Monochrome and The Story

 “Black and white are the colors of photography. To me, they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.”

- Robert Frank

Art Model Panda ©2013 Terrell Neasley

Black and White, aka... MONOCHROME. This is the way things started out. Of course, you already knew that. Actually, monochrome refers to more than just Black and White. Sepia is also monochromatic, as is Cyanotype, Ambrotype, and Selenium. All it really means is one color tonality. And this is how the story was told in original photographic works. Whether it was for private portraits, reporting the local news, or civil war photos to accompany journalistic works... regardless... this was the technology that began it all. Dorothea Lange made you tug at your heart with her Great Depression Era photography. Gordon Parks put the truth of the civil rights struggles on the front page.

Today, we usually refer to making photos artistic, we often refer to turning them black and white. This is a style. And why do we do this? There are several reasons. Mainly it's the aesthetic appeal of vintage artwork, which is once again the trendiest way to shoot. Case in point, Instagram. Many images we see nowadays are posted with Instagram retro or Lomography filters overlaid on top of the image to give it an old feel. Old has become new again.

Art Model Panda ©2013 Terrell Neasley

Another reason we like B&W is the simple fact that it is traditional. Traditional photography was more comfortable and familiar. We like a specific image because of the unconscious mind's eye, which tends to be drawn to certain things and will overlook others. Light, shadow, shape (primarily geometric), patterns, balance... these are elements the eye sees and notices more quickly. These things appeal to you or will at least get your attention whether you like them or not. Color may tend to distract the eye from the fundamental elements and the purity of the composition. Bright and primary colors may lead the eyes away by cluttering and confusing your unconscious mind, making you miss the real story the eyes naturally look for.

Remove color information, and what remains are the truisms that make up the photograph. Don't get me wrong. There are times color information is paramount. Try shooting roses or wildflowers in Black and White! Information is missing and which leaves the story incomplete. Shooting a redhead in B&W might even be considered a crime. However, street photography is more effective in black and white. 

Distractions are reduced. You see the raw mood of the scene and can interpret the composition. Sometimes what you see can be painful, but you FEEL that story. Ever looked at portraits of homeless people? Many photographers perfect street and portrait photography photographing the homeless and destitute. The natural tendency was to convert automatically to B&W. The pain on the faces, the grittiness of the subject, and the desolation are captured that brings the human element back to the person and maybe you pay attention more. Personally, I have a difficult time with street photography and shooting homeless people. I don't feel I ever get it right. 

Art Model Panda ©2014 Terrell Neasley

"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between." 

- Karl Heiner

"Who-Panda," Art Model Panda ©2013 Terrell Neasley

What makes good B&W images? For me, I'll take B&W Photography like I like my women... Moody and Contrasty! (I'll be here all week!) It's going to be different for everyone. I like rich shadows that contrast nicely against the highlights. Or, I can go high key to where the highlights outweigh the shadows. Too many people will let photo-editing software make the decision for them and the images look flat. You can even shoot B&W straight from the camera. The problem is that these are global adjustments over the entire image, and these machines do not have the artistic savvy to render correctly. They may come close. They may give a good starting point, but that control should reside solely with the artist.

I used to develop my own film and prints in the darkroom. There was NEVER a shot that was perfect from capture. Some burning (darkening) and dodging (brightening) were always necessary. It was a craft and a true art. The same holds true in digital. This year, in fact, I will change up my entire workflow just to get a new feel and appreciation for Black and White Photography.

Art Model Panda ©2013 Terrell Neasley

And then there are the film-purist photogs who do not shoot digital. These guys will stick to film if they can still buy paper, film, and the chemicals to process them. I have no clue what will happen to these guys once film is no more, or the cost of developing becomes too much. But lately, it seems film is making a comeback. I hope it stays. I am one of those who actually loved the darkroom. It was a sanctuary to me. I'd have total silence in the near darkness. I'd develop my film with my eyes closed most of the time. Doing the prints usually required a light, called a safe light, that would not destroy prints during development.

