Making Landscapes in Black & White

If color photography shows us how a landscape looks, then black & white photography can show us how it feels. Here’s how to distill your outdoor photography down to its most powerful basic elements.

When it comes to landscape photography, black & white can give your images a completely different feel than those shot in color. This is not to say that monochrome is better than color, it’s just very different and will suit certain locations, weather conditions, and times of day better.

As with other genres of photography, black & white removes the ‘distraction’ of color and lets us focus on other things better, such as patterns, reflections, and textures. It’s all about shape, tone, and contrast. With black & white, we are trying to create something less complex than the scene in front of us – we’re aiming to distill the essence from the landscape and leave behind superfluous details.

© Jonathan Irish

What Makes a Good Black & White Landscape Photo?

Look out for shapes and lines that contrast well with what’s around them. For instance, the white water of a waterfall against the black rocks behind it, or fishing boats sitting on the water by the beach. Are there any shapes that lead the eye into and around the picture? For example, fences, railings, or train tracks.

• © Braden Gunem
• © Bill Fortney

Black & white photography can also transform the way that skies look in your landscape photos, particularly if you are shooting in less-than-brilliant weather. Stormy clouds take on a dark and sinister look, and even white clouds in a blue sunny sky can be made to pop if you use one of your camera’s red filter Film Simulation modes, such as ACROS+R or MONOCHROME+R.

Photographers making color landscapes tend to wait for the warm orange light of the golden hour – the time just after sunrise or just before sunset – to make the colors in their pictures look at their best. But photographers working with black & white are free from this restriction, and can photograph at any time of the day, as long as there is good contrast and texture in front of them.

© Karen Hutton

Remember that not all landscape photography needs to portray a location as a beautiful paradise. The honesty of black & white lends itself to tough, gritty scenes, like battered coastlines or decaying industrial architecture. You can see what a photo will look like in monochrome by flipping into a black & white Film Simulation mode – the viewfinder will instantly show you how things appear.

© Lee Varis

Your Next Steps

• CHALLENGE The next time the weather turns bad, step out and photograph it in black & white using your camera’s Film Simulation modes. Post your favorite image to social media with the hashtag #MyFujifilmLegacy and #blackandwhite. You can also submit your work here for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.
• LEARN Download our booklet See the World in Black and White with FUJIFILM X Series