What to look for in a B&W photo?

I started with a rangefinder film camera in the late 70s when it was only B&W. I had a primitive camera and limited shooting opportunities, but those memories are more enjoyable than current high-speed shooting. I moved through many phases to my current m43 kit (DSLR kit about to retire), but photography has always been a hobby.

I am now exploring B&W again. I want to get your thoughts on the following lines, and probably more ideas if you could.

What subjects, scenes or settings suite B&W vs. color.
When trying to shoot something in B&W what should I be looking for?
What tricks can I use to make B&W photos stand out?
Etc.

Here're few recent examples. Trying uploads for the first time. Hope this works!

This first one is from the camera as shot, with B&W photo style.

This second one is the same photo processed as B&W from raw file. I like this better. May be, due to the brightness, or cropping out some empty space in the frame.

These next two are the same shot, B&W produced by the camera and color version processed from raw. I feel that lot of things are clear in the color version like different hair colors, folds, etc. In the B&W the attention is drawn just to one known piece, the face. Not sure which is better than the other.

This last set is a shot of the woods behind my house. I can't say one is better than the other but they both covey a different mood.

Your thoughts?
Thanks.

Satyaa,

I read once that if you are trying to tell a story, or if color would not add anything to your photo, then black and white is a good choice.

I call this one, "Alone against the world".

• Gloria Gaynor - 'I Will Survive".
  "No, not I, I will survive
  Oh as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive
  I've got all my life to live and I've got all my love to give
  And I'll survive, I will survive."

Steve Thomas

Black and White photography relies on the purest of compositional elements, shape, form and texture to tell the story. One of the major challenges in producing good B&W images is the ability to visualize the scene in the language of shape from and texture all the while ignoring color. After all Edward Weston was not interested in the green of a pepper when he produced his wonderful work of images of bell peppers.

This site gives an interesting opening discussion

www.judithbaratharts.com/articles4q-wnd-opk/articles/black-and-white-the-purest-form-of-photography#:~:text=A%20black%20and%20white%20photograph,elements%20that%20make%20the%20composition.&text=The%20texture%20represents%20the%20details,to%20create%20visually%20stunning%20images.

Of course there is a lot more. My advice to your question is to start out by finding and looking at some of the work of the masters, Edward Weston, W. Eugene Smith, Ansel Adams, Robert Adams, Paul Strand, etc. Sit down and look at their images and understand how they saw the world and what they were trying to say with their photographs. In B&W the absents of color tells the story. If the story needs color to tell it - it is not a good subject for B&W.

Blood splatter crime scenes (use flash bounce grip) and wounded / dying soldiers in the battlefield, always make for good black and white photographs.

Textures do well in monochrome. Wood grain, fur, even the sheen of metal. Your cat's fur does it, IMHO.

In the '70s a friend and I chased images in Arizona ghost towns. Lots of texture, and dark daylight skies filled with puffy cumulus clouds (red filter) made for some great imaging. I need to scan some negatives sometime...

Understand colours for their tonal values

Black and white can make something stand out. The dark cat against the dark background not very fitting for black and white. Dark cat on the white table makes more sense for black and white.

The red patio with the green forest behind, that can be a chance to make them stand out from each other. But they already stand out from each other in colour, don't they? Black and white can reduce the distractions and simplify the photo, but the photo is already simple enough in colour isn't it?

Black and white can be a way to make a photo more abstract to add mystery or make the photo more impressionistic. After all, the world is not really black and white, is it? I photograph piles of dirty snow in the parking lot, they just look at piles of dirty snow in colour, but they can have impression of being big majestic mountains in black and white.

Black and white can also be used to create a certain mood or as a metaphor. A good example is the film, Pleasantville, a world where everyone see everything as in black and white and people gradually begin to see things as more than just black and white.

Black and white is something I try to use sparingly otherwise it can become a gimmick or cliche. If you have the right reason to use it, it can be very powerful.

Two things....

1... does the picture beg the viewer to ask questions?

2....Does the picture have immediate impact? (Wowness)