Since the beginning of Photography, photographs have been recorded in black and white. Originally, a photographer would open the lens and expose the film to light. The film would simply record areas of light and areas of no light. It wasn’t until the recorded image was processed in the darkroom that color would be introduced onto the photograph. This still holds true for digital cameras today. The sensor inside your digital camera, like traditional film, is also sensitive to light. When you press the button on your digital camera, the shutter opens and exposes your pixels on your sensor to light. The sensor then assigns a value (1-256) to each pixel to indicate the brightness of the scene captured through the lens.
Understanding how my camera records what I see has helped me to better understand how to photograph a good black and white photograph. Through my new found knowledge, I am looking at scenes through my lens in a whole new light (pun intended.) Just this past week we had some monsoon storms pass through the desert and weather is always an eye catching image to photograph, at least for me anyways. Here is one of the photographs I composed for my submission to Monochrome Weekly. Tell me what you think.
To view more Monochrome Weekly photographs, click on over and check them out. And if you would like to submit your black and white photographs, then add your link to Mr Linky on Ailene’s site as well.