Why do we still like monochrome? In a nutshell, it tells the story much better. It maintains a timelessness that is unique to us. And its versatility is helpful in just about any critical situation. Black and White is simple. It is beautiful and unencumbered. And remember, Black and White is not just black and white, but also every shade of gray in between.

Art Model Panda ©2014 Terrell Neasley

What's So Cool About Black and White Photography

 

Anonymous Abstract Portrait, Hanoi 2021

“Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.” 

– Eliott Erwitt

The evolution of color has taken us to new depths of imagination and has answered many questions on what is possible. Virtually any camera can see 16 million different colors or shades of a color. The very nature of color can't be discussed without talking about the color wheel, color spectrum, color theory, color grading, or color space. We get taught our colors in primary school and our first notion of a social class is determined by the size of your box of Crayola Crayons. Nope, I never had that box of 64 with the sharpener in the back. Mama said, I'd never use more than 16. 

So why would we ever photograph anything in Black and White or change a color photograph to a stripped down monochromatic version of itself? Or even crazier, why buy a camera for $8,000 that ONLY shoots B&W? Well, here are a few good reasons why Black and White (monochrome) photography has remained so relevant.

River nude shot with Leica M Monochrome Type 246 with the 35mm Summicron on loan from Leica. They didn't appreciate me taking it out to the river, though. 

1. The Distraction of Color - The very first time this was explained to me, I didn't really see it. How is color a distraction? It's the real world as our brain perceives it! But I began photography with B&W film... Agfa, Kodak TMAX, Fomapan, Tri-X, Arista-EDU. All these were brands of film that had different qualities that rendered B&W tones that suited your style or purpose. 

The absence of color in a composition left a photo with a clearer view of it's fundamental elements. You saw lines, shapes, shadow/light values, and  contrast better. Texture popped out. It gave you a sense of form and balance within an image. Layering of depth and focus points become easily apparent and appreciated because you have reduced the photo to the basics and left it with only the properties that it needs by eliminating the frivolous.

Hanoi, Urban Rooftops, 2020 Sony a7rMkII

2. Creates Drama - Fine Art Photography is all about emotion. How does a composition make you feel? Emotion is moved and manipulated via drama. A landscape photo with dramatic clouds can be further emphasized in Black & White because of the deeper tonal values and separation of highlight and shadow. But it also brings out facial emotions in street photography, portraits, and documentary work. If emotion is the primary target, go Black and White. If there is no relevant color information anyway, such as in some architecture photography, go Black and White.

Up in the Andes Mountains of Southern Peru

3. Timelessness - Photography began it's existence in Black and White. It took 140 years before color became widely used. Many of the greatest and most influential photos taken in the world were done in B&W. It speaks to history, significance, and originality. It is almost synonymous with artistic style. That creditability is so consequential that when you turn a photograph B&W today, it borrows from our timeless past. We give it historical or artistic value just by losing the color, which has a tendency to modernize any photo.

Shot with film, 2006 Art Model, Mary posing on the side of a friggin' cliff. That's a bridge far below.

“Black and white creates a strange dreamscape that color never can.”  

– Jack Antonoff

4. Artsy - And speaking of artistic value... what is the number 1 thing we do when we want to "save" a bad color photo? Turn it Black and White! Instant improvement! And this is never better served more so than in abstract art, but not only that. Look up the most historically significant photos to date, almost all are Black and White or at least monochromatic. Interestingly enough, this mainly works in the medium of photographic art. How many black and white paintings do you see?

Just me...

5. Easier on the Camera - This probably sounds like a trivial excuse to use Black and White, but hear me out. We're talking about helping the camera take a better picture. The camera can't see color at all. It only translates electrical signals as it gathers photons of light. Sensor tech uses color filters and algorithms and processors to determine the quantity of red, green, or blue, thus deriving all the other colors from those primary ones. 

