Black And White Photography - [5 things why B&W photography will make you a BETTER photographer]

From the comments:

Your remark about shadows really resonated with me, Peter. Of course you need light to cast shadows, but when you put the emphasis on shadows, I recalled some of the iconic pictures I saw in photography magazines created during the’ 50s through the ‘80s by well-recognized photographers. Their work alluded to mystery, intrigue, curiosity, cold, wonderment, magic, and other imaginings and feelings with a thoughtful use of shadows. It’s been more than a decade since I took any black and white photos, so I’m really curious now about what I could create with my digital camera dialed to “B&W”. Thank you for the inspiration! I appreciate it. - John Gyorki

 You'll know that I shoot 95% of my images with a view to publish in B&W. I do make an occasional excursion into the world of colour. I think that this is due to growing up with FP4 and my own darkroom. When I bought my PEN-F, I fell in love with B&W again. I shoot in raw but have the dial on the front turned to mono so that I compose in B&W. I later convert my raw using Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro2. I have a couple of tips for the mono conversion. I'm assuming you're using Lightroom and have clicked the mono button at the top right of the tools on the right hand side. Firstly, use the colour temperature slider and see the effect it has on the image; especially for portraits it has a huge effect on the relative tone of the skin. Secondly, do use the various colour sliders to change the relative grey tonal range of each colour as this helps to create differential tone for colours that look the same when converted to B&W - Sam Thompson

 Excellent speaking in general. I had to stop video at first 2 mins to hit the Like button right away. To me, i find it really hard to put out a good photo without preparing or planning, especially in B&W. Unlikely to Color Images, B&W requires 75% more of your creativeness in it. Color Images can easily tell a story behind it or to express themself , however B&W has its own ways to express themself. I've heard that Photography is all about controlling the Light, but controlling Shadow is the way i see it ( in B&W ). - Tyron William