Beginner's Guide to Black & White Photography.pdf

FREE COLLECTOR’S TECHNIQUE GUIDE No.

Black & white photography has stood the test of time. Despite the advance from mono to colour film, and then from emulsion to digital, black &

white photography remains popular with photographers around the world. Its ability to produce evocative and powerful images remains as strong

today as it has ever been. Welcolme to the world of monochrome! PHOTO: PATRICK EDEN

Black & white

CONTENTS

34 Learning to see

the world in black

& white

35 Which film for

black & white?

At a time when colour film technology is at its

peak, and the world we live in is more colourful

than ever before, the idea of taking pictures in

black & white may seem a little strange.

Recently, however, mono has experienced

something of a renaissance. Not only is it widely

used for advertising and fashion, but more and

more enthusiast photographers are also

enjoying the benefits of shooting in black &

white. The main attraction of working in mono is

that by stripping colour from an image, you

divorce it from reality so photographs become a

more effective means of self-expression. Instead

of relying on realism and familiarity, they

become abstracts using patterns, textures and

the play of light and shade to gain appeal.

Photographs take on a different meaning, and

we can see into much more with the distraction

of colour taken away. This applies to all subjects,

be it portraits, landscape, still-life or architecture.

An additional benefit is that black & white is a

complete cycle. Your involvement with colour

photography usually ends the moment a roll of

exposed film is removed from your camera. But

in black & white, the creative process is only just

beginning at that point, because after

developing the film you then get to work in the

darkroom, printing the photograph according to

how you visualised it as the time.

This guide covers various topics, from learning

to see in black & white, choosing, using and

processing film and making your first print.

36-37 Black &

white technique

38 Developing

your first black &

white film

39 Making a

contact sheet

and your first print

40 Making the

final print

FREE WITH PHOTOGRAPHY MONTHLY OCTOBER 2001

Beginner’s guide to

Black & white

LEARNING TO SEE

IN BLACK & WHITE

The biggest hurdle to overcome when shooting

black & white for the first time is understanding

how a colour scene will translate to black, white

and the numerous grey tones in-between.

A good way to learn initially is by shooting the

same scenes or subjects in black & white and

colour, so you can compare the two images and

note how certain colours record as grey tones.

Ideally, set up a shot or look for a scene that

contains a wide range of different colours – reds,

yellows, oranges, greens and blues. What you

learn will prove invaluable in the future as it will

help you visualise if a scene will work well in

black & white, and also what you may need to do

at both the taking stage and the printing stage

to ensure a successful image is produced.

For example, if you photograph red and green

objects together, their relative difference in

colour creates a contrast that makes each item

stand out clearly. In mono, however, red and

green records as similar grey tones so that

contrast is reduced, and the impact of the

photograph with it. When photographing

landscapes, you need to consider the way the

sky will record when you expose for the ground,

and how the many different shades of green in

the scene will translate. With still-lifes, you need

to pre-visualise how different objects will relate

to each other when converted to grey tones.

This comparison set provides a good indication of how a black & white film will interpret colour

scenes. SRB (phone 01582 572471) produce an accessory called a monovue which costs £16.

When held to the eye, it shows the world in black & white and is a handy aid. PHOTOS: LEE FROST

Self-expression

Of course, while this practical knowledge will be

of use, you shouldn’t live and die by it. One of

the great joys of black & white photography is

that it allows you to express your own creative

vision far more than colour can, so detailed

technical accuracy may be far less important to

you than the overall mood and feel of the image.

Also, while what you capture on the original

negative is important, 99 per cent of the time

it’s what you do with the image in the darkroom

that counts, because it’s in the printing that a

black & white photo really comes to life. You can

use different contrast grades of paper to control

the way highlights, shadows and mid-tones

relate to each other, for instance. You can lighten

or darken selective areas of the print to change

its tonal balance. You can also crop the image to

alter the composition, tone it and so on.

