I often find myself inspired by the work of other photographers.  One trend I’ve noticed and liked is that of black and white photographs of wildlife, as shown in the work of photographers of African wildlife Nick Brandt and Andy Biggs as well as in a book of native Hawaiian wildlife (that I can’t think of the name of at the moment).  So I thought I’d try the technique myself.

By experimenting with existing photographs, I’ve quickly learned that certain photographs lend themselves to black and white better than others.  In particular I find that images featuring a subject against a rather monotone background, usually either hi key or low key, work best.  Also, certain subjects just seem to have better impact in black and white.  While I can’t take photographs of wild lions, giraffes, zebras, and elephants, large mammals that look awesome in monochrome photos, I do have access to white-tailed deer, wild ponies, bobcat, and black bear, bigger animals that can make suitable black and white subjects.  Of course, getting photographs of these species with a clean background can be difficult, probably one more reason black and white images of African wildlife, photographed against nearly barren grasslands and plains, are so appealing and popular.  So I’ve discovered a new challenge.

Here is one attempt made earlier this week at converting an existing image to black and white.  This portrait of a Chincoteague Pony stallion works because the background is fairly uniform and the subject fills the frame.  In converting this image, I added a slight warming affect to the image, as I find monochrome images with a slight color cast are often more appealing than straight black and white.  It’s not perfect, but its a start, and hopefully I’ll keep black and white in mind next time I’m photographing large wildlife.

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