Thinking in black and white

Learning goal

You will be able to predict how a scene will read in black and white before you shoot it, and make the decision to let go of color not out of habit but through questions you ask the scene. You will explain what is left in a photo when color is removed; you will weigh whether color is a contribution to the story or only a distraction; you will use RAW together with a monochrome preview and leave the decision for later; you will see how color filters and the color sliders in editing lighten and darken a sky or a face; and in black and white you will set the gray value of every skin without losing its detail.

The question

In a barber shop, you are photographing a customer being shaved in the chair and the barber leaning over them. A greenish fluorescent on the ceiling, an orange evening sun coming in through the door, colorful bottles on the shelves, a red advertising board on the wall. In the color photo the eye doesn't know where to look; one side of the faces is green, the other orange. When you remove the color, the frame suddenly calms: the razor in the barber's hand, the texture of the foam and the customer's closed eyes come forward.

When should you shoot black and white? This question has no rule, but it has questions to ask. In this lesson we will talk about what stays and what goes in a photo when color is removed, the measures for deciding on black and white, and how to manage the grays of black and white, especially the grays of skin.

Context

The red headscarf disappearing among the green leaves showed that black and white carries not color but brightness, and that colors of the same brightness fall to the same gray. In Lesson 11.6 we also talked about how texture and form come not from color but from the difference between light and shadow. These two pieces of knowledge together give one result: in a black-and-white photo, what is left is tonal contrast, texture, form and the light itself.

For a long period of photography, black and white wasn't a choice for most photographers, but a necessity. Today every camera sees in color, and black and white has become a preference. This preference gains meaning when it is made not to make a photo look old or arty, but to bring forward what you want to tell.

Simple explanation

What is left when color is removed?

Color carries strong information in a photo and pulls the eye to itself. A red board, a bright T-shirt, a green bottle; even when small in the frame, these gather the gaze. If color is part of the story, this is good. But if color adds nothing to the story, it only distracts. Black and white reduces these distractions to a gray as bright as they are; the red board is now only a middle gray rectangle.

What is left, on the other hand, comes forward: the direction of the light and the shape of the shadow, the expression of a face, the texture in a craftsman's hands, the lines of a building. That is why black and white doesn't only take the color out of a photo; it also changes what the viewer will look at. The same frame can tell of a shop's atmosphere in color, and of a moment between two people in black and white.

What questions should you ask?

When weighing whether to let go of color, a few questions guide you. When you take out the color, is the story lost? Autumn leaves, the fruit at a market, a red umbrella on a rainy street; the meaning of these frames lives in color, and in black and white they usually fade. Is there strong tonal contrast, distinct texture or strong form in the scene? If there is, black and white can bring them forward. If the frame's strength comes only from color difference, black and white flattens it.

One more question comes from a practical situation. In a scene with lights that don't match each other, that is mixed lighting, as in the barber shop, one side of a face can stay green and the other orange, and a single white balance can't correct both. Black and white removes this color clash and leaves only the brightness difference. This is an example of using black and white not as an escape route, but as a decision that brings out the scene's real strength. The answers to the questions come out differently in every frame; the measure is what the frame wants to say.

How do you shoot and adjust black and white?

Many cameras have a setting that shows the image in black and white on the screen or in the viewfinder; menus often call it black and white / monochrome. If you shoot RAW, this monochrome preview only changes your view; the file keeps the color information and you can leave the decision to editing. If you shoot JPEG only, on the other hand, the camera throws away the color permanently and you can't bring it back later. The most flexible way to think in black and white is to shoot RAW and see black and white on the screen.

In the film era, photographers managed grays by putting colored glass in front of the lens. A red color filter cuts out much of the blue light and darkens a blue sky; white clouds stand out against a dark sky. Yellow and orange filters give this effect more mildly, while a green filter lightens leaves. Today the same job is done by the color sliders in the black-and-white conversion of editing programs: when you pull the blue slider down, the sky darkens; when you pull the green up, the trees lighten. You decide which gray each color will fall to, that is, its gray value.

How do you protect skin in black and white?

Because skins stand close to orange and red on the color wheel, in a black-and-white photo a face's gray value is decided mostly by the orange and red sliders. When you pull these sliders up, faces lighten and small blotches and marks on the skin soften; when you pull them down, faces darken and texture becomes distinct. The same slider affects all the skins in the frame at once; if people of different skin tones are in the same frame, you need to look at where each of them stands separately.

