This is a Black and White method study. I will add notes on each photo of why they work and what details mattered most ot me. I used the amazing new Silver 6 Pack on all of these. But what I’m going to share is what I learned and why those recipes are taking even failed photos and making them amazing.

Some photos work great in black and white. Especially the ones you planned for black and white. Others go monochrome, and it’s chaos. But it’s not always what you think. The way you edit for tone changes everything.

These photos all have my personal notes. My tools are not essential here. But the method they show us is game-changing.

Notice the use of tonal range here. We always tend to lift shadows, but it’s the shadow that creates contrast and leads the eye.

This could be another video because often in busy scenes, isolation is a big problem. Be brazen. I used a dark filmic preset, but I also burned heavily on the edges and dodged (brightened) the subject to use the ghostly blur of these street portraits and extract the feeling of the scene.

Should this have a hair light? Some would say so. But this soft portrait focuses conversion, lets the shadow frame the model. I like it. If you use Silver, you’ll notice that the portrait-focused recipes dial back on clarity and detail more like we would have achieved in film. Clarity sliders are way overused.

This was shot on 4×5 film, and what I had ignored in the archives. Like the one below that I made last week’s video, I used an Aspen recipe for extreme contrast that let the brilliance shine.

This was a rejected photo, and you can watch the video here. It was all about isolation. Sometimes, a black and white gets too busy, and you must tone down everything but your subject.

I show this in my Shadow Hackers classes a lot as a reminder that basic lighting methods are not always what a photo needs. The shadow category of Silver 6 really helps me find things I would not otherwise see.

This is so dark. I could have lightened it instead of using the shadow recipe so you see the whole scene. But this leaves you wondering. letting people see everything is one of the biggest mistakes in color and more in black and white.

Soft tones, dark blacks. They work in portraits. I darkened the background a little so her face is dominant. But I did not try and do perfect lighting or follow all the rules. It’s a girl in a car, and the rest is left to the viewer.

Minimal scenes work great in monochrome. But again, people make the mistake of lifting shadows instead of letting them drive the show. I left the tree very dark, but you can still know what you are seeing and wonder what surrounds it.

Back to busy night scenes. These are hard in color or black and white. Look for moments always. But then you need to frame them with backlights and pools of shadow. Don’t be afraid to burn edges and background to help them pop. Movement also draws the eye to the subject. Be liberal with shutter speed. More in my recent post on photographing events.

Yet another that said for years because it felt flat. Then I made Silver 6. This base preset would usually not be good for a portrait. But for these natural misty scenes it brings life to something that you might have thought was too flat.

The backlight showcases the subject and texture here. But the large pool of shadow and letting it be shadow is what frames the entire thing.

Here we are backlight again. The model is almost all in shadow. It leaves her curves natural and imperfect but leaves you wanting to know more.

You’ve probably seen this one before, but it’s a favorite. It works again because of the shadow. I didn’t try to lift the foreground and let you see everything. I let you wonder what all those details are while the birds create mystery in this Mexico town square.

Great edits will find what you could not!

You see a theme here. Always focusing on the shadow. That’s what I teach. But it does not have to mean dark photos. It’s about using your eyes in the camera to frame, backlight, surround or lead eyes.

Then it’s about what legends like Ansel Adams and en Whitmore taught. Using the tone. Darken the lighting and, with digital processing and test those recipes to get the perfect values.

Not all photo work. But some photos work years after when you discover how to use tone better. Whether you make your own or use my Silver 6 pack, we can take shortcuts. Great recipes will do what you will not in your edit. But once you see it, you will realize that it’s exactly what the photo needed.

The method –

Eyes follow lines and framing, and most of all tone. If you use shadow and mix it with light, you can do light or dark scenes and they work. Sometimes you just have to push tones around to let your subject be seen. That’s the key here.

The key is not following trends. It’s about finding how tones can mix to create the feeling and emotion that you saw in that scene when you pressed the shutter. It’s in there, look deeper.

The method is simple. Ask yourself what your subject is. Then see the shadow and how light is flowing. Just like the masters of the darkroom. Don’t be afraid of black or pure white. Push as hard as you need until that subject is the focus that cannot be avoided.

In this, you will often create a photo that creates more questions than it answers. But you will also either make the photo work, or learn why it failed, and do better in camera the next time.

The real story is making people imagine the story!

As I created Silver 6. I pushed myself really hard in this method. And I started discovering many photos I had failed to finish that just worked.

You can get Silver 6 here. But you can also start tinkering and creating recipes like I have spent years building and saving them, and you will be surprised by what you find.

Gavin Seim

You REJECT a lot of photos. That’s OK. Even if you go slow or shoot film like I often do, not every photo is a hit. But don’t delete them. They might be hiding something like this one was.

The photo is not bad. It’s just not great.

I used mostly the new Silver 6 presets for LR and Capture One for Dance in the Grove. But you can do the same things I’m showing you, and you’ll see why this works.

How often have you been disappointed with a photo?

I have. Hundreds of thousands of times. But I rarely delete them. More and more, I learn that sometimes my initial vision or process is wrong.

We should always try to get it in camera. If you’ve been to my Shadow Hackers LIV,E you know how seriously I take that. But understand tone also comes after you press the shutter, and sometimes it changes everything.

It was boring.

That’s why I never did anything with this. It’s not a bad photo. It just didn’t feel inspired at all. Even before the AI of Ai shock and awe scam photos, landscapes had to be special. We did have Flickr after all. I still do.

As I was working on the new Silver 6 presets and digging deep into the new Shadow Silver tools. I started looking in my archives for old photos that would let me test.

