Why black and white photography and when to use it?
Black and white photography is the original type of photography. Created by Henry Fox Talbot in 1834 using writing paper and a salt solution. Ansel Adams, one of my favourite photographers whom I draw inspiration from, created the Zone System, a tonal range from black to white with varying degrees of grey in-between. Whilst created for film originally, it still holds true with digital photography today. During the 1950’s and 60’s the rise of colour film took over, driven by what we see and the want to capture memories.
Many photographers have started their lives developing and printing black and white film, as it is (relatively) straight forward and can be done at home, easier than colour processing. Colour is everywhere around us and we like to use it in many different ways. We can use it to warm up or cool down an image, highlight objects and people, as we see often in travel photography. Colour can be manipulated in many ways, today in digital through software, but also in film through choosing a type of colour film to give a certain colour. Look how colour is used in films today to give the right feeling or vibes.
Black and white creates a different challenge. Not every colour image will convert into black and white. Using the Zone System we have 11 tones to work with. Tone 5 (V) is middle grey. Whilst 5 will work well for some portraits, due to skin tones, for a landscape, the image will be flat and bland. Lacking in contrast and punch. Look at the image above, which is on the London Underground. The image is dominated by bold dark greys, nearly black and strong bright whites. This draws in the viewer to where I want them to look, which is the gentleman looking directly at me. (Thanks for that!) If the image was middle grey, where would you look? If it were colour, would it have the same impact? London Underground beige would lessen the feel, unless the subject was in a bright yellow coat.
Black and white lends itself to texture and contract, which enhances certain emotions. It can give a gritty, raw feel, remove distractions or a calm light airy feeling when using more whites than blacks. Modern digital cameras can add to the feel, due to the sharpness we are now getting. To me, they feel sharper than colour. Of course, we can dial it back, add grain, emulate film like Ilford PanF, super smooth grain, or an over-processed Ilford Delta 3200 with large dramatic grain, which softens the image at the same time.
To wrap up, if you want to impact through shapes, contrast, texture and emotion, then black and white will be good for you. It can make you stand out in a colourful world.
