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Beautiful Black and White Photography
Today, in the era of digital technology black and white are often awake nostalgic feelings of the 20th century, the good old times when the television was just invented, when people read colorless printed newspapers and when people were just imagining cell phones equipped with photo cameras. But still, dozens of years later, many artists still use black and white photography for artistic purposes. It is one of the best and cheapest types of photography for the beginners to test their creativity. This showcase is a tribute to this often forgotten and underrated art of photography.
In this post we present beautiful examples of black and white photography — an update to previously featured showcase of black and white photography. The showcase below focuses more on art and creative mind of photographers. Of course, it’s not the ultimate collection. There were many more which we could not cover in a single post. All the photographs are linked to photographer’s website. Please do visit their sites to explore the skills and craft of these artists.
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Beautiful Examples of Black and White Photography
Running Nowhere
by Julien Legrand
MustafaDedeogLu
Wayne Levin
(Fish Schools, Underwater Photography)
Drooper
onabibano
I See a Darkness
by Harald Bildner
Last Click
Should SM publish more photography showcases?
Vailancio Rodrigues, born and currently living in scenic beauty of Goa, spent most of his childhood in art and creativity. At present a College student who likes to try and do different things at every moment. Also an webmaster and web designer – Tiny Goa and Pixel Art.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...- 116 Comments
- 1
- 2September 9th, 2009 4:14 am
Good Shots ; ) Black and White still a Live!
- 3September 9th, 2009 4:23 am
Black and White is art. Brilliant selection.
Me likes ;)
- 4September 9th, 2009 4:29 am
Amazing!
But you really forgot this guy: http://vaggelisf.deviantart.com :) - 5September 9th, 2009 4:30 am
Great collection but they aren’t all Black and White ;)
- 6September 9th, 2009 4:36 am
Great collection indeed!
enjoyed ‘em :)
- 7September 9th, 2009 4:40 am
seems like white and black are enough for expression…
- 8September 9th, 2009 5:04 am
It’s an ART and it’s BEAUTIFUL
- 9September 9th, 2009 5:08 am
Freedom by Wolfram Schubert is simply perfect.
Great photos! - 10September 9th, 2009 5:25 am
Beautiful pictures :-)
- 11September 9th, 2009 5:29 am
Nice, that poll needs a comment or other option though, but sure SM should continue to have photography showcases but only if it doesn’t show up more than the core of existing content.
- 12September 9th, 2009 5:43 am
nothing evokes emotion as much as black and white photography. gorgeous.
- 13September 9th, 2009 5:45 am
I love almost all of SM posts but especially the inspiration posts. I don’t know why people try to pigeon hole SM. If you are a painter, sculpter, web designer, illustrator, filmmaker or in any creative field, you need to step outside your world and look at others for new fresh ideas. I chance happening can produce a great idea.
Thanks SM, you continue to educate and inspire me.
- 14September 9th, 2009 6:03 am
Wow! Beautiful black and whites!! I find them so inspiring. Isn’t that wierd? How something with no color can be so striking?
- 15September 9th, 2009 6:05 am
Awesome work! Thanks again SM! Really appreciate such showcase for continual inspiration for all fellow artists and designers. Agree to brian’s post. Multi-disciplinarism with regards to being inspired is so critical.
Just nice to be inspired for my next B&W film assignment! But my prof would not like these. They are too contrasty for him! :b
- 16September 9th, 2009 6:13 am
How is B/W “one of the cheapest types of photography” is that just becuase it´s cheaper to develop if you´re doing the developing yourself?
- 17September 9th, 2009 6:34 am
@Danny
If you want to get into developing your own images, Black and White is by far the cheapest option and a great place to start.
- 18September 9th, 2009 7:09 am
Wonderfull!!!!!
- 19September 9th, 2009 7:21 am
I have always found black and white photos the most enthralling. Thank you so much for brightening up an otherwise dull afternoon :-)
- 20September 9th, 2009 7:26 am
beautiful.
+1 for ‘last click’
- 21September 9th, 2009 7:47 am
The penultimate photo is only in there because the girl is totally gorgeous :P
- 22September 9th, 2009 7:52 am
What about Winston O’Link? He had some beautiful photos of trains as I recall.
- 23
- 24September 9th, 2009 8:13 am
Very inspiring! Makes me want to take some black and white photos today!
- 25September 9th, 2009 8:19 am
so cool…its an ART..
- 26September 9th, 2009 8:27 am
Great shots. I just finished an article about how to create your own stunning desktops and the idea was essentially to create beautiful B/W photography.
- 27September 9th, 2009 8:36 am
:) …. love the last one
- 28September 9th, 2009 9:01 am
Amazing! good…
- 29September 9th, 2009 9:02 am
simply greatness.
- 30September 9th, 2009 9:07 am
Black and white photography just never seem to loose it’s mystique.
Some really beautiful shots and extremely talented folks. Thanks for sharing it with everyone. - 31September 9th, 2009 9:11 am
Lol u guys are advertising on your own site again for the Smashing Book. I can’t imagine that is your goal to pay some ad company money to have an ad on your own site that when clicked links to the same site.
