Shooting black and white
A good tip for shooting black and white, that I tend to forget on low light or very bright days, is the fact that your shadows in the picture will be much darker than you see then while you shoot. If your purpose of your picture is to capture the contrast, then in general this should not be a problem. Shooting black and white requires a bit of a learned reflex – shadows are darker than they appear, and bright blue sky will be washed out. On an overcast day where light is more diffuse, your shots should come out great. I have had some pictures I thought would be super turn out scary looking because I forgot the light / dark aspects of shooting in black and white. Once I had found a cool looking little alley while I was in a citadel in Corsica. It was a beautiful day, really sunny. I got the picture back and it was a blown out sky, and a scary, dark, murderous alley. Not what I had wanted at all! If you love shooting black and white as much as I do, I know a few mess-ups won’t stop you. But to maximize your "oopps" pictures, and produce the best photographs you can – remember shadows and a bright sky will be respectively darker, and much lighter than what you had seen through your viewfinder.
