The Black and White Landscape Composition - What I look For

 I had just spent a couple days on a long anticipated and delayed overnight canoe camping / photographic trip. Early afternoon on that last day had already settled in and the sky was bright and blue with long fingers of clouds accenting the sky. I enjoyed the canoe paddle back to where I had parked on the lake taking my time to simply observe and anticipate any photographic opportunity that might happen to catch my eye. As it turned out I did manage to capture a few images, most being ordinary but enjoyable captures featuring the long terrain surrounding the lake and that amazing blue sky being held aloft by those beautiful clouds. After unloading my canoe and repacking all the gear into and on top of my Jeep, I climbed aboard and headed down the country lane that would eventually take me home. On the way out I noticed a fresh cut field on my left where a myriad of large rolls of hay lay randomly stacked across the landscape. Overhead almost like a supporting cast for that amazing blue sky, those long streaks of clouds stretched their veils above and across the horizon. I slammed on the brakes, pulled out my camera, and began to visually search across the field for a composition that would capture the moment in such a way as to portray what not only my eye perceived, but what my heart experienced.

Sometimes it is difficult to explain to someone who may not possess the same affinity for black and white photography how and why I look for specific elements when capturing a moment and why I love black and white photography. Black and white relies more strongly on composition, shape, form, structure, contrast, and story than a color image. Color images rely on those things as well, and even more so on the light that is available, but often color itself gets in the way. Light, of course, is important for black and white as well, but black and white is more suited for a wider range of lighting conditions than color is. Taking a mid-day color image will result more often in an ordinary and rather bland photograph. Take that same photograph, convert it to black and white. Add a bit of contrast. Throw in a filter or two and that bland image suddenly explodes into wonderful composition filled with story and structure.

I look for opportunities where there is a bright blue sky accented with varying degrees of cloud structures often combined with water and the reflections it offers. It's the clouds that set the sky apart and added to the nostalgic flavor of the image moment. Attach a polarizer filter to the lens and add that blue sky takes on a deepness and depth an ordinary blue sky might lack. Compositionally, I look for story and depth. Both of these go together. Depth adds to the story and carries the viewer into the image. The elements of the composition write the visual story. 

I also look for variations in contrasts. A good black and white image should in most cases possess within its composition darks and lights and middle tones that range from almost fully black, to almost fully white. Each composition is different with some containing more darks than lights and some just the opposite.  It's that contrast between the darks and lights than spell out the story. A dark black and white sky should be able to move the viewer toward understanding just how blue the sky actually was. Clouds are key to that for clouds provide the sky character and movement and should tie the sky to the surface.

When using the sky I usually try to offer more of it than from the foreground and sometimes I split the image down the center breaking from the rule of thirds syndrome, and I often look for a line that leads the viewer into the photograph taking their eye right up into the sky. To me, the sky is the most important element in a black and white landscape. It's not the only element of course, but it offers an opportunity to provide the viewer with a sense of bigness where the foreground or the landscape itself offers a sense of place. Both work together and when elements of the foreground extend into the sky, then the composition begins to tie itself together. 

Learning how to recognize what makes a good black and white landscape composition while viewing the world through the color filter of our eyes takes a bit practice and experimenting. But, when you begin to master that ability, the black and white image opportunities begin to magically appear. Black and white was my first photography love, and I still seek out the allure and strength of what it offers.

Overnight Canoe Camping and Photography on Kentucky's Barren River Lake

 Finally made an overnight canoe trip on Barren River Lake. The first one of the 2025 season. Warm days and cool evening made for an enjoyable outing. Foggy morning made for excellent photography opportunities.

Please enjoy....

All You Need is...One

 The past several months I have neglected getting out doing much of anything in the outdoors. Lots of reasons for that. Sad thing is, as a result my photography has suffered. The past few days I managed to get out again for a concentrated photo shoot with just me, my canoe, some camping gear, and my camera. I suppose this unseasonable change in the weather helped to jump start me out of my doldrums, so I head over to Kentucky's beautiful Barren River Lake for an overnight canoe camping trip. My intent was to refocus on my photography and hopefully rediscover the magic this creative art performs. As with most of my outings, I managed to take several hundred photographs...about half of which were...eeeah. The other half produced some okay images but nothing out of the ordinary...but...as I have often shared on this blog...all you need is one.

The first day was spent canoeing over to my favorite isolated camping spot...a nice, somewhat secluded cove with a commanding view of that part of the lake...a view that potentially offers some excellent sundown opportunities. After cooking myself a steak and fried potatoes supper over my small campfire, I settled back to wait for that sundown to develop. Turned out to be rather uneventful as clouds moved in and created a dull light that offered not much of anything.

I called it a day rather early and did some reading. The evening air started to cool down creating a very nice crispy feel to the night air. I was tired, so I shut off the small reading light and tried to get some sleep. Sleep always seems to avoid me especially on my first night out like that, but somehow I managed to drift off, waking several times during the night to shift my position trying to relieve a stiff back. When I finally did fall fast asleep, the night went by rather quickly and I awoke to the sound of an irritated blue heron squawking like he'd been insulted. I raised up a little and realized that squawking heron had done me a huge favor. The sun was still several minutes from rising but the sky out front of my camping area was glowing with a soft delight. I scrambled to my feet and grabbed my camera. When I stepped out onto the sandy/gravel beach area, I was greeted with a wonderful layer of fog that drifted across the lake. Fog on this lake is one of its treasures and this time of year when the water is still warm and the air is crisp and cool...well I was hoping for such a morning. 

I chased the light here and there capturing quick images then I worked my way over toward where a small cove slices into the peninsula I was camped on. Across the way about a hundred yards or so a small point of land juts into the lake and behind it a heavy layer of fog drifted through the trees and over the water. The light was magical, soft, blue, and accented by the fog drifting across the landscape. The subtle greenness of some bushes and the stark portraiture of distant tree trunks caught my photographers eye. The shot I was waiting for...looking for...hoping for materialized out of the morning air before the sun invaded the landscape and ruined the moment. I pointed my camera. Framed a few quick images. Snapped several shots. Readjusted my exposure and shifted my position slightly and fired off another quick image or two. The in-camera results looked promising and I thought maybe these might produce something usable.

Fast forward to the next day after I had returned home. I managed to offload those images and browse through them when I came across that small series I just described. My Ansel Adams creative mindset started to kick in in color and I began to explore what those images offered. When I finished with the final image, none of the others I took mattered much after that. Like I said...all you need is...one.