Well, when the camera doesn't have to work so hard for determining if a light signal is red, green, or blue... all it has to do is register tonal value! What do you get from that, deeper dynamic range and more latitude! Now you can partially understand why Leica makes an $8K camera. I've shot with it and it's remarkable! Hence the pic above.

Art Model, Katherine with Hades. Hades isn't a colorful hawk. Black and White is fine.

Understandably, color still has a significant roll in photography. You do NOT change everything to B&W. You use color when it is part of the narrative, needs to appeal to a wide audience such as in marketing, and most significantly in video production. I photographed a playground once to test my theory in this. There was a definitive loss in the narrative when you miss out on the vibrant color of the playground. 

Do wildlife photography and photograph a lion. No problem, you can go B&W or color. But try photographing a bird in the wild that has a distinct colorful plumage, like my personal favorite, the Kingfisher, and you've done yourself a disservice if you reduce it to monochrome values. Show me a rose without its color and I'll show you a failed experiment. Learn the difference and apply that wisdom well.

Five Reasons I Will Focus the Rest of the Year on B&W Photography

Selfie!

"If you are not passionately devoted to an idea, you can make very pleasant pictures but they won't make you cry."

 ~ Ruth Bernhard

For the remainder of this year, I'm going to make a commitment to Black and White Photography. Everything I shoot will be edited in B&W... or at least nearly everything. During this backpacking journey, one of my goals is to be better with photography. Yes, I am always talking about becoming better or trying to show YOU how to become better. This will never stop. I'm going to continue to be a spokesman for my craft. I love photography in its various forms and genres. There's enough learning to last a lifetime. Here is why I am choosing B&W Photography to help me achieve this.

Art Model, Leslie ©2015 Terrell Neasley

1. The Challenge

I want to up my game. Putting limitations on myself forces me to exercise photo muscles that can become complacent when you have the ease of use of color. I am already challenging myself with the use of only two lenses. I presently travel with a 55mm 1.8 and a 20mm 1.4. I have nothing in the tele-range. I even left the 90mm macro at home.

I desire to also see light better. I'm pretty decent at judging an exposure without a light meter when necessary. I feel I need to be able to, not just measure light, but I want to see the potential and the opportunities in it. Black and White forces me to stick to the principles of highlights, the mids, and shadows. Without the distraction of color, I am able to focus more on just the light.

Art Model, Safia Sarai ©2016 Terrell Neasley

My first great challenge, back in 2005 as I began in photography, was exposing for snow without making it appear gray or blown out relative to the rest of the composition. So I learned to be better at measuring light. My second great challenge has stuck with me the most. It was being able to THINK in B&W despite what I saw in color. Before I moved to Vegas, I had the opportunity to visit for a few months (summer of 2006) the year before actually moving there in 2007. I shot a nude black woman using film on the red rocks of Valley of Fire. When I tried to process those shots, there was barely any contrast between the model and the rocks! Try dodging and burning that! I did not consider the tone over her skin nor the rocks when shot on black and white film. It was a painstaking process unless I wanted to just be lazy with bland low contrast work. That's not me. I should automatically know what yellow, purple, or brown converts to in monochrome.

B&W work will help me with composition development through a greater emphasis on lines, shape, texture, patterns, repetition, and creating art purely via the juxtaposition of light vs. shadow. I want to be able to "see" more clearly and when I can do that, I find the opportunities for impressive compositions. Seeing the potential will help me with the patience to let a scene develop until I have the right compositional elements at my disposal.

Art Model, Safia Sarai, ©2015 Terrell Neasley

2. Learn More About the Sum of Light

This will be a study. I'm going to learn about light, the characteristics of it, how to best use it, as well as when to use it. I say the Sum of Light because I will focus more on the visible aspect of light... it's sum totality, rather than the spectrum of light, or the color pieces created when light is refracted. In the case of camera sensors, that would relate to RGB pixels which absorbs light selectively via filters. The goal is to be able to make decisions about light subconsciously through repetition and practice. I want to be a more proficient shooter and a more capable teacher of photography by first being a better student.