Black & white film converts colours to various shades of grey. When shooting subjects which

are made up of various hues of the same colour, such as green plants, use a film with good

contrast, or print to a hard grade, to emphasise the change in tones. PHOTO: COLIN DIXON

Using filters

Colour filters can be used to control the way different colours record as grey tones and therefore alter the tonal

relationship in a scene to a small or large extent.

The main colours used to achieve this are yellow, green, orange and red. Each will cause its own colour to record

as a lighter grey tone in black & white and its complementary colour to record as a darker grey tone. So, red will

lighten red and darken green while green will lighten green but darken red.

Yellow is the best choice for everyday use, as it slightly darkens blue sky and emphasises clouds. Orange does

this more obviously, as well as darkening greens to give a marked increase in contrast. Red turns blue sky almost

black so white clouds stand out starkly and the sky takes on greater prominence, rather like it does in colour when

you use a polarising filter (which can also be used for black & white photography). A red filter also darkens green

considerably to produce dark, dramatic effects.

Green is popular with landscape photographers as it helps to emphasise the different shades of green in the

scene (see Beginner’s guide to Filters – pull-out guide no.4). PHOTO: LEE FROST

Beginner’s guide to

WHICH FILM FOR

BLACK & WHITE?

The choice of black & white film is wider

now than ever before. In practice, however,

there isn’t a massive difference between

one brand or another, so unless you want to

get very technical the main decision you

need to make is which speed to use.

As with colour, the slower the film is,

generally, the finer the grain and the

greater the resolving power, so having

decided what you want the film for, you can

then choose a suitable speed.

Slow films

If you require the best image quality, and intend

making big enlargements, choose a slow speed

film such as Agfa Agfapan APX 25 (ISO 25),

Kodak Technical Pan (ISO 32) or Ilford Pan F Plus

(ISO 50). All three produce incredibly sharp

negatives with amazing detail and almost

invisible grain. The downside is you will need to

use a tripod in all but the brightest conditions.

Black & white film

is far better than

colour at

producing

evocative images.

In shots like these,

where highlight

and shadow detail

are equally

important, it’s

essential to ensure

the original

exposure is

correct, and the

printing is also

spot-on.

PHOTO: NEIL MILLER

Medium-speed films

Films in the ISO 100-125 range are a good choice

if you require high image quality without

compromising speed too much. Ilford’s Delta 100

and FP4 Plus, Kodak T-Max 100 and Agfa

Agfapan APX 100, among others, all provide fine

grain and sharpness, and at enlargements up to

16x12in will produce excellent image quality,

while still allowing you to take handheld pictures.

Fast films

Today’s crops of ISO 400 films are capable of

amazing quality, making them the most popular

speed for general use. The more modern films

have the edge – Ilford Delta 400 and HP5 Plus,

Kodak T-Max 400 and Agfa Agfapan APX 400.

The older emulsions such as Kodak Tri-X and Fuji

Neopan 400 aren’t as fine-grained, but still

produce excellent results and are much-loved.

On prints up to 10x8in, grain is fine, but any

bigger and grain becomes more obvious.

Mono infrared

If you’re looking for something different, give infrared film a try. Being sensitive to infrared as well as visible light,

it records the world in a weird and wonderful way – blue sky and water go black, while foliage and skin tones record

as ghostly white tones.

Kodak High Speed Mono Infrared is the most sensitive IR film, so it gives the strongest effect, while Konica 750

and Ilford SFX 200 aren’t so sensitive.

Kodak’s infrared film must be loaded and unloaded in complete darkness to avoid fogging (use a changing bag on

location), while Ilford’s and Konica’s can be handled in dim conditions.

To get the infrared effect, use a red filter. If you meter with the filter in place, set the following film speeds on

your camera – ISO 400 for the Kodak film, ISO 200 for Ilford SFX and ISO 50 for Konica 750.

