Black and White Fetish Photography

Textures and contrasts are stronger in black and white fetish photography. It is easier to create emotions and moods without the distractions of colour.

The viewers of fetish photos are often looking for the instant sexual stimulation that colour brings. This does not mean that eroticism is absent from black and white but the viewer may have to work harder and be prepared to have their imagination stimulated.

Black and wite bondage fetish photography

Black and white bondage fetish photography

But is it Art?

Black and white photography often acquires the tag of ‘Art’ in the viewers mind even though it often is no more ‘artistic’ than colour. You will notice that I put the words ‘Art’ and ‘artistic’ in inverted commas. It is very difficult to define what art is. One persons art is another ones porn and vice versa. It is probably fairly safe to say that black and white fetish photography falls into the erotic art rather than the fine or nude art categories. There is some intention to arouse or stimulate the viewer. If you want to explore that definition try Nude Art or Erotic Art?

Photographers Tips

Always shoot in colour (unless you are using film).
Learn how to convert colour to black and white. Simply hitting greyscale will look awful. A lot of editing software has presets that will get you started but these will need tweaking for individual images
Lighting is important in all photography but is key in black and white. It creates textures, contrasts and mood. Simple show it all lighting that is used for a lot of glamour and fetish photography will look even more bland and flat once the colour is removed.
Shapes and composition become more apparent in black and white. Look for shadows and highlights.
Expose for the highlights. Burnt out highlights can never be replaced but dark shadows can often be brightened.