Today, in the era of digital technology black and white 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.
Beautiful Examples of Black and White Photography
Milo Alterio
Emir Ozsahin
danielsantiagosalguero
Philipp Klinger
Simon Pais-Thomas
Aneta Kowalczyk
Running Nowhere
by Julien Legrand
MustafaDedeogLu
Elliott Erwitt
MisterKey
Andrey Vahrushew
Let it Snow
by WWWest
Codrin Lupei
Lucian Olteanu
Drooper
Stefano Orazzini
LimpidD
latoday
onabibano
soleildame
Txema Rodriguez
Paused in Motion
by Dusty Wall
Yanire
borissov
Window of Happiness
by Monique
Damien Vassart
Nick
navid j
strømbërg
Freedom
by Wolfram Schubert
softspokenmc
Mikael Stålsäter
Remembrance
by Zivko Risteski
raaych1
RamonaG
etrusia_uk
Claudio.Ar
Jenna Herman
David J. Nightingale
lolla_sig
Agnès Lapin
gullevek
Jordi Troguet
cocoip
bennipi
wazari
Majordomo
Iris
Noisy Paradise
Catriona67
gilad
Keith Foster
opportunistatlarge
Mariusz Jankowski
Tim Corbeel
Amsterdamned
tainted dream
I See a Darkness
by Harald Bildner
Love Birds
by b-photo
Max
One Shoot
by fotouczniak
FilipO
tomaskaspar
Ben Heine
Unknown
Last Click
Unknown
Should SM publish more photography showcases?
Vailancio Rodrigues Vailancio Rodrigues is a web ninja who bakes semantic muffins. Apart from that he is also interested in Motion Graphics, Visual Effects, Photography and knows little bit of Physics due to his college education . He is from Goa - a beautiful tropical paradise in India.
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Valentin Bojilov
September 9th, 2009 4:12 amNice :)
SLEO
September 9th, 2009 4:14 amGood Shots ; ) Black and White still a Live!
Markus
September 9th, 2009 4:23 amBlack and White is art. Brilliant selection.
Me likes ;)
Fr4gster
September 9th, 2009 4:29 amAmazing!
But you really forgot this guy: http://vaggelisf.deviantart.com :)
Pete
September 9th, 2009 4:30 amGreat collection but they aren’t all Black and White ;)
Sandra Lake
November 29th, 2010 2:53 pmI see all black and white? .. maybe I am not seeing what you see. Please help me.
ibrahimzen
September 9th, 2009 4:36 amGreat collection indeed!
enjoyed ‘em :)
_black
September 9th, 2009 4:40 amseems like white and black are enough for expression…
Pål Börje
September 9th, 2009 5:04 amIt’s an ART and it’s BEAUTIFUL
ubik15
September 9th, 2009 5:08 amFreedom by Wolfram Schubert is simply perfect.
Great photos!
Fabiana
September 9th, 2009 5:25 amBeautiful pictures :-)
pnolan
September 9th, 2009 5:29 amNice, 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.
snowlin
September 9th, 2009 5:43 amnothing evokes emotion as much as black and white photography. gorgeous.
brian
September 9th, 2009 5:45 amI 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.
Tim Smith
September 9th, 2009 6:03 amWow! Beautiful black and whites!! I find them so inspiring. Isn’t that wierd? How something with no color can be so striking?
bubbles
October 22nd, 2010 7:44 amyou suck
jordan
September 9th, 2009 6:05 amAwesome 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
Danny
September 9th, 2009 6:13 amHow 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?
Pete
September 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.
Edlanoy Zirtaeb
September 9th, 2009 7:09 amWonderfull!!!!!
Simon Day
September 9th, 2009 7:21 amI have always found black and white photos the most enthralling. Thank you so much for brightening up an otherwise dull afternoon :-)
Mike
September 9th, 2009 7:26 ambeautiful.
