Black and white photography speaks straight to the soul. Without the distraction of color, every glance, every wrinkle, every shadow becomes a whisper of emotion. It captures the rawness of a moment. The quiet sorrow in a gaze, the strength in a silhouette, the poetry in light and darkness. In its simplicity, it tells the most powerful stories, not in words, but in feeling.
More of my photography can be seen on my blog “Streets of Nuremberg“
When touring a city and its sights with a camera in hand, I’m always on the lookout for those scenes that would work great in black & white. In fact, most of the time I have set my camera to a monochrome mode so I see the composition already in the viewfinder or the display. My Nikon Zf is perfect for that because it has a dedicated switch on the top plate to easily switch between color and B&W.
This image I took the other week in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Alba, Italy. The Duomo di Alba was built in the first half of the 12th century and later reshaped various times. Behind the cross you can see the shapes of the wood-carved chorus stalls built in 1512. Shooting with a Nikkor 40mm f/2 prime lens, I selected the f/2 aperture to bring out the main object in the image, framing the altar and the chorus stalls. The dynamic range of the full frame mirrorless Nikon Zf continues to amaze me.
More of my photography can be seen on my blog “Streets of Nuremberg“
Street Photography (which is my preferred genre) goes great with black & white photography. Or, even better, with high contrast monochrome shooting. Concepts like having to wait for the golden hour do not matter to the street photographer. Complaining about the harsh midday light is also irrelevant for them. Basically you can shoot at any time of the day. Even when traveling and the light is bad, I start looking to capture an interesting street scene to get me back into the flow.
More of my photography can be seen on my blog “Streets of Nuremberg“
For this Monochromia guest post I selected a nature shot. Animals are great subjects for black & white photography. Especially wild ones. But you don’t need to go on Safari in Africa. Just grab your camera and a decent zoom and visit your local zoo. You will be amazed how many opportunities there are for some great monochrome shooting. Look for interesting light, texture, gesture and high contrast. I took that image of a Leopard in the zoo of my hometown Nuremberg. Eye in eye with a predator…
More of my photography can be seen on my blog “Streets of Nuremberg“
For my second Monochromia post I selected an architectural shot. I took that image of the iconic Flatiron Building (aka Fuller Building) back in 2018 when my wife and I visited the Big Apple on our Silver Wedding Anniversary trip. NYC is full of great architecture, and architecture is a great fit with black & white photography.
More of my photography can be seen on my blog “Streets of Nuremberg“
Monochromia 
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