Black and White Photography

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Classic black and white photograph made by Ansel Adams The Tetons and the Snake River (1942) Adams The Tetons and the Snake River.jpg
Classic black and white photograph made by Ansel Adams The Tetons and the Snake River (1942)

Black and white photography is a form of photography that captures scenes or subjects with a grayscale of brightness, without recording any natural colors. The resulting images, often referred to as monochrome, display a range of shades of gray, from black to white. This style of photography predates color photography and has remained a significant, timeless and versatile artistic and documentary medium for over a century. [1] [2]

Contents

History

Black and white photography dates back to the early days of photography in the 19th century. The first successful form of photography, known as daguerreotype, [3] [4] produced monochromatic images. [5] Throughout the 20th century, black and white photography flourished as the primary form of photographic expression, used extensively in journalism, fine art, [6] and documentary photography.

After the advent of cheap and accessible color photography technologies for the mass public, including instant photography, the share of black and white photography began to decline rapidly, [7] [8] by the end of the 1970s being less than half in the world. [4] In the USSR, this process was slower due to the low availability and high cost of color-photosensitive materials, as well as their more complex chemical photographic processing.

However, by the end of the 1990s in the CIS countries, due to the spread of machine processing of photographic materials, the ratio also did not favor black-and-white photography. The spread of digital photography further reinforced this trend, due to the simplicity and improved color reproduction.

In the 2010s, most countries began to see an increased interest in black and white photography, due to the specific expressiveness of photographs devoid of color. [9] [10] [11]

Techniques

There are various techniques for creating black and white photographs, both traditional and modern. Traditional methods involve using black and white film, which is processed using chemical techniques in a darkroom. Silverless monochrome photographic film, suitable for processing by the high-speed C-41 process, has become available, offering alternatives to traditional silver-based processes. Additionally, digital technology allows for the conversion of color photographs into monochrome by adjusting tonality and color components.

One of the most important disadvantages of black-and-white photography is considered to be the increased consumption of silver, even when it is fully regenerated from processing solutions. The reason is that in the gelatin silver process, the black-and-white image consists of metallic silver, whereas the colored image consists only of dyes. Through laboratory processing, the silver from colored chromogenic materials is bleached and can be almost completely recovered from solutions. [12] [13] For black-and-white photographic materials, the regeneration rate is no more than 70%. [14] [15]

Monochrome photography allows for more abstracted images, emotionally interpreting everyday reality. The effect can be enhanced by toning in sepia tones or cool shades. Special printing techniques such as cyanotype may be used.

Infrared Photography

Infrared photography is a specialized technique within black and white photography. By using infrared-sensitive film or digital sensors, photographers can capture unique images where green vegetation appears almost white, while the sky appears almost black. [16] This technique adds another dimension to the expressive possibilities of black and white photography. The effect can be produced either analogically using infrachromatic photographic materials, or digitally by removing the protective screen of the matrix.

Characteristics

Black and white photography offers a unique aesthetic that emphasizes contrast, texture, and composition. [8] Without the distraction of color, viewers can focus more on the shapes, lines, and emotions conveyed in the image. Monochrome imagery allows for abstract interpretations of reality, evoking emotions and conveying mood in powerful ways. [8]

Applications

Black and white photography finds applications in various fields, including fine art, [17] journalism, documentary, and commercial photography. [2] [9] In the digital age, black and white imagery is also widely used on the internet for various purposes, including illustrating articles, creating stylistic effects, and evoking nostalgia. Black and white photographs as illustrations and stylistics are also used digitally by some Internet resources of various subjects - artistic, historical, analytical-news, etc. due to the association of black and white technology with the past time, documentary newspaper photographs, etc.

Preservation

One more advantage of black and white photography, particularly silver-based prints, is its durability. Well-processed and thoroughly washed bromosilver photographic prints can last for centuries, making them valuable for archival purposes. [12] In contrast, many color photographic processes produce images that fade over time, highlighting the long-term stability of black and white prints.

The most common color photo processes are dye-transfer process, ilfochrome, and especially chromogenic — yield an image composed of rapidly fading dyes. The same is true for color photographs produced digitally on most jet or laser printers. At the same time, the preservation of a well-processed and thoroughly washed bromosilver photographic print can reach several centuries, as evidenced by storage experience. An exception is carbon print of both color and black-and-white photographs, which gives images with durability comparable to oil painting. However, due to technological complexity, the cost of a single pigment print exceeds $1,000. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photograph</span> Image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface

A photograph is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now created using a smartphone or camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of what the human eye would see. The process and practice of creating such images is called photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photographic paper</span> Light-sensitive paper used to make photographic prints

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monochrome</span> Composed of one color

A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white. In physics, monochromatic light refers to electromagnetic radiation that contains a narrow band of wavelengths, which is a distinct concept.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyanotype</span> Photographic printing process that produces a blue print

