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ISO Setting and Film Speed
Adjust your digital camera to the lowest ISO setting available to work with your lighting setup. If using film, select the lowest ISO speed available that will work in your lighting situation. The lower ISO reduces the amount of visible noise or grain in your photograph and will increase the quality of the image. When shooting in low-light situations in which you use a high rated ISO, adjust your camera back down to a lower speed and decrease your shutter speed to compensate. A long exposure on a low ISO setting has less grain and more detail than a fast shutter speed on a fast ISO setting. Use a tripod for shutter speeds slower than 1/60 to help eliminate camera shake. As a rule of thumb, try shooting on 100 ISO or lower if you are shooting in abundant available light.
Shooting Format
Change the setting on your DSLR to shoot in RAW format. Many point-and-shoot users will not have this option. Follow your cameras user manual to make the adjustment to RAW. Changing the formant setting means that your photographs will be saved in .RAW format instead of the typical .JPEG format. When shooting in .RAW format, your camera will not process your photograph. You will have to process and edit photos on the computer. Since a computer is capable of processing a photograph with much more detail than your camera̵7;s processor, you gain significantly more control over the final look of your black and white photograph.
Lighting for Contrast
When shooting in black and white, look for situations in which the available lighting will deliver a high-contrast photograph. Dark colored darks and bright whites will make the photograph appear to pop off of the page. A high contrast black and white photograph will give a sharp appearance and enable the viewer to see things inside of the photo that may not otherwise be evident. The easiest way to create high-contrast settings is by moving your subject so that they are back-lit or side-lit. If you cannot move your subject, you can also change the angle in which the photograph is taken from so that the lighting is in the correct location.
Colored and Polarizing Filters
Use colored filters when shooting in black and white mode or using black and white film. Depending on the color of filter that you use it can help correct shadows, give your photograph more contrast and eliminate surface reflections. Yellow and red filters can give blue skies a very dramatic look. Blue filters give fog an enhanced look whereas green filters can give skin tones a warm feel. Some colorless filteres such as a polarizing filter can give your black and white photographs a sharper image and drastically reduce excess light and glare from entering your lens.