+1 for ‘last click’
Joel
September 9th, 2009 7:47 amThe penultimate photo is only in there because the girl is totally gorgeous :P
bmack
September 9th, 2009 7:52 amWhat about Winston O’Link? He had some beautiful photos of trains as I recall.
malevi4
September 9th, 2009 8:12 amNice list!
Take a look at my
black&white beauty album.
Jen
September 9th, 2009 8:13 amVery inspiring! Makes me want to take some black and white photos today!
timmy
September 9th, 2009 8:19 amso cool…its an ART..
Brad
September 9th, 2009 8:27 amGreat 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.
canciller
September 9th, 2009 8:36 am:) …. love the last one
Sagarsinh Rajput
September 9th, 2009 9:01 amAmazing! good…
printedproof
September 9th, 2009 9:02 amsimply greatness.
Robert "Butch" Greenawalt
September 9th, 2009 9:07 amBlack 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.
Jewen Soyterkijns
September 9th, 2009 9:11 amLol 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)]
Nils Rasmusson
September 9th, 2009 9:19 amStunning collection. Makes me want to pick up my camera and go. Thanks for the inspiration, SM.
TheFuzzball
September 9th, 2009 9:48 amThese are great!
It’d be better if you could download high resolution versions of them though :(
Tha1 Bu1
September 9th, 2009 9:56 amThis collection is awesomely good and I have a place in my soul for B/W photography. Thank you for displaying these!
Ashley
September 9th, 2009 10:03 amI love it. Thanks for putting these up there!! It brightened my day!
bobek
September 9th, 2009 11:00 amB&W is very nice, take a lot for example on this woman. And they he has other pretty nice on the web.
designerx
September 9th, 2009 11:06 amSome 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!
Sally
September 9th, 2009 12:05 pmWow! Some stunning examples. A couple made my heart leap.
manohar
September 9th, 2009 12:24 pmonce again b/w photography….
LOVE THIS ONE :)
char quire
September 9th, 2009 1:44 pmBlack & 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
Stu
September 9th, 2009 2:55 pmB&W is a copout for when colour composition is wrong and you want to change focus to lines / shapes.
Matt
September 9th, 2009 3:20 pmSome 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/
Okibi
September 9th, 2009 4:21 pmSome 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.
yoxx
September 9th, 2009 5:03 pmawesome.. i want to print one of them :)
sandrazira
September 9th, 2009 5:19 pmThis collection is absolutely is beautiful..serves as a firm inspiration to all photography enthusiast..great..cheers to SM.
Yheng
September 9th, 2009 5:28 pmProbably 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!
Matt
September 9th, 2009 6:23 pmAwesome list again.
Matt
September 9th, 2009 6:23 pmDont forget this one!
sandrazira
September 9th, 2009 6:55 pm*is absolutely beautiful. :)
Chris Mills
September 9th, 2009 7:01 pmI’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.
Evan Jones
September 9th, 2009 7:44 pmI don’t know photography at all but most of these shots to me are like warm hugs.
Matt
September 9th, 2009 8:04 pmWow, 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.
d2k
September 9th, 2009 8:43 pmawesome B/W….
Muthiulhaq
September 9th, 2009 9:19 pmvery very nice!
Silverback
September 9th, 2009 10:56 pmThose are moste artistic and amazing photos I ever seen … thanx for sharing …
Justin Daniel Richardson
September 10th, 2009 12:38 amWonderful 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.
cicoci
September 10th, 2009 12:53 amFantastiche!!! :-))
FeryKloucek
September 10th, 2009 12:56 amReally cool BW gallery! A lot of nice pics!
ေဂ်ဂ်ဴ၀ုိင္
September 10th, 2009 1:13 amReally cool black & white photo, I like all.
Riccardo
September 10th, 2009 1:29 amSome beautiful images there, I’d love to have prints of some of them.
K.Manjunathan
September 10th, 2009 1:37 amGreat Collections :)
RobbieAlpha
September 10th, 2009 2:12 amluverly
you
September 10th, 2009 5:05 amYou forgot this fantastic image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/russfreeman/3892599702/
Andrew
September 10th, 2009 5:10 amBeautiful collection of pictures – Thanks for pulling them together!
