Black and White Photography
Before the age of the digital camera and Internet, the art of photography was simple and beautiful. Black and white photography was the only form of pictures people saw for many decades. Even today, the use of black and white photography is often used instead of color, because it reflects the power of emotion and raw energy of the subject, sometimes more effectively than a color picture can.
The idea of pictures in just stark black and white makes people pay attention to the emotion on peoples’ faces, the contrast of a building, or the motion of a subject much closer. The absence of color can often make us look at the picture for what it is instead of just how it looks. Many famous photographers only use black and white photography for their portfolios because it gives them an edgy look and a real aesthetic appeal.
There is no exact science to good black and white photography. A lot of it depends on light and shadow, while other elements include the developing process. Sometimes it takes a lot of practice before one can get good, defined black and white photos. The idea of black and white photography as an art form was not really in the minds of many people until near the 1960s when color film was beginning to be extremely popular. Eventually black and white became “underground” as the popularity of color took off. This prompted many people who claimed to use photography as an art to only do so using black and white pictures. While color was around as early as the 1800s, it was not easily accessible to many until later on in the 20th century. As it became more widespread, photographers went back to the black and white standard as a way to show expression in art.