3. Editing: Back to the Beginning

Sometimes when you want to start over or renew your mind, getting back to the basics of pure fundamentals is the universal start point. It's like going back home. I started out in photography using Arista 400, Agfa100 and Kodak TMAX100/400/3200. That's all professional grade film. I developed my film and prints in a darkroom. I made test sheets of each shot and outlined the regions where I need more light and less light... burning and dodging. You found the overall correct exposure for your prints and then mapped out the individual elements that needed the shadows adjusted or those that needed the highlights tweaked. This will help me with my edits.

Bodyscape, ©2016 Terrell Neasley

As much as I like a challenge, I also want to create advantages for myself. Without the color aspect, editing also becomes easier. Gone are the optical color-based errors that are produced from lenses, such as chromatic aberration. Photo editing tools have a much easier time finding tonal range in compositions when color is no longer a factor in brightening or darkening a subject. You get more quality work even at higher ISOs. So Monochrome surmounts RGB in edit quality and ease of use. Grain is also more tolerable in B&W.

4. Minimalism

I'm looking for a cleaner image. I started on the minimalist trail quite a while back. I've slowly been shedding everything. Now, I carry my belongings on my back. Backpacking is the ultimate in minimalism... just short of being a hobo. Wait... forget I said that. I see the irony, but I see myself as rather nomadic. Sounds better.

As to my work, I want less in my shot. I want my compositions to be efficient... doing more with less. A minimalist must be a master of balance in a composition and B&W will help immensely with this. You are forced to have better foreground vs. background elements. At the very least, you begin to see effective anchor points within a shot that helps create that necessary balance.

Art Model, Leslie, ©2016 Terrell Neasley

5. The Artistry

I honestly think this will help me become a better artist. I want to sell more prints more consistently. I want more exhibitions of my work. Quite frankly, I'm old fashioned when it comes to this. If the current trend says color will guarantee me more of sales and more exhibition, then... well, I'd be stupid not to consider that. However, I have lived my life being true to myself, despite trends. I can adapt, but where I think it's important, I still favor the greats; and that, my friend, is in Black and White photography.

I love the extremes. I tend to weigh more heavily with higher contrast in my edits and those are the same type of images that catch my attention from other artists. I lean towards the left side of the histogram more than I do the right. However, I'll dance around in the shadows or the highlights more than the mid-tones. So the ends are where I play, but I understand grays have their proper place. While I dance on the poles, I still go to work in the middle.

Art Model, Safia Sarai, ©2015 Terrell Neasley

After the love of contrast, drama comes in a close second. I'm not talking social drama, of course. Can't stand that ish. No, I refer to the drama created in the mood of a shot via the use of shadow and in the creative use or the absence of it.

Shapes and lines are more creatively accentuated which result in better and more meaningful abstract symbolism. I can become an alchemist, so to speak because I am able to transform one photo element into something completely different. Having a 42MP sensor lets me crop in on a subject. That too, adds to the ability to create better abstract. So stay tuned. More to come on this.

Art Model, Joanie, ©2010 Terrell Neasley

Why We Like Black and White Photography

“Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.”

- Robert Frank

Art Model, Alethea ©2013 Terrell Neasley

Black and White, aka... MONOCHROME. This is the way things started out. Of course, you already knew that. Actually, monochrome refers to more than just Black and White. Sepia is also monochromatic, as is Cyanotype, Abrotype, Selenium, and Copper. All it really means is one color tonality combined with white. An image is said to be duo-toned when white is replaced with another color

But when we usually refer to making photos artistic, we are mostly referring to turning them black and white. This is a style. And why do we do this? There are several reasons. Mainly its the aesthetic appeal of vintage artwork, which is once again the trendiest way to shoot. Case in point, Instagram. Half the images we see now-a-days are posted with Instagram retro or lomo(graphy) filters overlaid on top of the image to give it an old feel. Old has become new again.

