Why Black and white?

(Picture courtesy - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericsaeter)

In this day of pixels and printers, a time when a diminishing number of photographers relish the acerbic whiff of acetic acid stop bath, or the pungent smell of fixer, why black and white?

Why black and white, when colors are so brilliant and images so easily seductive? When digital manipulation has become the norm, and flash has ultimately diminished the appreciation of the exquisite, yet perhaps too subtle, tonal range of ambient light? Why Black and White?

Forgive my bias, but this seems to me a rhetorical question. The answers are many, and call me old fashioned, but black and white, the original art that inspired Sir John Herschel to coin the term "photography" drawing with light will always have a rightful place in the pantheon of legitimate art forms.

Because it's an easily learned technology although the best take years to master it and even a beginner can expose, develop and print his own images. Because few pleasures match that of watching an image slowly emerge on paper, beneath a red or amber safelight.

25 years ago the buyer of an old house found an abandoned trunk in the attic and carried it to the alley for the garbage men. I rummaged through it. Inside I found this sepia toned black and white portrait of an elegant woman, protected by a cardboard folio and accompanied by a studio receipt dated 1920.




Dozens more heirloom family photos were in yellowing envelopes. I saved them all. Black and white photos survive time. --- Scott Kilborn

Because despite the claims for color printing products, as far as we know black and white prints last much longer than color. Because black and white has an inherent dignity. Because color, especially in the hands of an amateur how many photographs of sunsets have we seen, masquerading as "Art"? has the facile attraction of an easy woman. (Which may be why we see sunsets in so many advertisements.)

Black and White is both the simplest, and the most sophisticated of photographic disciplines. Shall we start at the beginning?

For most, an introductory photography class includes exposure although most contemporary cameras are so technically advanced as to preclude the necessity of a very deep understanding of the relationship between f. stop and exposure time development (learning how sensitive and capable our fingers can be in total darkness is a discovery bordering on epiphany for some); and then, the creation of work on paper: contact prints and enlargements.

To me, this is the equivalent of learning to draw in an art class: After you've mastered the basics, you may take this proficiency where you will, but it's a pre-requisite of making informed art.

As one progresses, one simple step at a time, one learns how to expose for specific anomalous situations: To adjust for backlit scenes, or over-expose in situations snow, for example where the reflective meter isn't accurate. To expose to put a specific shade of gray, and the entire tonal range, where one desires.

Black and white practitioners learn the use of filters to change the tone of different colors as recorded on the black and white negative.

All this within the context of the fact that black and white negative film has immense exposure latitude, putting good images within the reach of even the rankest amateur.

In black and white photography, contrast control through development is fairly simple: overexpose and shorten development time (pull) to diminish contrast. And the reverse to increase contrast.

No experienced photographer would argue for a second that making good enlargements is easy, but with a good negative, it isn't hard.

(As a technical aside, I think it's only fair to warn against allegedly "black and white" films that are processed using C-41 chemistry. Chromogenic "B&W" films may be convenient for those who don't or can't process themselves, or don't have easy access to a black and white lab, but no "black and white film" processed by your local one hour mini-lab using color negative chemicals will match the tonal range and accuracy of legitimate black and white film.)

None of which is to claim that black and white is inherently a "better" medium than color photography. It's just different.

Admittedly, there are subjects for which color is more appropriate. Sports, for instance. Some landscapes, although it's easy for color to overwhelm. Few color landscape photographers have matched the work of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, for example.

And it's more than arguable that black and white is at it's best for people photography, and specifically portraiture. From early portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron, and later, Steiglitz and Steichen, early fashion, the WPA photographers who documented American life during the depression, to a whole slew of great Hollywood glamour photographers in the '30s and '40s, and all the masters that made Life magazine perhaps the best periodical of its era.

Not to mention Paul Strand and August Sander. Margaret Bourke-White and Imogene Cunningham. Kertész, Lartigue and Demarchy. Horst and Karsh. Bill Klein and Robert Frank. Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts.

Look... I'm not for a second about to argue what is or is not Art. I'm as baffled as the next person when I walk into a contemporary gallery.

But as to art photography, one of the early, and probably still strong arguments against color, is the fact that it just doesn't last. Opinions aren't so adamant now. Type C color prints have become common in artistic circles.

Even though the early claims concerning the archival characteristics of Ciba/Ilfochrome prints now seem exaggerated, and at least one manufacturer of color printing paper has the audacity to name its paper "... Archive," we just don't know how long color prints and negatives will last before fading.

Am I the only photographer who would like his images to be around after he's dead?
Finally, as a working photographer I'm and I'll admit it obsessed with two aspects of the camera's ability to create images: Photography can capture beauty, and it can stop time.

