Thoughts on Black & White Photography
Black & White photography or shall we refer to it as Mono photography as this can encapsulate toned images, was the mainstay of our hobby, in fact for most of photographic history it was the only form available to the hobbyist. From the start there were attempts to create colour images, in fact as early as 1860 a technique exposing three Mono images on glass plates each exposed with a different colour filter (Red, Green & Blue) using 3 slide lanterns each fitted with a corresponding filter to project the image, the results were disappointing due to the emulsions available at that time. By 1873 some improvements were made using dyes. 1907 saw a system that produced delicate pastel colours that became popular. It wasn’t until the 1930’s that Kodak was to market Kodachrome evolved from this latter system (around this same period Agfa had a rival film) that real colour photography could be thought about by a wider public . Mono still remained the mainstay of photography through into the 50’s The 1960’s saw a significant rise in popularity of colour as it became cheaper, later the serious hobbyist started to look at the possibility of processing their own. By the 80’s colour though still more complicated than Mono with new techniques and equipment made home colour processing for the hobbyist an established reality. High street processing was by this time extremely cheap and therefore more popular; the demise of Mono photography looked inevitable. There were a number of stubborn photographers that carried on with their mono work. I was one, but I was also printing my own colour as well. Photo clubs largely appeared to be the preserve of the Mono worker.
Then along came digital photography, colour quality was reasonably good with a home printer, and rapidly improved with new papers, to be on a par with chemical, while Mono digital prints were poor. Was this yet another nail in the Mono coffin?
Independent ink suppliers started to make grey scale ink sets and some still do, but I personally never found them really satisfactory.
The last few years has seen printers available not just with colour inks but 3 shades of black, with the Mono worker in mind. This new generation of printers combined with the new baryta fibre papers (most popular papers are resin) coming onto the market announced that digital Mono printing had finally arrived and compete with the darkroom Mono print. The result has been a renaissance of mono photography both commercial and with the hobbyist. Ilford will now even print a digital Mono file using chemical paper, now that arguably could be the ultimate in Mono printing.
I love Mono pictures but sadly when entering exhibition I always seem to do better with colour. I have won the MIDFOT best colour print on two separate occasions (interestingly mine is the only name to appear on the trophy twice) best I have managed to achieve in Mono was a Commended. Still I will keep trying.
There are those that say real photography is still Mono photography, arguing colour gets in the way, and that Mono is more emotive.
We all have our own opinion on that one.
Patrick
Then along came digital photography, colour quality was reasonably good with a home printer, and rapidly improved with new papers, to be on a par with chemical, while Mono digital prints were poor. Was this yet another nail in the Mono coffin?
Independent ink suppliers started to make grey scale ink sets and some still do, but I personally never found them really satisfactory.
The last few years has seen printers available not just with colour inks but 3 shades of black, with the Mono worker in mind. This new generation of printers combined with the new baryta fibre papers (most popular papers are resin) coming onto the market announced that digital Mono printing had finally arrived and compete with the darkroom Mono print. The result has been a renaissance of mono photography both commercial and with the hobbyist. Ilford will now even print a digital Mono file using chemical paper, now that arguably could be the ultimate in Mono printing.
I love Mono pictures but sadly when entering exhibition I always seem to do better with colour. I have won the MIDFOT best colour print on two separate occasions (interestingly mine is the only name to appear on the trophy twice) best I have managed to achieve in Mono was a Commended. Still I will keep trying.
There are those that say real photography is still Mono photography, arguing colour gets in the way, and that Mono is more emotive.
We all have our own opinion on that one.
Patrick
Total Comments 4
Comments
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Personally, I love both colour and mono. I don't have much time for the argument that one is supposedly better than the other.Posted 26-03-09 at 08:23 AM by Ian 
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Which is where I hoped we may trigger a discussion. Patrick
Posted 26-03-09 at 11:10 AM by Patrick
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Interesting article Patrick, thank you.
I use mono and sepia a lot for portraits, especially infant photography for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I believe it gives a softer look to an image and secondly, babies and young children often have a high colour around their cheeks which doesn't look so good in a colour print. I have a some presets in my software that offers the following:
[B]Daguerreotype[/B] - Widely used from 1839 to 1855, the daguerreotype was the first popular form of photography. Images were captured directly on a thin piece of silver-plated copper. Because no negative was produced, copies could not be made, so each image was unique.
[B]Albumen[/B] - Widely used from 1855 to the 1890s, this inexpensive photographic method produced paper-based photos. Negatives were captured on glass and the print was then created on paper that used albumen from egg whites to bind the light-sensitive chemicals to the paper.
[B]Cyanotype[/B] - Invented in 1841, this simple, inexpensive photographic method became popular from the late 19th century to early 20th century. The images are created when ultraviolet light converts the light-sensitive chemicals to Prussian blue. This method was used for creating blueprints.
[B]Platinum [/B]- Popular from 1873 to 1920, this photographic method used platinum-based developing materials and placed the paper in direct contact with the negative. Although the resulting high-quality prints remained stable over time, the high price of platinum made this an expensive method. This is the type I prefer in my infant portrait work.
[B]Early Colour [/B]- Autochrome was a popular method of producing early colour prints. This method was developed by the Lumiere brothers (Auguste and Louis Lumiere) in 1904. It used potato starch granuals, dyed red, green and blue, to create coloured images on glass, similar to slide.
[B]Box cameras[/B] were popular from 1900 to the 1960's. I remember using my Grandad's box camera where everything was upside down. The simplicity of the camera meant that anyone could take photos.
The final one in the set is
[B]Cross Process[/B] - Cross-processing is a modern photography technique that createsunique colour effects by mismatching the film and the chemicals used to develop the film. For example, you can achieve this effect by processing slide film in chemicals designed for colour or negative film.Posted 26-03-09 at 05:24 PM by -
Indeed, monochraome is alive and well....well sort of...LOL
Your history line was fun to follow and remember all the various home color processes that I went through. The history of monochrome styles would be interesting and might end with what the judges are looking for in your competitions. These international forums have been interesting, as they show what "good" B&W is supposed to be in various part of the world. Diversity is good....LOLPosted 28-03-09 at 09:18 PM by Bob Ross
