You are capturing something real and you can’t always control everything- the direction of light including.
I get asked a lot how I do my black and whites. And honestly I have a few presets I made that I use so I rarely have to do it manually very often. I’d love to share my methods with you all. I have a huge soft spot for black and white photographs. They are so timeless. A colorless image, if done right forces the observer to really see WHAT is going on in the image. Often the emotional impact is so much more intense than a color photograph. I would say at least 50% of everything I do ends up in black and white. For me- a good black and white image usually has some bright midtones and some dark darks. I usually like a rich, strong black and white. My backdrops (for me this is on-location as I do not use studio equipment) are usually darker and often have texture- like walls, trees, bushes, grass, etc. For a more portrait type of image- I like to make sure there is really decent light in the face and eyes. For a moment type of capture- this is not as important for me. Anything goes for a moment capture. You are capturing something real and you can’t always control everything- the direction of light including. These are often my most favorite though.