Is there still a place in the world for black and white photography, in a world of high definition and ultra-high definition , retina displays and so on why does black and white still exist.

Black and white adds a powerful element to an image that is hard to get with colour image as well as evoking an emotional response from the viewer. Black and white can convey a sense of age, class and history in an image something harder to convey in colour.

In portrait photography a black and white capture works well to record the subject and be the key element of the image, so the backgrounds with confusing colours are contained in the gray scale and become less of a draw on the eye to the viewer.

Black and white is really grayscale, which is a range of shades of gray the darkest shade is black, which is the total absence of light. The lightest possible shade is white, the total transmission or reflection of light at all visible wavelength’s.

Photography was born black and white, and continues to feature in photographer’s works; styles like high key over exposing the image blowing out harsh shadows, low key under exposing producing strong shadows make for powerful images.

So black and white will do well into the future so next time you’re out with your camera, try shooting in black and white, try using coloured filters this can add to the image, most cameras have these features, have fun experimenting.

Long live monochrome

Regards Stephen