Bruce Weber Photographer Talks About High and Low Key Black and White Photography

It is often said that the best way to draw out creativity from an artist is to limit them. Maybe this is why many photography professionals, including Bruce Weber Photographer, are popular for shooting in black and white. Lack of color helps create a greater emphasis on other visual elements of the image that make black and white photography immensely compelling. Shooting for black and white requires a different focus and attention than shooting for color. Impactful black and white images require the photographer to look for shadows, contrasts, and patterns.

Bruce Weber Photographer sheds light on the aspect of high and low key black and white photography 

It can be a satisfying experience to capture a dramatic, powerful black and white image. However, impressive black and white images do heavily depend on the understanding of contrast, texture, and tone. Therefore, when trying out black and white photography, it is vital to understand how tones and lighting work in this style, in comparison to colored images. When it comes to lighting in black and white photography shoots, the terms High Key and Low Key are commonly used. These terms refer to the level of contrast between light and dark components in a photo.

High key is when an image mostly comprises of black and white or light and dark components, with very little or no middle grey tones at all. It is used to put more focus on the subject. The background of high key black and white photography should be bright. However, the lighting on the main subject should be diffused. Doing so will create light, clean looking high key images. The final image must look neat and clean cut. But the outline of the subject has to be well-defined to be impactful enough. When trying out high key black and white photography, one must use subjects with strong shapes, like mountains, buildings and trees.

Low key, on the other hand, implies to a low-contrast image. In this style, the tones of the shadows and highlights are all quite similar. Low key black and white photography is majorly useful for creating images that capture intense mood or emotion. A lot of dramatic black and white portraits are shot in a low key style. To make sure that no light falls onto the background, scenes have to be kept dark in low key black and white photography. The only thing that should be lit is the main subject. The further away a subject is from the background, the darker shall they appear.  Soft lighting is usually suited low key black and white photos.

Bruce Weber Photographer is among the many photography professionals who are renowned for their work in black and white. He has largely worked in portraiture and fashion photography. Bruce aims at capturing the emotions of his subjects and honestly revealing elements of their personality through his photos. His 1980s advertisement campaigns for brands like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, as well as Abercrombie and Fitch became immensely popular. In a way, they helped define an idealized and iconic American look.