A good black/white photography book

Does anyone have any good books they would recommed about b/w photography? I

really like it, but would like to read more about it. I have a D50, but plan on

using an old Nikon N65 with black and white film for b/w shooting. Thanks :)

Start with "Black & White Photography, A Basic Manual", by Henry Horenstein. If that's too basic, look at his "Beyond Basic Photography".

There are severals discussions of this in the Photography Books forum.

Thanks :) (didn't see that forum >< sorry).

<u>Way Beyond Monochrome</u> by Ralph W. Lambrecht and Chris Woodhouse<p>

 

<u>Edge of Darkness: The Art, Craft, and Power of the High-Definition Monochrome Photograph</u>

by Barry Thornton

<a href="https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/basu/web/links/books.html">Check these out.</a>

Jimee - Which lenses do you have for the Nikons? I'm inclined to suggest you look out for a good couple of fixed focal length Nikon lenses of reknowned quality (put the zoom asisde ... guessing that's what's on it), get a few filters to match the lens, green, yellow, orange and red, go out with a medium speed film (process yourself?), and experiment.

 

.... as well as buy one of the suggested books ...

 

But also make illustrated notes of you own work, with results of your exercises in a binder, where you can paste in actual test prints.

For example: A landscape image taken with each of the filters to show exactly what happens.

 

Together with the book/s you buy, and the endless resource of advice here at Photo.net, your own "study" documents will be the icing on the cake.

 

"B/W photography" covers a huge field. Do you have a special interest? Journalism ... portrait ... landscape ?

 

Kevin.

Just read Anupam Basu's "Check these out.". I endorse this 100%

Pico took the words right out of my mouth. In terms of learning the craft of B+W processing and printing, those two books are among the best out there IMO.

I'd presonally stay away from Way Beyond Monochrome as a beginning book....great stuff, but not for beginners. My two favorites are The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum and Tim Rudman's Master Printing (name may not be right). These plus the Horenstein book and you would have a pretty good set.

Mark, you're thinking about the book "Beyond Monochrome" by Worobiec and Spence, which deals mostly with advanced toning and finishing techniques. Way Beyond Monochrome by Lambrecht and Woodhouse (oddly enough) contains lots of great info on the more "standard" practices of B+W. Very similar titles but very different subject matter. Both are great reads however.

I have read many books about b/w photography and, probably, the best of them has been "Mastering Black and White Photography", by Bernhard J. Suess. I bought it in www.amazon.com . Good luck.

Hi Jimee,

 

One of the best that I've seen (if you're interested in shooting B/W outdoors) is "How to Photograph the Outdoors in Black and White" by George Schaub. It's currently $13.57 new on Amazon...at the following page:

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=br_ss_hs/002-0279631-9367275?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dblended&keywords=george+schaub

 

It offers a practical, not overly technical, balance of art and technique.

 

George is now editor of Shutterbug, and his column in the latest issue discusses (rather touchingly) the possible decline of B/W "silver process" printing in the face of ink-jet output. Worthwhile reading.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dave

Another nod to Barry Thornton's "Edge of Darkness". Very informative and insightful but not too technical, but enough so, and just a very good read overall.

Way Beyond Monochrome, as others have said. Got it about a year ago, best ever, although I haven't read Thornton's books. Warning, I read it, and then got into f-stop timing (more money spent :) )

No need to go anywhere else - if you do not get anything out of the books already mentioned here you are either an absolute genius in this field, or you should look for a new hobby. I love the Horenstein book as a starter, it is intentionally basic - but still surprises many with a hidden tid-bit of info that experienced photogs can learn from. Love the Adams trilogy (not Douglas :)). Yep, forget other forums - start going down that list!

Jimee,

 

One recommendation I have is that, if possible, you choose a camera other than the N65. It's a good camera (I have one) but it does not allow you to select the ISO of the film you load, preventing you from up or down rating the film. This, as you will very quickly realize, is an essential aspect of working with black and white film. It's a shame because the N65 is a small, light, inexpensive and capable camera.

Ansel Adams - The Camera-The Negative-The Print series...

The Horenstein book is the best book to get started, IMO. It's relatively basic and that's not a bad thing.

 

I would supplement that with Bernhard Seuss's excellent "Back to Black and White" series that you can find at:

 

http://www.nyip.com/sub_idx_pgs/referidx/ref_b2bw.php

 

Nobody much talks about that series of articles but it's amazingly comprehensive regarding beginner/intermediate darkroom techniques.

Another vote for the Suess book (and NYIP site). I teach B&W, beginner & intermediate and this is the author I recommend. All the others mentioned are good but if you're going to read and keep just one make it the Suess. His approach is very practical and real world, i.e. news you can use but still rigourous.

His is about the only how to book you need to begin with, spend the rest of your money/time on looking at collections of work by various photographers for inspiration.

 

Dave.

And another vote for Mastering B&W Photography by Bernard Suess. I have read a good many photography books over the years and must say that this was by far the best written with basic to advanced information. It has everything from camera, lens, film & filter choices to developing, toning & mounting.

 

Combine it with a copy of Fred Picker's Zone VI Workshop and you may never need to purchase another book.

I knew somebody would say that the F65 isn't good enough.

 

Steve- Yes you can change the ISO. Just use the EV settings. +/-2 stops from what the film is set at. If you need more than that then you need a different film.

 

Check my webpage. All bw shots are with the F65 and with bulk loaded film (the camera ISO setting is taped at 400 and use EV setting for 100-1600)

After looking, AGAIN, at Ansel Adams' work, I got really charged up. After shooting Nikon 35mm for 40 years, I just invested in a couple "vintage" RB-67's and I am gonna begin doing some B&W.

 

A little re-education was necessary, so I also invested in Ansel's Trilogy. As a bonus to the education I will get, I can also just enjoy the "pretty pictures!" I got the three books in hard-cover in practically NEW condition on Amazon.com for less than $25 including shipping!

 

I also picked up two other Ansel books--hardcover--for another $10.

 

I have also found Robert Capa's Heart of Spain; several of Sebastiao Salgado's picture books and a host of others at comparable prices Amazon.

 

Well worth checking them out. . .

"Way Beyond Monochrome" is worth the cost if only for the concept of f-stop timing. Which BTW, doesn't actually require any further expense if you don't mind reading from a chart and fiddling with the timer. But I would agree that it's certainly not a beginner book.