The Realities of Black and White Photography

Photography got its start in the Black and White domain, and it continues today as an important movement in the art. It is often highly regarded, commanding a greater deal of respect than color photography.

The accessibility of black and white makes it an ideal reason to continue to pursue film-based photography. Black and white film is easily handled and processed, which saves money while also putting you closely in touch with the medium.

Black and White photography can also be pursued in the digital domain, but here is where things get a little strange. With very few exceptions, digital cameras are color devices. Most have a black and white mode, which converts the color image to black and white. This seamlessly gives the appearance that you are taking a b/w photo, but in reality it’s a compromise with less than ideal resolution. This is because the image is built up from an array of red, green and blue photosites, rather than constructed directly from grayscale photosites. This gives black and white film a definite advantage.

Film Options
There are many fine B/W films available today, that are easily processed at home. There are also “chromogenic” black and while films, which can be processed in C-41 chemistry. This means you can pursue black and white photography even if your lab only processes C-41 color negative film. Chromogenic black and white film does not have the same grain structure as conventional black and film, but it’s quite sharp and yields an interesting result.

It is also possible to process C-41 color film in black and white chemistry, which yields a black and white negative. And of course, just like digital, it’s possible to shoot in color and process the images digitally in black and white.

Contrast
Black and White photography is all about contrast, and this will quickly become your new pursuit. Digitally, you can enhance contrast both in your camera and in post-processing. When converting color to black and white, you can also use the color information to “remix” the image, creating more contrast. However, all of these methods create noise and artifacts which may not be desirable. The best method is to use high-contrast film, papers, and filters.

One way to get truly stunning black and white photos is through infrared photography, which like conventional photography, also uses red filters. You use the same red 25A filter with film, and with digital a darker red filter, which comes in different cutoff points.