Bracket exposures a stop or two over the metered exposure and print to a hard contrast grade – IV or V – for

powerful images with glowing highlights and deep shadows. PHOTO: KATHLEEN HARCOM

Ultra-fast films

If you need to take handheld pictures in low-

light, then an ultra-fast film will be more suitable.

There are three to choose from – Fuji Neopan

1600, Kodak T-Max 3200 and Ilford Delta 3200,

with speeds of ISO 1600 and ISO 3200. Although

these films offer high quality, they are very

grainy. Many photographers see this as a

creative benefit, however, and use these films

specifically for their coarse grain.

Q&A

I’d like to experiment with black & white film but don’t

have a darkroom. What are my options?

The first is to use Agfa Scala, which is an ISO 200 black &

white slide film. It produces attractive results, but at £10+ per

roll it isn’t cheap, and you can’t print the images onto normal

black & white printing paper.

The second is to use Kodak Black & White + or Ilford XP2

Plus. Both are ISO 400 black & white negative films that are

C-41 compatible, so they can be processed and printed by

your local colour lab. The only snag is that many labs print

on colour paper, so the prints suffer from a colour cast –

anything from sepia or blue to green. Avoid this by asking for

black & white prints.

The benefit is you can print make enlargements from the

negatives if you do set up a darkroom.

Black & white

BLACK & WHITE

TECHNIQUE

Learning to visualise how colours translate to

grey tones is the first step in honing your

black & white technique, because it will help

you to understand what the final image may

look like when printed – and guide you towards

making certain decisions to influence that

final image.

However, there are other factors to consider

when taking pictures in black & white.

Metering and exposure

Perhaps the most important is how you expose a

black & white photograph, because that will

govern how much detail is recorded in the

negative and, consequently, how easy that

negative is to print.

The old adage is that when shooting in colour,

expose for the highlights, and when shooting in

black & white, expose for the shadows. This is

not a bad technique to adopt, but unless you

understand how camera meters work, it’s likely

to cause more harm than good.

A much simpler approach in normal lighting

conditions is to expose for a mid-tone, then let

everything else fall into place around it. This

should produce a negative that contains a full

range of detail and tone from white through to

black, which you can print on a normal grade of

paper – grade 2.

Most modern camera meters will naturally set

a mid-tone exposure in average lighting, as that

is what they are designed to do, so you could

simply go along with what your camera sets.

The other option is to take a spot reading from a

specific part of the scene that represents a mid-

tone. To visualise this, think of something that

has the same density as a mid-grey colour –

well-lit green grass, red brick and tarmac are

common examples. Alternatively, hold an 18 per

cent grey card, which is a perfect mid-tone, in

the same light as that falling on your subject,

and meter from it.

Where the lighting isn’t ‘average’ you need to

make a decision about how you wish to interpret

the scene and expose accordingly.

For example, if you photograph a tree against

bright sky, you need to decide if the mid-tones

and shadow areas are more important, or the

highlights. If you expose for a mid-tone, the

bright sky will be overexposed, and on a normal

print this would produce a high-key backlit

effect. However, if you expose for the sky, the

mid-tones and shadows will be underexposed,

and on a straight print the tree would come out

as a silhouette or near-silhouette.

If in doubt in situations like this, you can

always make a series of exposures then decide

later which interpretation you prefer and choose

the best negative for printing. You also have a

large degree of creative licence in the darkroom,

so if you change your mind it’s usually possible

to achieve the effect you want by using different

contrast grades of paper, varying the print

exposure and giving more or less exposure to

certain parts of the image.

Black & film is a popular choice of medium for portraiture and also for fashion work. It’s

recommended that you use a slow or medium-speed film to ensure the best possible sharpness

and also ensure that grain is not evident on your subject’s skin. PHOTO: ROD EDWARDS

Composition

Although you can change the composition of a

black & white photograph by cropping it during

printing, don’t let this fact lull you into a false

sense of security, as it leads to sloppy technique.

Instead, aim to compose each picture

in-camera exactly as you want it to be printed.

