Black & White Photography in Ultra Wide Prospect

by

  GoldenHammer

I used to do color photography (see my Digital Photography Journal), until a special occasion that I found some black and white wide scene photos, they are really impressive in my eyes, very strong impact to me and I started review my photography style. Black and white photography is a new dimension that I should have the brave to give up my favorite colors, some sharpness, static quality and present my idea in an ultra wide angle prospect. Though my Nikon D1x is capable of producting output in black and white image, its 1.5x magnification factor limits its capacity for ultra wide prospect photography. In September, 2002, I decided to go with a film base SLR, and an ultra wide angle lens to response my new discovery. They are a Nikon FM3A and my sixth prime lens, a Nikkor AF 18mm f/2.8D to create a complementary configuration to my existing Nikon D1x system. This makes sense to me as it not only serves my requirement but also protects my previous equipment investment, I can also explore myself in the traditional film base photography which was still a question mark in my brain at that moment. This classic beauty is a handy and handsome setup that includes a mini tripod, and I intended to use it dedicated for black and white photography, in particular, for ultra wide prospect. It is my default configuration to focus at infinity with a smaller aperture at f/11 for capturing wide scenes. These ultra wide black and white photos are taken by the Nikon FM3A and the Nikkor AF 18mm f/2.8D, it seems to me that they are somewhat more impressive than my previous pictures in colors. Don't get me wrong, however, I do still love photography in color mode, they are just different methods that I have to decide when to use for the best presentation of my idea, I don't keen to block myself by using a single way for photography. Actually the camera is nothing else but myself.