Smashing Magazine
Beautiful Black and White Photography
If you’ve been following Smashing Magazine for a while, you know that almost all posts from the Monday Inspiration series are pretty colorful and eye-catching. This post is an exception. Compared to colorful designs where catchy colors help the design to stand out, in black-and-white designs the ability to stand out depends only on its ability to communicate rather than on its appealing visual presentation.
Indeed, beautiful black and white photography doesn’t attract with its play of colors. Here close attention to composition, lighting, perspective and the context it is shot in are important. Hence, before considering the photos presented below please prepare some patience and time. This post presents some truly excellent examples of beautiful black-and-white photography.
Notice: this post isn’t supposed to showcase the best black-and-white-photos of world’s best photographers; please see it as a modest attempt to inspire designers for experimenting with black and white instead of using a variety of vibrant colors all the time. Hopefully, everybody will find something interesting and unusual for herself or himself.
You may want to take a look at our related posts
All photos belong to the respective owners.
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Beautiful Black-And-White-Photography
Toni Frissell
In her legendary photos Toni Frissell impresses with a strong trend toward surrealism or realism. The photo presented below, although in black and white, is both extremely sharp and clear. To achieve such level of clarity in black and white is extremely hard.
Alin Ciortea
Alin Ciortea presents examples of modern street photography. In black and white, of course.
Birds
Unfortunately, the photographer is unknown. The photo seems to be taken at exact the right moment from exactly the right angle with a perfect lighting. Black and white can be powerful as well.
Sally Mann
This photo, titled Candy Cigarette, not just displays something, it tells a story. It is both emotional and beautiful. This is what the originality of black-and-white-photography is all about.
Larry Towell
This shot was taken in El Salvador. Child with star mask during “Day Of The Dead”. Other child in background rolls tire for repair in garage where he works at an adult’s job. The photo is full of tiredness and stubbornness. Simple motif conveying strong emotions.
Aneta Kowalczyk
Aneta Kowalczyk specializes in portrait photography. Some of her photos are provoking, some are strange and some are extremely beautiful. The example below displays the beautiful side of black and white photography.
Nick Brandt
Nick Brandt is a renown animal photographer which has become famous with his book of photographs, “On This Earth”, which was published in October 2005.
Gary Winogrand
Taking a shot just at the right moment.
Larry Louie
Woman Of Tibet. Realism at its best. Awarded with International Photography Awards in 2007.
Gabriele Caretti
Tour Eiffel: extraordinary contrast and perspective. Strong, clean and very precise shot.
Ghost Town Charm
Excellent lighting.
Ansel Adams
One of the most famous contemporary black and white photographers. Classic!
Maurizio Polese
Polese’s works pay close attention to small, tiny details. The tones are perfects and compositions are beautiful which is why the photos are presented in this post. Notice the sharp contrast and the lighting at the first image below and the sharp pathway leading to the light in the second one.
Top 10 Wired.com Reader Black-and-White Photos
Ten extraordinary black and white photographs sent to the Wired.com editorial by its readers.
Michele Clement
Artistic yet beautiful and extremely powerful shot. Michele Clement is the winner of Black & White Spider Awards 2007 in category “Outstanding Achievement”.
Snyder Alison
This photo has been taken in South Crillon Glacier, Washburn.
Abbas
Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami on the hills surrounding the captital, where his film “Taste of Cherry”, which was co-awarded the Golden Palm in Cannes 1997, was shot.
Patrick Figaj
Ceremony.
Jack Radcliffe
Alison’s life in black and white photos. The significance of these pictures emerges in retrospect. “When my daughter Alison was born, in the tradition of a new parent, I began to photograph her, initially in a separate and private body of work. However, in the process of documenting Alison’s growth, I developed a passionate interest in human relationships and capturing intimate moments in the lives of family and friends.”
Arndt Laude
Alignment. Sometiems all it takes is to be at the right place in the right moment and take a shot under the right angle. That’s what happened here.
Ralph Gibson
Staircase is an example of Gibson’s high-contrast, minimalist black and white compositions have influenced a generation of photographers. By isolating the essential elements of a scene, his pictures show a style that is unique and immediately recognizable. [via]
Elliott Erwitt
Erwitt, an advertising and journalistic photographer known for his black and white candid shots of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings — the master of the “indecisive moment”.
Roy Mckeown
Snowy Sheep.
Van Shnooken Raggen
Two Warehouses.
Rodney Smith
Rodney Smith has his own understanding of professional black-and-white-photography. Unusual, abstract and surrealistic works.
Drole Deciel
Smiley.
Shazeen Samad
Simple yet excellent composition. This photo manages not just to show something, but to capture a moment of life in all its beauty and vividness.
Scott Bush
Berk-plage – France. What a sky! A really strange squadron: octopussy, teddy bear and skates.
Pedro Meyer
Pedro Meyer shows the life of people across the globe. This photo was taken in Rio De Janeiro.
Mitch Dobrowner
Mitch Dobrowner is famous due to his Earth photos.