[hey, we are in control of this ad company ... (Sven)]
- 32September 9th, 2009 9:19 am
Stunning collection. Makes me want to pick up my camera and go. Thanks for the inspiration, SM.
- 33September 9th, 2009 9:48 am
These are great!
It’d be better if you could download high resolution versions of them though :( - 34September 9th, 2009 9:56 am
This collection is awesomely good and I have a place in my soul for B/W photography. Thank you for displaying these!
- 35September 9th, 2009 10:03 am
I love it. Thanks for putting these up there!! It brightened my day!
- 36September 9th, 2009 11:00 am
B&W is very nice, take a lot for example on this woman. And they he has other pretty nice on the web.
- 37September 9th, 2009 11:06 am
Some of these are really beautiful. B/W is still a fabulous photographic medium.
One or two of these blown up would look fabulous on my wall at home.
Great gear! - 38September 9th, 2009 12:05 pm
Wow! Some stunning examples. A couple made my heart leap.
- 39September 9th, 2009 12:24 pm
once again b/w photography….
LOVE THIS ONE :)
- 40September 9th, 2009 1:44 pm
Black & white is still the best, it’s so honest, so simple, so beautiful. What a inspiration. I need to get my 35 mm camera back out. Thanks
- 41September 9th, 2009 2:55 pm
B&W is a copout for when colour composition is wrong and you want to change focus to lines / shapes.
- 42September 9th, 2009 3:20 pm
Some good black and white live music shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/letsmakeart/2766638789/in/set-72157606758565125/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/letsmakeart/2632834839/in/set-72157605420160733/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/letsmakeart/2976247208/in/set-72157605420160733/ - 43September 9th, 2009 4:21 pm
Some great examples, thank you.
Stu (post 41), that’s a cheap shot. If you take a look at a lot of these shots they wouldn’t achieve the same visual effect in colour.
- 44September 9th, 2009 5:03 pm
awesome.. i want to print one of them :)
- 45September 9th, 2009 5:19 pm
This collection is absolutely is beautiful..serves as a firm inspiration to all photography enthusiast..great..cheers to SM.
- 46September 9th, 2009 5:28 pm
Probably some of those were cheap shots but I think those were brilliant art and concept too… I just do appreciate some different and simple concepts alot!
- 47
- 48
- 49September 9th, 2009 6:55 pm
*is absolutely beautiful. :)
- 50September 9th, 2009 7:01 pm
I’m curious to know if you have permission to publish the work of these photographers. Assuming your content drives advertising sales, I would imagine they would need to be compensated.
- 51September 9th, 2009 7:44 pm
I don’t know photography at all but most of these shots to me are like warm hugs.
- 52September 9th, 2009 8:04 pm
Wow, there’s some really amazing photographers listed there. I love black and white, for some reason I can actually draw more inspiration from it than color photography. I think it’s because it helps you focus more on the subject matter and it draws more emotion from its subjects.
- 53September 9th, 2009 8:43 pm
awesome B/W….
- 54September 9th, 2009 9:19 pm
very very nice!
- 55September 9th, 2009 10:56 pm
Those are moste artistic and amazing photos I ever seen … thanx for sharing …
- 56September 10th, 2009 12:38 am
Wonderful thought provoking set, how inspiring. I bet that these can be used for stories and ink blots & such. Perhaps they should be open to the Wikipedia! That is of course if it is not already because that makes them useful also. Perhaps you will check out “Creative Commons” there are some great free helpful things, such as a search engine that donates money.
- 57September 10th, 2009 12:53 am
Fantastiche!!! :-))
- 58September 10th, 2009 12:56 am
Really cool BW gallery! A lot of nice pics!
- 59September 10th, 2009 1:13 am
Really cool black & white photo, I like all.
- 60September 10th, 2009 1:29 am
Some beautiful images there, I’d love to have prints of some of them.
- 61September 10th, 2009 1:37 am
Great Collections :)
- 62September 10th, 2009 2:12 am
luverly
- 63September 10th, 2009 5:05 am
You forgot this fantastic image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/russfreeman/3892599702/ - 64September 10th, 2009 5:10 am
Beautiful collection of pictures – Thanks for pulling them together!
- 65September 10th, 2009 5:16 am
Brilliant!
One of my favorites is social documentary @ http://www.theogeorgiades.com
- 66September 10th, 2009 3:27 pm
I’m in awe!
- 67September 10th, 2009 8:35 pm
Awesome Shots!!!
- 68September 10th, 2009 9:26 pm
hey watch me ;)
- 69September 10th, 2009 10:20 pm
Wonderful collection!
- 70September 11th, 2009 1:22 am
striking collection!
- 71September 11th, 2009 1:33 am
a small B&W collection i put together on New York. With a twist of color.
- 72
- 73September 11th, 2009 5:51 am
What a great collection. Very nice!
- 74September 11th, 2009 6:23 am
These photographs are amature, I can take a better picture sitting on my toilet takin a crap.
- 75September 11th, 2009 7:19 am
inspiring………….very good looking pic’s like it.
love to do B&W also,so please keep it as it is…………. - 76September 11th, 2009 7:30 am
obviously, they are beautiful!
