Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash
INTRODUCTION
I will keep this short. The objective of this page is not to educate but as a reference for my own studies. The birth of concept came from browsing the now defunct web page "La Noir" which focused on B&W imagery. It got me thinking that I might be taking B&W for granted. Perhaps it is time to dedicate a bit of time to study this to see if I am getting the most out of my own B&W images. So this page was born.
I have initially decided to house the page in my studies on composition because in this day and age B&W is an option and is not mandated by the limitations of technology. So essentially, we choose to "convert" a digital image into B&W, or we select B&W film. Either way it is a choice that we are making, presumably because we feel that this will give us the best rendition of the scene. In other words, because we are using it as a compositional element. This is my initial thought, but may change as I learn more.
DEFINITION
In modern language, "Black & White" photography is well understood. Before the advent of color photography, all we had to do was call it "photography" and everyone understood it would be in black and white. Once I got into photography I began hearing of "Monochrome" images. This got me thinking what is an accurate name for what we do?
According to physics, Black and White (and pink for that matter) is not a color. You see, they are not found on the visible light spectrum. Black and White is how our brains interpret the reflection of all colors or the absence of color. Now why should we care what physics says? Well, we owe it to photography in general. If we go back to the inception of photography, the people who were working on the capture and retention of an image, were driven by science. This was the Victorian age, when Europe ruled the world, and people wanted to understand the world we live in. Science was a pastime of all middle class gentlemen.
While Black & White photography is well understood, it is not an accurate definition of what we do. You see the majority of our images use little "pure black" or "pure white". The majority of our images have a wonderful tonality that combine to make a pleasing image.
Monochrome is defined as "a photograph or picture developed or executed in black and white or in varying tones of only one color". This is a much more specific definition. Its root of the word comes from the Greek word "monokhromatos" or "of a single color". So while not idea, it is the closest definition I believe we can reliably use.
I will keep this short. The objective of this page is not to educate but as a reference for my own studies. The birth of concept came from browsing the now defunct web page "La Noir" which focused on B&W imagery. It got me thinking that I might be taking B&W for granted. Perhaps it is time to dedicate a bit of time to study this to see if I am getting the most out of my own B&W images. So this page was born.
I have initially decided to house the page in my studies on composition because in this day and age B&W is an option and is not mandated by the limitations of technology. So essentially, we choose to "convert" a digital image into B&W, or we select B&W film. Either way it is a choice that we are making, presumably because we feel that this will give us the best rendition of the scene. In other words, because we are using it as a compositional element. This is my initial thought, but may change as I learn more.
DEFINITION
In modern language, "Black & White" photography is well understood. Before the advent of color photography, all we had to do was call it "photography" and everyone understood it would be in black and white. Once I got into photography I began hearing of "Monochrome" images. This got me thinking what is an accurate name for what we do?
According to physics, Black and White (and pink for that matter) is not a color. You see, they are not found on the visible light spectrum. Black and White is how our brains interpret the reflection of all colors or the absence of color. Now why should we care what physics says? Well, we owe it to photography in general. If we go back to the inception of photography, the people who were working on the capture and retention of an image, were driven by science. This was the Victorian age, when Europe ruled the world, and people wanted to understand the world we live in. Science was a pastime of all middle class gentlemen.
While Black & White photography is well understood, it is not an accurate definition of what we do. You see the majority of our images use little "pure black" or "pure white". The majority of our images have a wonderful tonality that combine to make a pleasing image.
Monochrome is defined as "a photograph or picture developed or executed in black and white or in varying tones of only one color". This is a much more specific definition. Its root of the word comes from the Greek word "monokhromatos" or "of a single color". So while not idea, it is the closest definition I believe we can reliably use.
