Photography Practical Theory - Thinking in Black and White

Photography Practical Theory
Thinking in Black and White

Henri Cartier Bresson



Henri Cartier Bresson was a French photographer born in 1908, from an early age Henri Cartier Bresson focused on Black and white photography, he almost exclusively shot in black and white because he was completely against the use of colour, he once said "Photography in colour? It is something indigestible, the negation of all photography's three-dimensional values", the reason for this rejection of colour was because of snobbery. Because Henri Cartier Bresson shot in white it meant a lot of his photos focused on the textures and details of the subjects in the photos, black and white also leads the eye more and involves the viewer in the photo.

Irving Penn

Irving Penn was born on June the 16th 1917, he went on to become one of, if not the most famous black and white photographers, although he did still photograph in colour. One of his most famous black and white pieces was the black and white cover of vogue which was published in 1943. Another thing Irving Penn was famous for is photographing people who he has place in a studio from another environment, these pieces of work were called "small trade" and were done from 1950 - 1951.

Don McCullin

Don McCullin was born in 1935 in London, he was a photo journalist, this meant he travel to various parts of the world and viewing many different events such as Biafra, the Belgian Congo, the Northern Irish 'troubles', Bangladesh, the Lebanese civil war, El Salvador and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, but was most famous for his pictures of Vietnam and Cambodia. he took the majority of his photos in black and white because he said that black and white has an impact of the viewer that color could not match.

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams was born on Feb. 20th 1902, he was most famous for his Black and White landscape shots. The reason he shot his photos in black and white is a similar reason to Ansel Adams, he felt that the black and white filter had a more powerful effect on the viewer rather than the actual colours. Ansel Adams was also famous for being part of a group called Aperture 64 (Group f/64). This group consisted of 11 photographers, these photographers were Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, John Paul Edwards, Preston Holder, Consuelo Kanaga, Alma Lavenson, Sonva Noskowiak, Henry Swift, Willard Van Dyke, Brett Weston and Edward Weston. The main idea of the group was to show that a camera could capture the world more clearly than a human eye, because it didn't project and personal prejudice or and views.

Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunningham was a photographer who was part of the Aperture 64 group (Group f/64), she was born 1883. She was another photographer who specialized with the black and white filter. Like Ansel Adams and Don McCullin she used black and white because it has a specific effect on the viewer and exaggerates the tone and detail.

Monochrome Colored Filters

in photographer there are many different filters which can be used to enhance the appearance of a photo, these filters can be used on top of a black and white filter.

Red Filter 

Photographers us the Red filter on top of the black and white filter mainly to increase the contrast. A type of photography this is good for is if the photographer is photographing plants as it increases a lot of the detail and contrast the flower against the foliage.

Yellow Filter

The Yellow filter is used to balance out lighter shades against darker shades, this filter is good for landscape shots which capture a lot of the sky because it brings out detail in the clouds and darkens the sky increasing the detail.

Green Filter

The Green filter is usually only used in plant photography and nature photography because it exaggerates the colors of the flowers and buds against the background of foliage. It is also good for using this filter when taking a landscape photo and there is a lot of green lower in the photo as it boosts the appearance of grass and trees.

Blue Filter

The Blue filter is used to make most colors darker than they are, the photographer will use this if they want to capture a silhouette of something as it reduces the detail and contrast of things.