As often as not, black and white is the best way to capture beauty and stop time.

(Courtesy - www.acecam.com - commentary by Robert Bruce Duncan)

For the Passion of Black and White

I am learning.... hence would like to share!

Since the first film was shot and developed, black and white has been a favorite choice among master photographers around the globe. Why is it that this medium is preferred by so many fine artists and masters of the trade?

When people look at a black and white photograph, they often remark how "classic" and "elegant" it looks. For example, it remains to this day a popular choice for weddings. Headshots of CEOs and company presidents - destined for some annual report or other investor brochure - are also often shot in black and white.

Black and white prints have a refined quality about them. The simplicity and uncluttered look give the subject a polished, high-class feel. Without the distractions of color, the picture begs each viewer to recognize the individuality and uniqueness of the subject.

Another reason why brides often ask for black and white is that it most clearly expresses the romantic. They know that there is something special about it. It has style. The most famous romantic images - Eisenstaedt's sailor kissing a nurse; Doisneau's couple kissing near a French hotel; Erwitt's lovers kissing in a rear-view mirror in California - have been bestsellers for years because they define the romantic.

Black and white helps to learn the basics without getting too distracted; this is one reason why it is so popular among teachers. Black and white focuses the attention on form, shading, pattern, and other graphic concepts, to give them an unusual quality with tone and hue.

With a clear view toward graphics, composition, and design, the photographer can concentrate on:

• How contrast creates lines and how lines lead the eye or psychologically affect the viewer by curving, lying flat, diagonal, or vertical.
• How shapes or lines make a pattern and how shape with texture gives an object form.
• How highlights compete for attention and dark tones create an important negative space.
  Many artists prefer black and white because it causes the photographer and the viewer to see the world in a way that cannot be seen with the naked eye.
• Seeing the reoccurring pattern, line, or shape is easier with black and white, which does such a good job of emphasizing it. This is especially the case when a black and white photo shows good contrast - when the blacks are black, the highlights are bright, when you can still see some detail in both the highlights and the shadows.

All photographs - not just those labeled "abstracts" - are only two-dimensional representations, or abstractions, of a three-dimensional scene. Black and white makes a photograph even more of an abstraction by removing the distracting qualities of color and allowing us to concentrate on the graphic elements.

Take a look at how different an abstract photo looks in black and white. With the color removed from the overall expression, the shapes of the leaves and the lines in them take on more significance.

The graphic concepts are easier to see:
When Black and White Works Better Than ColorSome things just look better when shot in black and white. With it, you can find interest in everyday objects and scenes around you. What might appear boring when shot in color suddenly becomes fascinating when captured in black and white.

Here are a couple of situations which especially benefit from black and white:
Overcast DaysIt can be so disappointing to get pictures back from a trip or a shoot to discover they look boring and washed out because the skies were a bright overcast gray. If you choose to shoot the same scene with black and white, you will often get great results; the focus moves to the forms and patterns and away from the dull white of the sky.

Black and white is simply fantastic for these kinds of days. The bright, overexposed sky, often blown out in both color and black and white, becomes much easier to ignore. Instead of noticing a dull sky, the viewer sees your intended subject, whether it be a person, an object, or an interesting place.

Portraits Black and white also works very nicely for portrait photography. Skin tones, in black and white, are mellowed; blotches, blemishes, and uneven shading is less easily noticed than it is in color photos. Our eyes are very critical of facial skin tones in color but, when we examine black and white, we cannot evaluate the tones with the same critical eye.

In this color portrait, the subject's face - blasted by an overzealous flash - takes on unnatural, artificial-looking, and unpleasant skin tones while the background is lost in dark shadows.

However, by simply converting the image to black and white, the effect of the harsh light is lessened and the portrait instantly becomes a more pleasing image. The bright skin color is toned down to a soft, even gray and the shadowy background becomes less noticeable. (Picture courtesy http://www.betterphoto.com)

Black and white is a predominant choice among masters because it tells the graphic story clearly; it is conducive to learning the art; it connotes a classic fineness; and it is plain and simple fun.
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Black and White

They are not colours...

Technically speaking, white is not a color at all, but rather the combination of all the colors of the visible light spectrum. When all the wavelengths of the visible light spectrum strike your eye at the same time, white is perceived. Thus, visible light is sometimes referred to as white light. If all the wavelengths of the visible light spectrum give the appearance of white, then none of the wavelengths would lead to the appearance of black.

Once more, black is not actually a color. Technically speaking, black is merely the absence of the wavelengths of the visible light spectrum. So when you are in a room with no lights and everything around you appears black, it means that there are no wavelengths of visible light striking your eye as you sight at the surroundings.