Digital Black and White Photography

In this unique long-weekend workshop, participants will experience the full life cycle of black and white photography from selecting a subject, to shooting, editing and printing.

In a world of color, black and white photography offers the photographer the opportunity to get back to the basic essence of photography – the importance of visual design, composition and exposure. That is why well executed black and white images have such enduring appeal. But shooting for, editing and printing black and white images require different considerations than working in color. Today’s digital cameras, digital darkroom software programs and digital printers provide phenomenal advantages for producing black and white prints that would make Ansel Adams envious.

In this hands-on workshop, Mary Louise will explain how to identify and previsualize scenes with strong black and white image potential. Participants will then have multiple photo shoots practicing these techniques photographing unique items like antiques and at nature photography locations in the region. Just on site at the 20-acre Mountain Lens training center there is a serene pond, a scenic waterfall, bamboo forest and a mile of trails along meandering creeks and a forested hillside.

Then it’s on to the digital darkroom where Mary Louise will share her step-by-step approach for optimally converting images from color to black and white using a combination of Adobe’s Lightroom software and Nik’s Silver Efex Pro software.

Joining Mary Louise in teaching will be master printer and Mountain Lens co-founder Jeff Miller, who will explain how to produce the best black and white photographic prints.

Over the weekend in addition to photographing in the field, participants will work on editing their own images with input, guidance and feedback from Mary Louise and Jeff. The workshop culminates with each participant printing one of their images to take home.