As I mentioned in the video, this is why presets are so important, even if you make your own. When I edit one photo, I am trying to edit that. But when I make a preset, I’m thinking about a concept and how it can work for not just me but the thousands of photographers who use Silver.

By pushing myself, I try edits I would not normally try. Sometimes they don’t work. Sometimes they let me discover things like the Aspen shadow-focused preset I made for this.

What makes it work?

See what I mean. You may not love the final photo as much as me. But it snaps. It has shadow and depth and a little mystery that makes sme want more.

It used tight isolation, shadows, and the 10 stops of tonal range.

It’s not about black and white. But black and white often helps us find things we did not see before.

When I save a photo that never quite worked, it’s usually because black and white simplifies that. And in the shadow study I did for Silver 6 presets, I took that further and left tonal timidness at the door.

What do you think? If you use Silver 6, or create your own recipes, try these bold shadow tools on some of your old images and see for yourself what happens.

Gavin Seim

Don’t ask what the story is. Ask what emotion you want to feel.

Next to shadow, I think SHUTTER SPEED is the most undervalued creative tool. Today, I will show what years of experience have taught me about it. I’ll add shutter speed notes on each photo.

The exact speed matters.

We talk about aperture and bokeh a lot. But the shutter can transform the simple scenes into something beautiful. Something that provoked thought and questions.

I think a lot of new photographers just think slow vs fast. But you can see that nearly every one of these was distinct. Slow for one scene might be 1/30th, but for another, you need 1/2 second.

Editing Notes: There’s a wide variety of photos here, so I used everything from Filmist presets to Silver and Alchmeist actions. I tried to note each photo.

It’s Ok to handhold.

Of course, we have the classic slow shutter on a tripod for water or stars, or sparks. This is probably how it is used most. Some love this look, some call it cliché. Exposure from 1 to 15 seconds can yield beauty in moving water.

But a slow shutter is often overlooked in portraits and in documenting. Clearly, there is more risk, as many photos simply do not work. This was done in film days. It’s far more open now. Cameras with IBIS, especially smaller cameras like Micro Four Thirds, have amazing stabilization. This even lets us shoot handheld at over 1-second, creating dreamy movement very different from being on a tripod.

If I need some inspiration, I will often just drop the shutter to 1/4 or even slower and see what happens. Of course, pay attention and don’t forget to go back up if you are doing important work. You don’t want to photograph a whole wedding blurred.

Yes, the pristine landscape here was on a tripod. I love tripods, and you should use them. But in a world of AI where photos need emotion, the movement of hand holding with practice can become magical and ghostly, and still even sharp at critical points.

Each time you try a speed, you discover something.

20 years ago, when new and on film, I was the photographer at Motor Speedway. I would always get the essential photos of the cars that I had paid me. But then, being bored and cars went in circles, I would slow the shutter speed and do creative panning. While some failed, many did now, and these images created motion, and the drivers loved them.

It’s not easy. Don’t get frustrated.

Blurring photos on accident is easy. Blurring them with intent takes time.

In a digital world, we often think that having a good camera and its ability to take good photos make us photographers. But anyone can hit a good photo sometimes, without training. But if you think that way, you will always be a commodity. You might get paid, but you will never achieve your full potential.

When we seek emotion in photos and test our limits. We get so skilled at the basics that we start exploring even in the middle of a job with confidence. That is when you realize why it takes many years to master the art.

Gavin Seim

I have started to realize that actual photo technique is barely taught anymore. But only when I started looking around did I realize what the late Ken Whitmire taught about managing background is barely known.

How to control any key light with any background.

Come to my free Shadow Hackers workshop to take this further. You can also try the tools I used today like Elegance 5, Filmist presets, and Alchemist 3 actions.

This makes Even Ugly Light look Amazing!

Because eits a method of understanding tone. I admit those who never learned the rules rarely understand how to do this so it’s rarely spoken of. But these 3 approaches let you control every background.

But unlike rules, this approach makes everything more flexible. It extends what I show you in Shadow Hackers. That is the separation of the subject using tone that can make any lighting situation beautiful. So the more you practice this, the more second nature it will become.

Most think of a classic studio setup when we talk about key light. The way I’m showing you today is to clarify that this works in any place and with any light source. Once you understand, you can bend it in any way you want to.

Remember, your key light can be any source. And if you don’t like it, you just move, add a more powerful light, or alter how the light affects your subject.

Don’t always do it the same.

People in Facebook groups who want to feel like experts will always correct everything. But always base their suggestion on the experience they demonstrate.

Meaning with light, everyone wants to make you follow the rules of patterns and ratios. You should know these and the exposure methods we talk about in Exposed.

But I hope I illustrated in the video that it’s not about the background always being darker by a stop (though this is a good starting point). It’s not always about the ley line being in a certain place. It’s not about whether you use a flash. It’s all about getting pleasing light on your subject, whatever that is to you, and creating separation rather than having to battle with distractions.

There’s no bad background.

This may sound crazy. I know we all love an old castle or hacienda. But if you know how to key for the background and combine that with framing, composition, and maybe moving a trash barrel now and then, you can make any place a stunning scene for a photo.

The secret is to have a great subject and make sure everything in the photo works for that subject, not against by how to use your key light and mix it with the other lights, elements, and details.

It’s not always a question of right vs wrong, either. In the photo below, we have late afternoon sunlight as the key. And a few minutes later, we have sunset shade. Everything changes from the skin texture to the color and the way the background blends.

All this sounds easy right? As a photographer, you know better. But it is simple, and the more you keep this 1,2,3, keep for the background process in every photo, the easier it becomes. Go try it and watch what happens.

Gavin Seim