Black and White, We Can Learn From the Old Days

Black and White, We Can Learn From the Old Days

It's simple to produce a monochrome image these days. Creating a good one and realising your vision is another matter.

Black and white images can be intensely powerful, muh more so than colour. Just think of some of the iconic images from the 20th Century. While colour film wasn't available in many instances or impractical because of its more complex processing, for example in war photography, let's just imagine that we did have a choioce. Would the colour image be as strong, would it make as big an impression on the viewer?

There's no right or wrong, and indeed each situation is different. However, some documentary photographers prefer black and white because it's more powerful at telling the story. It's also the traditional home for that type of photography but that shouldn't be the main reason for choosing it. For other genres it can portray mood more effectively. In advertising it's a conscious choice if it makes the message stronger and so the desire to buy.

You've chosen black and white. You know it works. Now the hard work starts. Not every subject works in mono, and ha's no always due to he fact tha colour may be he more natural option (for example trees in autumn). Mono excels with shapes, lines and textures and tonal contrast. That last point is so important and why you should avoid greyscale conversion. I have seen examples where mono images have been produced by just going grey. Yes it's a different portrayal of he scene but it's lacklustre and not something to interest the viewer or hold their attention.




For tonal contrast, film photographers used colour filters at the taking stage. When doing a digital conversion use the colour response sliders to achieve the same effects. Different technical process but the same thought process.
You now have the basis of a good mono image. Even so, it may still look less than exciting. Indeed, a black and white negative printed onto standard photographic paper may look much the same. The darkroom worker had access to different grades of printing paper – hard (for increased contrast) and soft (to help with detail by producing less contrast, useful for photos taken in harsh sunlight for example). You have te same choice, using he Contrast slider or hen Curves control. Different technical process but the same thought process.

Then there are local adjustments for exposure and contrast. The darkroom worker would dodge (ive less exposure) or burn in (increase exposure) to adjust tonality and detail. Remember, those processes work opposite to what you may think because you're working with negatives, so burning in with more exposure darkens that area. Great for skies. The darkroom wrker would use their hands or pieces of card, moving them around o get a soft edge to the transition. In software, you'd use a feathered selection for that smooth transition. The name of the Dodge and Burn tools in software comes from hose techniques. Local contrast adjustments were possible with multigrade papers. Different technical process but the same thought process.

Then there's toning. I've written about that before, so suffice to say it's another choice. Different technical process but the same thought process.




All that I've described have their equal in software or traditional methods. Software has more flexibility and control, and of course consistency and repeatability – you can run off innumerable copies digially and they'll all be the same, but the darkroom prints will all have slight differences (as would any hand crafted item). The darkroom takes longer and is not as comfortable or as easy as sitting in a chair in the light and manipulating on screen. More fulfilling possibly as you have o concentrate and be fully committed.

And therein lies an issue. Quickness and easiness can lead you into a false sense that that's all you need to do. You owe it to your creativity to do that. Rarely will one click do a decent job. What makes those images so appealing, even if they are 30, 60, a 100 or more years old. Learn what to do and how to do it to get good results.

Different technical processes but the same thought processes.


All text and images © Keith Rowley 2022