What's the secret to capturing the "perfect" black and white picture?

Question

Keeping in mind a beginner is taking the pictures. I will be able to develop the pictures myself in a black room and what not. :)

What sort of scenery looks better black and white?
What poses should my "models" take for the picture to look good?
Is there anything else I should know?

Answer 1

when it comes to scenery, look for contrast, blackest of black versus whitest of white. like the clear sky in the background to some trees..or a cemetery would be very impacting , as well as a water fall.
Models.....anything with red lipstick so the color would be dark but not black dark, and use either black clothing or red anything dark against the skin will show contrast....you can use white, but i recommend it on dark skin tones only..you don't want the model blending into the clothing.
make sure that you don't over expose or the white will take over the black, try and meter the light or get a good sense of what looks black and what looks white...some times the colors will look gray...that's not want you want, unless you want some gray tones in the picture........oh! and in the case of photographing models, you can add more contrast if you place her in a light background or plain background so that she pops out more.
Good luck and have fun!

Answer 2

The standards for B&W photography are Steichen and Ansel Adams. In the former the images are often soft focus and of scenes that do not have a lot of color in them - smoke, haze, grey mornings or industrial shots. In the later the images are stark with deep blacks and crisp whites, but always developed to show detail in the deepest shadows. Both had theories of exposing and developing their images and these have been discussed in books and magazine articles.
I would suggest getting books from the library (or looking online but those will be lower resolution in most cases) so you can examine various types of B&W photography and choose what you think is best and what you can do with your equipment.

Answer 3

scenery with contrast looks great. models should show there face if anything. get use to the chemicals and how long the paper should stay in. find your own style and run with it