Kris
September 10th, 2009 5:16 amBrilliant!
One of my favorites is social documentary @ http://www.theogeorgiades.com
Manz
September 10th, 2009 3:27 pmI’m in awe!
Venkatesh
September 10th, 2009 8:35 pmAwesome Shots!!!
Gaurav M
September 10th, 2009 9:26 pmhey watch me ;)
aksdareflection
September 10th, 2009 10:20 pmWonderful collection!
Adam Alyan
September 11th, 2009 1:22 amstriking collection!
Gostar
September 11th, 2009 1:33 ama small B&W collection i put together on New York. With a twist of color.
Johan
September 11th, 2009 2:30 amDon’t miss this guy. Some realy good b&w photos.
http://koba.se/face-2/
Jourdan
September 11th, 2009 5:51 amWhat a great collection. Very nice!
josh
September 11th, 2009 6:23 amThese photographs are amature, I can take a better picture sitting on my toilet takin a crap.
LaTechno
September 11th, 2009 7:19 aminspiring………….very good looking pic’s like it.
love to do B&W also,so please keep it as it is………….
niuhuifei
September 11th, 2009 7:30 amobviously, they are beautiful!
Teresa
September 11th, 2009 1:42 pmBeautiful. Superb examples of the “art” of Black and White.
Bryce Driesenga
September 11th, 2009 8:51 pmI would encourage you to view Marcin Stawiarz’s work here: http://angelreich.deviantart.com/
Roschelle | Inconsequential Logic
September 12th, 2009 12:28 amThis truly was a beautiful selection. There’s something very regal and classic about black and white photos
Juliet
September 12th, 2009 7:06 amVery nice collection of work. i am always glad to see B&W given it’s due honors.
Lolita
September 12th, 2009 8:53 amThis is an awesome collection…fantastic!
catchYOYO22
September 12th, 2009 8:55 amWOW ^ INFINITY
saoo
September 12th, 2009 6:03 pmWooow! amazing!
bend
September 13th, 2009 1:36 pmReally great collection
Mariyam Parakhji
September 14th, 2009 12:21 ami 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!!! :)
Valerio
September 14th, 2009 12:53 amIf you have 2 minutes, take a look at my b&w album on Flickr
Cheers!
Valerio
Loic_f
September 14th, 2009 6:04 amA fantastic collection. You should maybe take a look at Dave Bowman Photography, a great b&w photographer too..
Mariyam Parakhji
September 14th, 2009 8:13 am@valerio
again a beautiful collection,
beyond comaprision.. :)
SuperChef
September 14th, 2009 11:41 amnooooo, why did it end? :(
Jay Groccia
September 14th, 2009 4:04 pmHere’s one from me to share:
http://www.twitpic.com/bpd47
Graham
September 14th, 2009 11:48 pmI absolutely love this collection.
It is so dramatic and creative – very inspiring!
shrikant
September 15th, 2009 4:02 amAbsolutely amazing, all the pics symbolize some of human beings best feelings.
Keep up the amazing work.
Smash’em all …
Shwegae
September 15th, 2009 5:02 amUnbelievable!!!!! ;)
Naveen
September 15th, 2009 6:13 amCheck this below link, some of his black&white photos are really good.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/venkatfotos
Antje
September 15th, 2009 11:28 amAs 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.
sean
September 16th, 2009 9:27 amAmazing….amazing means amazing :)
Not Brainwashed
September 16th, 2009 9:49 amAren’t white people so beautiful….
Miimo
September 16th, 2009 7:04 pm♥ this ! :)
Stephan
September 17th, 2009 8:30 pmAnother great Site with Black and White Photos
Galerie für Fotografie
Jonas
September 18th, 2009 2:27 amWow – you most definitely should make more of these photography compliations. Simply amazing.