Robertino Nikolic
lighting plays with geometry. Or geometry plays with lighting? The winner of the Black & White Spider Awards 2007.
Matthias Just
747.
Unknown
Capturing the right moment at the right point of time.
Bert (Quasebart)
Perfect timing, perfect lighting. A dreamy shot.
Hughes Leglise-Bataille
That’s a quite unusual perspective for a photograph.
Santosh Korthiwada
“No peeping please!” Very powerful, emotional and somehow sad photo.
Rui Palha
Rui Palha photographs simple people in simple situations. Result: extraordinary photos of simple things surrounding our life.
Watanabe
Straws.
Lauren
Two Tree Hill. The composition looks very surreal, yet powerful and beautiful.
G. Diaz Deleon
Ventana XIV. Geometric minimalism at its best.
Maurizio Polese
Escape. Unusual angle, unusual perspective.
Jana Stolzer
Nameless.
Vega Omer
Struggling to survive.
Ezra Caldwell
Dog snout. Sometimes the moments from our life are the most valuable moments we should enjoy and keep in mind.
Last Click
Classics in Lego
An illustrative summary of iconic pictures with their pairs of Balakov’s Lego figure pictures which are reconstucting famous moments in the history of mankind.
Mark Daniel Owen
I heart you. Do you see what we see?
Sources and Resources
- Tribute to Masters of Photography
- Black and White Photo Gallery
- 1000 B&W Flickr Pool
- Decisive Moments: Classics in B&W
- The Blanco y Negro – Black and White Flickr Pool
- Noir & Blanc
- Blue and White Excellence Moments
- Netdiver Photography
- The Art of Black and White Photography (Hard Cover)
- Ten Truly Inspiring Photographers
- Key Ingredients to Black and White Photography
- Masters of Photography Flickr
Vitaly Friedman, editor-in-chief of Smashing Magazine, an online magazine dedicated to designers and developers.
- 308 Comments
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March 25th, 2010 1:35 pmWhen I think of the word beautiful I think of death and destruction because it’s the only thing that can fix many of those who have acute or very serious problems. That’s beautiful.
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June 21st, 2010 12:26 pmjust SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no one cares about your pathetic out-take on life. just because you cant find anything beautiful about art doesn’t mean we dont. so get off your sorry butt and get a life and stop putting people who are more cultured than you down.
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August 2nd, 2010 10:34 pmWow, I’ve never seen someone go mental over black and white. You racist Nazi!!!! Let’s see you try to take a picture like the above. Uncultured Swine!
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August 6th, 2010 6:40 amare you serious elrith ? go slit your wrists man holy shit, showing pictures in color and then in black and white sendsa message, B&W photography is an ART it makes you think of the thoughts behind the picture like the little boy in the third world country, makes you think of what he is going through, his world is being destroyed and is it beautiful ? i definately dont think so. so keep your horrible self pity thought to yourself.
great pictures by the way
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February 20th, 2010 5:40 pmThose are absolutely beautiful B&W shots. Thank you for the inspiration.
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March 25th, 2010 1:34 pmInspire you to do what? Throw up?
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March 17th, 2010 12:14 amIn this photostream there are some masterpiece, I like it all!!
Tahnks for the inspiration.
raffaele
scheda28 – is my nick on flickr!!- 260
March 25th, 2010 1:33 pmMasterpiece my ass it’s a piece of shit; all of it, that is.
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August 19th, 2010 7:02 amElrith shut up, you are so rude
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March 25th, 2010 5:48 amthese photos are amazing. They grab your attention and make you think, ” why did the photgrapher take this image? what did he/she see?” beautiful.
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March 25th, 2010 1:33 pmThese photos are horrible. The only reason I’m looking at them is because I have to use some of them for art class. What is the point of taking black and white pictures when they can be in color? Art is the upmost cheapest and worst way of expressing yourself. Art can be spelled as “rat” and no one likes rats.
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April 18th, 2010 10:12 am@ elrith
you seem so bitter and frustrated with….”art” or life in general.
there are so many ways to express yourself through art, whether it be b&w photography or color photography or sculpting small or giant structures. you may not like b&w but that doesnt mean it is horrible, thats just an opinion and not a fact. try taking a few deep breathes and maybe some counseling sessions too. “just my opinion”- 265
May 31st, 2010 11:11 amEsta seguro que esta tomado clases de arte? no será de plomería?
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May 23rd, 2010 7:15 amc’mon elrith, the reason why you use them in your class is because they are good, you can’t sell what you don’t believe in , LOL was lookin at your comments and you really sound like you hate black and white photography, but believe me there is just something about them, not too busy , liberating and happy !
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June 8th, 2010 12:37 amElrith don’t forget to take your pills …
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March 26th, 2010 7:18 amvery cool pics,hats off to you .
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March 31st, 2010 1:13 amAwesome pictures! Weldone All!
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April 5th, 2010 7:30 amBlack & white photography does not get much better than these examples. Fantastic work.
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April 9th, 2010 6:52 ami Love lego people
Don’t judge me cause of my fine Words!
Awesome!!!!!Peace.
