a more versatile macro flash than anything else on the market. Both sides have fully articulating arms to position however you want them. Both can have the flash power set independently of each other, eg if you want more light on one side than another. And it has a central articulating pilot light to help focussing in low light situations. About £250 ish and well worth the money. But it does consume power pretty quickly, so get some decent rechargeable AA batteries.
But with a color raw image you can convert to black and white with color channels that will allow you to separate colors of the raw image file into tones of the gray scale of the final monochrome image. If then taken in to Photoshop and separate two layers (one for highlights and another for shadows) in two different colors and then use the Blend-if option to do low saturation duo-tones images it works great. The advantage of working from a color file and not from a monochrome is that the raw file will allow you to convert color contrast in to brightness contrast with out a sacrifice of color data that could be useful or even necessary at some point of the process for a final image. the background control on both: high key and low key images can be taken a step further by having black or white backgrounds of paper, fabric or foam board that will make it easier on post production. The system to balance exposure from available light Vs Flash light is a key factor there in case of need for more tonal contrast control.
You can still do that because your camera saves the raw file with colour information anyway. But shooting in black and white allows you to visualise the tonal contrast much easier than shooting in colour.
@@WalksOnTheWildSide Still if its just to visualize the image on the screen of the camera is not a reliable check. I trust more the istagram or just real good metering followed by good processing of the file that in my car includes making a full resolution monochrome version if needed. Two different workflows to do something.
