These are the tools of a black and white photographer’s trade, and it’s important to learn to be comfortable working with them.
But you have to get it right. With black and white imagery there is technically nowhere to hide, and  focusing on a picture’s composition and graphics has helped make me a better photographer. When I was a child, my Dad would make me look at my pictures upside down to see if the composition stood up to the test, and I think this attention to the building blocks of an image is essential. Now, shapes and patterns begin to dominate, light and dark areas stand out, faults in subject position are exaggerated, and negative space is starkly obvious. These are the tools of a black and white photographer’s trade, and it’s important to learn to be comfortable working with them. They are the keys to unlocking the timelessness and emotional depth that black and white images can offer.