Black and White

The first pictures I ever took using black and white film were of a friend's kids. I used white sheets and had the kids on them and had the baby in a diaper and the older one in a t-shirt and jeans. The pictures turned out so great! I took a whole roll, picked the best and put them in a black frame with a white mat for my friend as a gift. When my baby was a newborn, I took pictures of her and her Dad for Father's Day. The pictures captured her tinyness, without any distractions, one of my favorite features of B&W! One Easter, I had 2 cameras going and was able to take pictures both in color and black and white and put them right next to each other on the page! Black and white pictures can really soften a scene.
I've used B&W film to take pictures of my daughter on her birthday. I had her in a patriotic shirt and had a flag behind her. Black and White pictures can have a timeless quality to them. A friend has taken beach photos and even Christmas pictures with B&W film, with amazing results!
Tip of the Day: Make sure you have good lighting, but not direct sunlight. Keep the background as plain as possible. You want the focus to be on your subject anyway.
Something you may not know: Black and white film doesn't really cost much more than regular film and can be developed anywhere! It does not cost more to develop and you don't even need to tell them that it is special! If you have a digital camera, you may be able to get black and white pictures from your color film. Ask the person who develops your film. You can always purchase a computer program to enable you to change your pictures. Even pictures taken with a regular camera can be played with if you have the proper program. Just ask for your pictures to be put onto a CD when you drop them off for developing. There is a new program from CM like this, but I'm not sure what all it does!
Scrap Happy!