If You're Thinkin Bout Being My Baby It Don't Matter If You're Black or White

Around Christmas I started reading Digital Photo magazine (per suggestion). I've been reading it almost cover to cover (skipping some of the descriptions of products I can't afford :)) and was pleasantly surprised that last month's issue was themed black and white.

Despite being in a beautiful tropical environment with gorgeous, vivid colors, I wanted to practice taking black and white shots. (Apparently it's better to take pictures in color and convert to black and white afterwards, but since I hadn't tried my black and white camera settings, I wanted to do it that way first).

This is what I learned from what I read - take pictures based on shapes. Certain shapes, like clouds, look great in black and white.
Pay attention to texture and shading. This is what will come out most dramatically in black and white.
Use the light. (Who am I kidding, light is always important).

I used two different settings on my camera, one that does high contrast shots and one that's a little softer. I definitely preferred the softer look.

Here are (what I think) are my best shots:

f/9, 1/1250th, ISO 400, 18mm

f/10, 1/800th, ISO 400, 60mm

f/5.6, 1/4000th, ISO 400, 70mm
I took a bunch of pictures of A while she was strolling along the beach looking for shells. Something about the little person with the big hat next to the ocean looked postcard ready to me. 

f/4.5, 1/4000th, ISO 400, -2 exposure, 26mm

f/4.5, 1/3200th, ISO 100, 26mm
If there was one thing the articles I read were right about, it's that clouds look really interesting when the shot is in black and white. 

f/5.6, 1/1250th, ISO 100, 70mm
teeny tiny sailboat off in the distance :)

I was pleasantly surprised with how they came out. I would say that while many of the shots I took (what you see here is but a small segment of my black and white photos) probably would look better in color, these ones really are more dynamic and interesting in black and white.