Black and white

Black and white photography was the norm up until the introduction of colour film in 1960s and 1970s.  However, with the birth of digital photography and the endless possibilities that can be created in digital software, black and white has made a comeback recently.

The main difference between shooting in black and white film and digitally is that the eye has to translate the colour scene in front of it to black and white.  This had to happen at the moment of shooting or preparing for a shoot when using film.

Digital images are shot in colour and converted to black and white in post using software like Photoshop or Lightroom.  This leaves modern digital shooters with the problem of having to visually train themselves to be able to 'think' in black and white.  I have found this easy for some scenes but those high contrast and those with a busy composition are harder to see.

To convert images to black and white, software enables you to manipulate the RGB channels to fine tune the tones.

Why choose black and white?
Without colour the eye has to focus on the other qualities in the image.  These qualities can be referred to as the language of black and white photography and include the graphic qualities of proportion, texture, lines and form.

In looking at images that would be suitable for a black and white conversion we look for lines, shape and volume.  In Stephen Shore's book The Nature of Photographs he writes about colour and how it expands a photo's palette and adds a new descriptive level.  It also brings what he calls transparency to the image as colour is what we see with our eyes, not black and white.

So without colour images are dominated by tones and Ansel Adams Zone System sets out the 10 tonal zones for the ideal image.  Many photographers believe his system to be outdated in this digital age but I believe it still has relevance to today.  I have been reading Adams' book The Negative and I have found it very useful when considering black and white imagery.

This is the checklist that was provided in my course notes and I think it is very useful to have to hand when thinking about the differences in colour to black and white.

Black and white
Contrast
Key
Geometry
Volume
Texture
Colour into tone

Colour
Colour effect of exposure
Colour style
Colour relationship
Colour intensity