Art Model, Alethea
©2013 Terrell Neasley

Another reason we like B&W is for the simple fact that it is traditional. We used to not have the ability to capture in color. Traditional photography was more comfortable and familiar. There are reasons we like a certain image and that's because of the unconscious mind's eye which has a tendency to be drawn to certain things and will overlook others. Light, shadow, shape (especially geometric), patterns, balance...these are all elements that the eye sees and notices more quickly. These things tend to appeal to you or will at least get your attention whether you like them or not. Color will tend to distract the eye away from these elements. Bright colors and primary colors may lead the eyes away by cluttering and confusing your unconscious mind thereby making you miss the aforementioned elements the eyes naturally look for.

Remove color information and what remains are the truisms that make up the photograph. Don't get me wrong. There are times color information is paramount. Try shooting a playground in Black and White. Information is missing and which leaves the story incomplete. Shooting a redhead in B&W might even be considered a crime. However street photography is big on black and white. Distractions are reduced. You see the raw mood of the scene and are able to interpret the composition without internalizing it. Sometimes what you see can be painful, but you are able to disassociate it from yourself. Ever look at portraits of homeless people? This was a big trend of artistic work at one point. The natural tendency was to convert automatically to B&W. The pain on the faces...the grittiness of the subject...the desolation, all this was captured much the same way we tend to like shots of abandoned buildings and other facets of decay. The addition of color for human subjects might make you feel guilty for admiring the work or for not doing something to help.

"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between." 

- Karl Heiner

"Who-Panda", Art Model Panda ©2013 Terrell Neasley

What makes good B&W images? For me, I'll take mine moody and contrasty. Sort of like the women I tend to date which oft bodes ill in the end, but that's another subject. Its going to be different for everyone. I like rich blacks that contrast well against the whites (Don't read any other analogies into that!). At the same time, I can go high key on the opposite end of the scale to where the weight of white far outweighs the amount of black in the image. Too many people will let photo-editing software make the decision for them that turn out looking flat. You can even shoot B&W straight out of camera, so the camera makes the decision. The problem here is that these are global adjustments over the entire image and these machines do not have the artistic savvy to render correctly. They may come close. They may give a good starting point, but that control should reside solely with the artist.

I used to develop my own film and prints in a darkroom. There was NEVER a shot that was perfect from capture. Some burning (darkening) and dodging (brightening) was always necessary. It was a craft and a true art. The same holds true in digital. I use Nik Silver Efex because it is the closest software to a darkroom that I have ever used. I've tried several. Nik does it best for me.

Art Model, Panda
©2013 Terrell Neasley

And this is a secret I will divulge of photogs. Sometimes, a shot may be messed up and in dire need of saving. One trick... Turn it B&W! Oftentimes, this can be a quick save for a shot that is possibly out of focus, exposed incorrectly, or otherwise just not right. The easy fix...make it artistic, which means go monochrome. If it works, great. If not... bite the bullet and move on.

And then there are the film-purist photogs who do not shoot digital. These guys will stick to film as long as they can still buy paper, film, and  the chemicals to process them. In more cases than not, they are shooting pro-grade B&W film, usually a Tri-X or a TMAX brand. I have no clue what will happen to these guys once film is no more. I am one of those who actually loved the darkroom. It was a sort of sanctuary to me. I'd usually have silence in the near darkness. I'd actually develop my film with my eyes closed most of the time. Doing the prints usually required a light, called a safe light that would not destroy prints during development.

Why do we still like monochrome? In a nutshell, it tells the story oftentimes much better. It maintains a timelessness that is unique to us. And the versatility of it is useful in just about any important situation. Black and White is simple. Its beautiful and unencumbered. And remember, Black and White is not just black and white, but also every shade of gray in between.