Darkening dark skin too much in black and white can bury it, together with the shadows, in a muddy gray without detail; lightening light skin too much can erase it, together with the whites. In both cases you need first to get the exposure right for the skin, then find with the slider a gray at which the face carries detail in the eyes, the lips and the cheekbones. A face piled up at one end of the histogram can't set itself apart through any detail when color is absent.

Visual evidence

You go back to the barber shop. The customer is a dark-skinned young man with thick eyebrows; the barber is light-skinned, with gray hair. You shoot RAW, seeing black and white on the screen. In the first conversion, the customer's face has fallen to a dark gray without detail, and the barber's face is almost white; the red board is middle gray, and the colorful bottles have turned into grays that look alike.

In editing, you pull the orange slider up a little. The customer's face lightens; the crease in his closed eyelids, the beard hairs at the edge of the foam and the drop of sweat on his temple can be made out. So that the barber's face doesn't lighten too much, you stop the exposure down by half a stop; the lines on their forehead and the veins on the hand holding the razor come back. The fluorescent's green and the sun's orange no longer clash; the two faces, the razor and the foam meet in a single story of light. The same frame; what changed was the removal of color and the redistribution of the grays according to the skins.

Common mistakes

Summary

Black and white reduces color to a gray as bright as it is and leaves tonal contrast, texture, form and light; that is why it changes what the viewer will look at. To decide on black and white, you use not a rule but questions to the scene: is color part of the story, is there something strong in the frame besides color, does mixed lighting create a color clash? RAW and a monochrome preview leave the decision for later; color filters and sliders manage the grays, and the gray value of skins is set with the orange and red sliders so as to keep detail on every skin.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you will compare the same frames in color and in black and white, and give reasons for your decision.

1. Take five frames in RAW, seeing black and white on the screen; in editing put each one side by side in both its color and black-and-white versions.
2. For each frame, write in one sentence whether color adds something to the story and what comes forward in black and white.
3. Convert a frame with a blue sky to black and white and darken the sky with the blue slider.
4. Convert a frame where light- and dark-skinned people stand side by side to black and white, and with the orange slider find a gray at which detail is kept on every face.

Check yourself

• Of the frames you converted to black and white, in which did the absence of color gain something, and in which did it lose something?
• Were you able to increase the difference between sky and clouds with the blue slider?
• In the black-and-white frame, does every face, regardless of skin tone, carry detail in the eyes and lips?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. In a black-and-white photo, what is mainly left when color is removed?

• A) Only white balance
• B) Only grain
• C) Tonal contrast, texture, form and light
• D) Nothing

2. In the film era, which filter was used to darken a blue sky in black and white?

• A) A red filter
• B) A blue filter
• C) A green filter
• D) No filter

3. What is the drawback of shooting with the black-and-white setting on a camera that saves only JPEG?

• A) The exposure goes wrong
• B) The color information is permanently lost
• C) Focus slips
• D) The file gets very large

4. In a frame converted to black and white, if a dark-skinned person's face has fallen to a dark gray without detail, what do you do?

• A) Pull the blue slider down
• B) Going back to color is a must
• C) Raise the exposure by three stops
• D) Lighten the face by pulling the orange and red sliders up a little

Answers

1. C — When color goes, only brightness differences are carried; everything that comes from light and shadow is left.
2. A — A red filter cuts most of the blue light; the sky darkens and the clouds stand out.
3. B — In JPEG the camera throws the color away without writing it to the file; in RAW, the color is kept even if the preview is black and white.
4. D — Because skins stand close to orange and red, these sliders decide the face's gray value.

Summary card

• Black and white reduces color to gray; light, texture, form and expression are left.
• For the decision, not a rule but a question: is color part of the story, is something strong left?
• Black and white can remove the color clash of mixed lighting.
• Shoot RAW, see black and white on the screen; leave the decision for later.
• The orange and red sliders decide the gray of skins; keep detail on every skin.

Bridge to the next lesson

In the barber shop frame we redistributed the grays afterward, in editing: we lightened the face and stopped the exposure down a little. But can a photographer decide, before pressing the shutter button, which gray each area in the frame will fall to? Landscape photographers developed a system that divides the grays stretching from black to white into numbered steps and plans the place of each area in advance. The next lesson talks about this zone system and how it can be used on today's digital cameras.