Scenic Places in Black and White - Schloss Neuschwanstein

Neuschwanstein - Werner Neumann-Peters (500px)

Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany is one of the most visited places in Europe. In recent times this is more than 1.4 million visitors per year.

The castle has been built in the nineteenth century above the village of Hohenschwangau by Ludwig II of Bavaria. The castle is built in romanticism style.

The castle has served a venue in several movies. One of the most famous is the use as sleeping beauty castle in Disney's Cindarella.

Shortly after the death of King Ludwig II in 1886 the castle was opened to the public. Ever since the castle of the fairy-tale king is a must see on many tourist's itineraries.

Schloss Neuschwanstein - Jorge Schramm (500px)

Not only for tourists but also for photographers the landmark has some magic.

Embedded in beautiful alpine landscape, with dense forests, lakes, hills, and mountains the scenery offers endless opportunities for beautiful shots under unique light conditions.

The challenge is to find the right spot with the best view on to the castle at the right time.
Looking through collections of examples this is possibly the key to success, but also one of the strongest secrets of photographers.

Choosing black and white can give some more magic to that scenery.
For example the image below by Viktor Lakics showing the castle embedded in dramatic mountain landscape right after a storm. Rays of light shooting through the dark clouds of the thunder storm, fog arising from the forests, reflections on the lake, and the majestic castle in the foreground give this image some drama which would not be as intense when shot in color.

After the Storm (Mono) - Viktor Lakics (500px)

As can be seen from these examples shooting in black and white can be a artistic technique to add some other dimension to your imagery.
However, there is much difference if a picture has been shot as a monochrome capture or if it has been transferred to black and white in post processing.
Already when shooting the black and white photographer should take certain aspects into account.

Most important is the search for contrast. Try to capture true whites with true blacks in the same image. Only this way the lack of color will transform into interesting texture.
While with color you would rather avoid flat light, in black and white this can be a condition which gets most out of a scenery.

For some tips visit: link