- 77September 11th, 2009 1:42 pm
Beautiful. Superb examples of the “art” of Black and White.
- 78September 11th, 2009 8:51 pm
I would encourage you to view Marcin Stawiarz’s work here: http://angelreich.deviantart.com/
- 79September 12th, 2009 12:28 am
This truly was a beautiful selection. There’s something very regal and classic about black and white photos
- 80September 12th, 2009 7:06 am
Very nice collection of work. i am always glad to see B&W given it’s due honors.
- 81September 12th, 2009 8:53 am
This is an awesome collection…fantastic!
- 82September 12th, 2009 8:55 am
WOW ^ INFINITY
- 83September 12th, 2009 6:03 pm
Wooow! amazing!
- 84September 13th, 2009 1:36 pm
Really great collection
- 85September 14th, 2009 12:21 am
i wud jus say dat its amazing how a simple small thing can be presented so beautifully..d collection is awesum n d clickers r too innivative..they hav d ability to produce d unborn talent..
LOVELY!!! :) - 86September 14th, 2009 12:53 am
If you have 2 minutes, take a look at my b&w album on Flickr
Cheers!
Valerio - 87September 14th, 2009 6:04 am
A fantastic collection. You should maybe take a look at http://www.davebowmanphotography.com/” rel=”nofollow”>Dave Bowman Photography, a great b&w photographer too..
- 88September 14th, 2009 8:13 am
@valerio
again a beautiful collection,
beyond comaprision.. :) - 89September 14th, 2009 11:41 am
nooooo, why did it end? :(
- 90
- 91September 14th, 2009 11:48 pm
I absolutely love this collection.
It is so dramatic and creative – very inspiring! - 92September 15th, 2009 4:02 am
Absolutely amazing, all the pics symbolize some of human beings best feelings.
Keep up the amazing work.
Smash’em all … - 93September 15th, 2009 5:02 am
Unbelievable!!!!! ;)
- 94September 15th, 2009 6:13 am
Check this below link, some of his black&white photos are really good.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/venkatfotos - 95September 15th, 2009 11:28 am
As mentioned with other photo topics many of the pictures are not photos in the sense that there was actually a scene which was photographable in 1/125 or 1/1000 of second.
Touching up a photo has been of all photo-ages. Montage has never been considered photographing.Some photos were removed from the page during the day. Apparently these photos are collected, harvested and published without acquiring permissions or rights. When a rights- owner complains the images are suddenly removed? Like the one time most expensive photo ever by Ansel Adams? Or this ghost joke-montage with two sources of shadow.
- 96September 16th, 2009 9:27 am
Amazing….amazing means amazing :)
- 97September 16th, 2009 9:49 am
Aren’t white people so beautiful….
- 98September 16th, 2009 7:04 pm
♥ this ! :)
- 99
- 100September 18th, 2009 2:27 am
Wow – you most definitely should make more of these photography compliations. Simply amazing.
- 101September 23rd, 2009 4:59 am
This makes me feel like getting a tattoo with “Art is Fantastic” written in bold
I love art, but some things you see and they really make you think ‘My god, there are some fantastic minds out there’
“I am not alone :D’ - 102September 23rd, 2009 4:16 pm
Thanks.
Actually its mostly stuff from New England, but some stuff from Detroit as well.
- 103September 26th, 2009 5:17 am
Represent all human feelings translate into classic pic,, very nice ;)
- 104September 28th, 2009 7:18 am
I think that black and white pictures are so beautiful. They say so many things without having to use color. I love taking pictures with no color. They are amazing and unique.
- 105September 28th, 2009 7:45 pm
I am happy to be exhibited here among other great contemporary photographers!Much appreciated and a big smile on my face!
- 106September 29th, 2009 4:29 am
That was awesome.
You should get this guy’s black and white photograph here http://chacahyadi.com/2009/09/jam-session-in-black-and-white-photography/Thanks for sharing
- 107October 9th, 2009 8:52 am
it is just outstanding
awesome keep it up !! - 108October 13th, 2009 8:40 pm
Beautiful work. Bookmarked it so I can come back and enjoy this collection many more times. It is so nice to see pictures that have not been doctored by HDR which ruins more good photographs than a dirty lens.
- 109October 14th, 2009 6:33 am
Such amazing pictures! It was a trip through imagination.
- 110October 19th, 2009 6:33 pm
Beautiful pictures. thanks for the look see. :)
- 111October 20th, 2009 12:39 am
Very classic!!!
- 112October 26th, 2009 9:08 am
weak ass shit. period.
- 113October 28th, 2009 8:45 am
Loved them!! is always great to see nice b/w pics!!!
- 114October 29th, 2009 11:07 am
Beautiful Pictures. I’ve always had difficulty determining which photos look better in black and white than in color. This is really inspirational. Thanks for sharing.
- 115October 30th, 2009 10:23 pm
I Love Black and White!
- 116November 15th, 2009 9:26 am
Nice, here is my small black’n'white gallery > http://www.viktorhanacek.cz/?galerie=cernobile
- 00
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Nice :)