Think carefully about the way the lines, shapes,

patterns and textures are arranged, so they

relate expressively to one another. Some

photographers, including the more arty types,

even print their black & white pictures with the

film rebate showing – evidence that the image

hasn’t been cropped.

You needn’t go to such measures (although

the technique can look very effective) and

there’s nothing wrong with cropping an image if

it improves the end result, but being disciplined

about composition when you take the picture in

the first place will not only produce better

compositions, it will also make you a more

considered photographer overall.

Make the most of light

Light has different meaning in black & white

photography compared to colour. When you take

a colour photograph, the light can actually have

a colour of its own – warm, as at sunrise and

sunset, or cold as on a cloudy or foggy day.

Colour film records these variations in the colour

of light even if the eye can’t see them. Similarly,

colour film records artificial lighting in a literal

way, so tungsten light produces an orange cast

and fluorescent a green cast.

Black & white film is clearly incapable of doing

this, which can have both positive and negative

effects on your photography.

From a positive point of view, there is no

colour to influence the mood of your pictures, so

you can shoot portraits or candids indoors in

Beginner’s guide to

EXPERT VIEW

UMIT ULGEN

The total absence of colour is the secret to the success of this image, which works thanks to

the patterns and texture of the water and the posts. PHOTO: PEARL BUCKNALL

Black & white

photography is very

much like painting. It

takes time, patience,

careful planning,

sketching and most

importantly ‘the vision’.

When I look at a

particular scene,

I always imagine it as a

final print in my hand, in

the way I want it to look, which is usually completely

different to what it actually looks like in reality.

Visualising the final image helps a lot at the

printing stage, as I expose my negatives according to

how I want the print to look.

I mainly shoot on overcast days when the light is

much softer and even. In these conditions, it’s

possible to take black & white photographs with an

incredibly smooth and soft feel.

I like my landscapes very dark and moody. Dark

sky, dark foliage, and I always try to include a patch

of light peeking through the clouds or include

reflective water somewhere in the composition.

Sometimes it’s not always possible to catch that

light, but that’s where a little cheating in the

darkroom comes in handy.

There are times I spend 8-10 hours in the

darkroom to get one decent print. In the early days,

I’d waste a whole box of paper, but now if it’s not

working, I pack everything in and go down the pub,

then try again the next day!

Using a fast film and printing on a hard grade of paper can produce black & white pictures with

plenty of atmosphere and impact. Don’t be afraid to use ISO 1600 or ISO 3200 films in bright

daylight as the gritty results are perfect for this type of image. PHOTO: TOM RICHARDSON

artificial lighting and produce striking images

without worrying about a sickly orange cast

spoiling them.

The type of lighting that would normally

produce rather drab, boring colour photographs

– for example, an outdoor scene on a dreary

overcast day – can produce wonderfully

evocative black & white photographs, enabling

you to exploit conditions that would leave colour

photographers heading for home.

The downside is that you have to work harder

with light when shooting mono, because the

colour of the light cannot contribute to the

mood of the final picture – a black & white

sunset shot simply cannot compete with one

shot in colour, because without the golden glow

much of its emotional appeal will be lost.

Fortunately, this factor can also work in your

favour, because in using light to define shape,

texture, pattern and form – the elements on

which black & white photographs rely – your eye

for a picture can only get better.

The power of black & white

One factor you must never overlook is the sheer

emotive power of black & white. By removing the

colour from an image, it becomes far easier to

convey a message and allow the viewer to get

straight to the point of what you are trying to

say. As Ansel Adams, possibly the world’s

greatest black & white photographer and printer

once said – “Forget what it looks like. How does

it feel?”

This can work on many levels and with

different subjects, from landscapes to abstracts,

but black & white is never more powerful than

when it is used to depict people, whether in a

posed, formal situation or one of conflict and

bloodshed – which is why black & white is the

chosen medium of so many photo journalists.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: