One of the great advantages of the digital revolution is that whilst in the past it was necessary to use separate black and white film at the picture taking stage, it is now possible to produce wonderful black and white wedding photography prints even from colour originals.
Unfortunately this has also seen a proliferation of poor technique whereby too many wedding photographers just desaturate their colour photographs and leave a disappointing muddy mess, made worse by just sending their prints though the normal colour print process.
Most of the weddings that I photograph produce some images which really cry out for good black and white treatment for the album. Here I always spend quite a bit of time on each individual image, carefully adjusting various aspects of the image to give the most attractive results.
I then carefully print them myself, not in the darkroom, but on a dedicated large format printer. Prints are then treated with a lacquer to give them a uniform finish, protecting them from moisture and ensuring that they are capable of outlasting even traditional prints.
All this is time consuming, but I really think that the results are well worth the extra effort.
Black and White Wedding Photography by John Mottershaw
John is a qualified member of the British Institute of Professional Photography and represents the fourth generation of his family to work as professional photographers, a family that has been continuously in photographic processing and commercial and wedding photographers in Sheffield since 1870.
Tel: 01433 631418
email: john@johnmottershaw.com
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