The cyanotype is a slow-reacting, economical photographic printing formulation sensitive to a limited near ultraviolet and blue light spectrum, the range 300 nm to 400 nm known as UVA radiation. It produces a monochrome, blue coloured print on a range of supports, often used for art, and for reprography in the form of blueprints. For any purpose, the process usually uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate or ferric ammonium oxalate, and potassium ferricyanide, and only water to develop and fix. Announced in 1842, it is still in use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Color photography</span> Photography that reproduces colors

Color photography is a type of photography that uses media capable of capturing and reproducing colors. By contrast, black-and-white or gray-monochrome photography records only a single channel of luminance (brightness) and uses media capable only of showing shades of gray.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gelatin silver process</span> Photographic process

The gelatin silver process is the most commonly used chemical process in black-and-white photography, and is the fundamental chemical process for modern analog color photography. As such, films and printing papers available for analog photography rarely rely on any other chemical process to record an image. A suspension of silver salts in gelatin is coated onto a support such as glass, flexible plastic or film, baryta paper, or resin-coated paper. These light-sensitive materials are stable under normal keeping conditions and are able to be exposed and processed even many years after their manufacture. The "dry plate" gelatin process was an improvement on the collodion wet-plate process dominant from the 1850s–1880s, which had to be exposed and developed immediately after coating.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infrared photography</span> Near-infrared imaging

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photographic film</span> Film used by film (analog) cameras

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References

  1. ↑ Gernsheim, Helmut (1977). "W. H. Fox Talbot and the history of photography". Endeavour. 1 (1): 18–22. doi:10.1016/0160-9327(77)90005-9.
  2. 1 2 Rosenblum, Naomi (1997). A world history of photography (3rd ed.). New York: Abbeville Press. p. 144.
  3. ↑ Graure, Cristian (2014). ""Argint şi soare". Originile fotografiei prin evoluții tehnice între 1800 şi 1900" [“Silver and sunshine”. The Origins of Photography by means of Processes between 1800 and 1900]. Analele Banatului XXII 2014.
  4. 1 2 Edom, Clifton C. (1947). "Photo-Propaganda: The History of Its Development". Journalism Quarterly. 24 (3): 221–238. doi:10.1177/107769904702400305.
  5. ↑ Zavagno, D.; Massironi, M. (2006). "Colours in Black and White: The Depiction of Lightness and Brightness in Achromatic Engravings before the Invention of Photography". Perception. 35 (1): 91–100. doi:10.1068/p5346. PMID   16491711.
  6. ↑ Hamber, A. (1990). "The Use of Photography by Nineteenth Century Art Historians". Visual Resources. 7 (2–3): 135–161. doi:10.1080/01973762.1990.9658907.
  7. ↑ Osterman, Mark (2007). "Introduction to Photographic Equipment, Processes, and Definitions of the 19th Century". In Peres, Michael R. (ed.). Digital Imaging, Theory and Applications, History, and Science. Focal Press. pp. 36–123. doi:10.1016/B978-0-240-80740-9.50013-1. ISBN   9780240807409.
  8. 1 2 3 Hunt, R. (1996-01-01). Why is Black-and-White so Important in Color?. Proc. IS&T 4th Color and Imaging Conf. pp. 54–57. doi:10.2352/CIC.1996.4.1.art00015.
  9. 1 2 Grainge, Paul (1999). "TIME's Past in the Present: Nostalgia and the Black and White Image". Journal of American Studies. 33 (3). Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Association for American Studies Stable: 383–392. doi:10.1017/S0021875899006155. JSTOR   27556682 . Retrieved 2015-06-29.
  10. ↑ Costello, Diarmuid; Iversen, Margaret (2012). "Introduction: Photography between Art History and Philosophy". Critical Inquiry. 38 (4): 679–693. doi:10.1086/667419.
  11. ↑ Хеджкоу, Д. (2004). Фотография. Энциклопедия. Росмэн. p. 52. ISBN   0751301108.
  12. 1 2 Collings, T. J.; Young, F. J. (1976). "Improvements in some tests and techniques in photograph conservation". Studies in Conservation. 21 (2): 79–84. doi:10.1179/sic.1976.014.
  13. ↑ Hamilton, J.F. (1988). "The silver halide photographic process". Advances in Physics. 37 (4): 359–441. Bibcode:1988AdPhy..37..359H. doi:10.1080/00018738800101399.
  14. ↑ Horn, Richard R. (1991-08-01). "History and status of black and white photographic processing chemicals as effluents". Printing Technologies for Images, Gray Scale, and Color. 1458: 69. Bibcode:1991SPIE.1458...69H. doi:10.1117/12.46335.
  15. ↑ Иофис, Е. А. (1981). "Фотокинотехника". Советская энциклопедия. Moscow. p. 273.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. ↑ McCree, K.J. (1968). "Infrared-sensitive colour film for spectral measurements under plant canopies". Agricultural Meteorology. 5 (3): 203–208. Bibcode:1968AgMet...5..203M. doi:10.1016/0002-1571(68)90003-4. ISSN   0002-1571.
  17. ↑ Arnheim, R. (1983). Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
  18. ↑ Wilhelm, Henry; Brower, Carol (1990). "Color Prints Forever". Popular Photography: 46–49. ISSN   1542-0337.

Bibliography

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