I have seen some beautiful black and white photographs and they have always interested me. I would love to take photograph of people and animals. But I have no idea where to start. If any of you would like to help me out with it, I will greatly appreciate it.

-- Clara Bereuter (Queen_of_rubble@hotmail.com), May 10, 2002

Answers

Step one: See as many examples as possible of great b&w photography. Go to your local library and get books of Karsh, Steichen, Winogrand, Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Frederick Evans, Ansel Adams, to name the first seven photographers that leap to mind. The more examples of excellence you see, the more you learn. Step two: Get some Ilford XP2 (black and white film that can be processed by your local color mini-lab) and take pictures. Step three: After you get into b&w picture taking more heavily, you will want to do your own processing. Go here: a href="http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa051401a.htm">ABOUT >COM and use you search engine and local library to learn more about developing and printing. Learn about traditional films such as Pan F+, and traditional developers, such as Rodinal. step four: If you are in an area where there is a local art or photography museum displaying beautiful black and white prints, visit it. Have fun and good luck. -Ollie (my web site)

-- Ollie Steiner (violindevil@yahoo.com), May 10, 2002.

about .com

Here's another try at the "about.com" link

-- Ollie Steiner (violindevil@yahoo.com), May 10, 2002.

I have always found a good instructional book an invaluable aid to getting started in something new. For photography my favorite is: Basic Techniques of Photography by Ansel Adams and John Shaefer. It's available at Amazon.com among other places and costs about $25. Absolutely first rate, clearly written, nicely printed, thorough.

-- Don Karon (kc6d@arrl.net), May 10, 2002.

Well, I think if you can possibly manage it, start by taking an intro class/workshop at a college or arts center. Be sure you sign up for a class that gets you into the darkroom, with hands-on experience. While I really like XP-2S and chromogenic films, I think you might be frustrated by getting straight, and often lousy prints, form your local photo finisher. Much of what you see as the beauty of black and white photography, comes from superb printing [enlarging] of the negative. This is something you won't get from the majority of your labs.

If you have to teach yourself I recommend: Well, I think if you can possibly manage it, start by taking an intro class/workshop at a college or arts center. Be sure you sign up for a class that gets you into the darkroom, with hands-on experience. While I really like XP-2S and chromogenic films, I think you might be frustrated by getting straight, and often lousy prints, form your local photo finisher. Much of what you see as the beauty of black and white photography, comes from superb printing [enlarging] of the negative. This is something you won't get from the majority of your labs.

If you have to teach yourself I recommend: Well, I think if you can possibly manage it, start by taking an intro class/workshop at a college or arts center. Be sure you sign up for a class that gets you into the darkroom, with hands-on experience. While I really like XP-2S and chromogenic films, I think you might be frustrated by getting straight, and often lousy prints, form your local photo finisher. Much of what you see as the beauty of black and white photography, comes from superb printing [enlarging] of the negative. This is something you won't get from the majority of your labs.

If you have to teach yourself, I recommend:

Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual -- by Henry Horenstein, Carol Keller (Illustrator); Paperback Price: $17.47 [At amazon]

Computers and inkjet prints are really coming into their own. If you are willing to forgo the traditional darkroom, you can get superb results working with a good imaging program and a good scanner and printer.

Best wishes,

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), May 11, 2002.

That one really got messed up - here is what it should have said:

Well, I think if you can possibly manage it, start by taking an intro class/workshop at a college or arts center. Be sure you sign up for a class that gets you into the darkroom, with hands-on experience. While I really like XP-2S and chromogenic films, I think you might be frustrated by getting straight, and often lousy prints, form your local photo finisher. Much of what you see as the beauty of black and white photography, comes from superb printing [enlarging] of the negative. This is something you won't get from the majority of your labs.

If you have to teach yourself I recommend: Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual -- by Henry Horenstein, Carol Keller (Illustrator); Paperback Price: $17.47 {At amazon]

Computers and digital prints are really coming into their own. If you are willing to forgo the traditional darkroom, you can get superb results working with a good imaging program and a good scanner and printer.

Best wishes,

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), May 11, 2002.

If you live in the Atlanta area, come take some classes at the Spruill Art Center.

-- Ann Clancy (clancya@attbi.com), May 12, 2002.

I suppose, the 101 class has to be take all by your self. So as to set your own identity right from beginning!

But you can always look in a book, most books don't hurt.

Middle

-- middle (middlegray@yahoo.com), May 14, 2002.

Clara, shoot lots of film and it wouldn't hurt to take a class... whether it is an adult ed, a workshop or classes in a photo school, they all help to iron out the beginning steps. Hands on is always easier than trudging through books but there are alot of books that have useful info also.

-- Scott Walton (walton@ll.mit.edu), May 15, 2002.

There are already many good replies to your question and I agree with them all. One thing to also keep in mind is that most of the really great well-known B&W images are done from large format negatives (4x5 or larger). If you are on budget and need to use 35mm film like me, you will soon find out that with 35 mm it is possible to get very good images enlarged to 8x10 or even slightly larger but it is not realistic to compare your images made from 35mm negatives to images made from an 8x10 negative. The tonal range with 35 mm is just not as good no matter what film or camera or lens you use. I say this to keep things in perspective and prevent disappointment and unrealistic expectations. Having said this, if you learn good darkroom technique (which I'm still mastering), you can get some pretty satisfying B&W results from 35mm and not have to spend a fortune to do it. Have fun.

-- Gary Gilino (gary.gilino@redstone.army.mil), May 17, 2002.

Clara

I am all for safety and all of that good stuff, but you have to learn to trust people sometime in your life. Therefore, my best answer to this question is that you say what state your in and quite possibly somebody that reads this forum can get together with you for a few sessions and show you what to do using their equipment. Classes are great, but its an hour here and an hour there. And books are great as well ( I recommend Zone VI workshop by Picker and Ansel's books as well). But there just is no substitution for riding around with someone "cruising fer pics" and watching how its done. You could learn it in a couple of days. Per has some free workshops going later on this year. Maybe if you are in California you could attend one of them. Good Luck. I hope that your interest turns into a lifelong passion for seeing the light. Kevin

-- Kevin Kolosky (kjkolosky@kjkolosky.com), May 18, 2002.

I would suggest you ease into this very gradually.

Get a roll of Ilford XP-2Super, expose it at 400, and take it to a reliable Fuji Frontier lab for proofing. (I saw some chromogenic B/W today at the school where I teach processed at Costco and they were horrid...looked like vomit). Have them done on a Frontier printer in the b/w channel. Good way to get started.

Interesting: I teach 5th grade. Will retire in 18 days! I was setting up a photo display board for open house tomorrow of a field activity with the Marine Science Institute near San Francisco, and I did some of the photos in black and white (XP-2) and some of these 5th graders had never seen a black and white print in their life...amazing! Some don't even know that humans have reached the Moon! I am a teacher and even I ask: where is our education?

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), May 20, 2002.