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April 13th, 2010 6:55 ami love these photos and if u think these suck monkey
butts u don’t know art.
that makes u a monkey butt sucker!!!peace
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April 16th, 2010 10:32 amBeutiful it hurts my heart =/ so amazing !
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April 16th, 2010 11:43 amomijesus i love your photos such power and heart… i used your photos for a class assignment and they moved me…strongly
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April 16th, 2010 11:44 ami cried looking at a few…
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April 18th, 2010 4:46 pmthese photos are WONDERFUL ! Thank you so much for putting them up.
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April 26th, 2010 8:42 amI like , all these pictures , really am love it
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April 28th, 2010 3:40 amWonderful pictures!
Are they clear from copyright? Can I display them on my website? - 279
April 30th, 2010 3:41 amawesome is an understatement ….these were the most amazing pics i have ever seen in my life…truly beautiful……
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May 4th, 2010 5:45 ami love black and white photos
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May 6th, 2010 10:20 pmthere is so much soul n there is no word in the English volc. to xpress the beauty of these photos!!
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May 7th, 2010 8:14 ami really like black n white photo, for me it was more realistic.
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May 11th, 2010 7:52 amYou have some beautiful black and white photographs on here but if you really want to see black and white photography at its very finest you should check out Bill Brandt, George Tice, Kosti Ruohomma, Alfred Eisenstadt, Minnie Libby and George Hurrell, among many others.
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May 12th, 2010 9:04 pmwho ever made this article is a pretentious art fuck
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May 31st, 2010 7:26 amBrian, I guess that makes you one as well for looking at it then! If you don’t like it, what are you doing here then!?
Very nice work I think!!
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July 29th, 2010 9:43 pmNice positive response. Well done.
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May 17th, 2010 11:47 amSimplesmente arrasou,lindas demais,parabéns.
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May 18th, 2010 4:39 amI used to love photography! Then i got wrapped up in my school work! I think this i goin to really change my mind about giving up on photography! I love it a lot!
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May 23rd, 2010 7:19 amgood abstract themes, these pictures are amazing, so deep and have so much heart i absolutely love them !
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May 24th, 2010 10:00 pmvery impresionant!! and reflexive! thanks for sharing ;)
From Peru!!
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May 27th, 2010 8:43 pm…black and white…yet so expressive…
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May 29th, 2010 8:49 pmwonderful, wonderful, wonderful… I love black and white, especially when just part of it is colorful,thanks for sharing
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May 30th, 2010 1:30 amiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttttttttttttttssssssssssssssssssss ,,,,,,,,,,, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg………………… nnnnnnnnnnniiiccceeeeeeeeeeee………..
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June 3rd, 2010 9:08 pmI love them all, very inspiring, Thank you.
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June 8th, 2010 8:50 ami’m soooooooo inlove with black & whiet pics and these are just reaaaaaly wonderfull thnx for sharing ^^
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June 11th, 2010 10:34 amJust AmAzInG… like never seen.
I love it…
From Dominican Republic MMM
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June 11th, 2010 2:59 pmthesse are awesome pictured ohhh ya :)
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July 8th, 2010 9:51 pmWaooo!, what can I say? Terrific!, Hermosas!
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July 15th, 2010 4:26 amGreat photography showcase :) Those black and white photos look really stunning. Wish I had a good batch of them for our website viuu.co.uk . We could make some great Twitter backgrounds out of them. Really nice to look at. Thanks for sharing.
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July 21st, 2010 12:01 amto great photography……………………i have seen many photos which depicts the beauty , the freshness of nature..but these photos are r”lly stunning ,and such events which are even hard to think or to capture . black and white photography can never be shown better then this………………………………………….these are those moments everyone notices but your camera has captured these events and now these events are really admirable,………………..shambhavi..
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July 21st, 2010 12:10 amwow.. amazin black n white photography……… luved iit…….
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July 24th, 2010 2:16 pmfrom tne south of the wold….. i don’t haver words for these pphotos
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August 7th, 2010 9:54 amgaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamd 2we al pic de …….fe 7aga 7lwa ana mesh 3arfa a7dadha ……ank t7as f skoooooooot……k2ane sam3a samt al sawar
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August 20th, 2010 10:41 amwooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww nice picture sooooooooooooooooo good
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August 29th, 2010 2:40 ampictures are very beautiful
i think black and white picture the best of photographi mode
if may
send me
the new and best photos - 306
August 29th, 2010 11:00 pmI have no words to say how beautiful these photos actually are. Looking at them, I remembered the photos of my grandfather and the photos that he had of his Coffee Estate. A class of its own which only the lovers of black and white photos admire.
Hats off to these wonderful photographers.
Shyla
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August 30th, 2010 4:42 amthese are really amazing pictures, and if u think they are not, then you dont know what true art is.. so suck it!!
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August 30th, 2010 11:35 pmI came upon this page by pure chance,and love the content,thanx
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awesome master pieces !!!
I have been thinking of taking up photography from a long time.. and when i see these abstract themes, it makes my belief stronger that anything, just anything can be a beutiful photograph…