Digital Ir Photography

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Black And White Photography - Tracing Its Rise And Fall

B & W photography was the first successful form of photography. It was popularized by Eastman Kodak in the first half of the previous century. It used simple silver halides as a coating on film. When light struck a part of this film, it burnt to black and where light did not fall on the film, ir remained white. So blacks came out as white and vice versa, on the negatives. A reprint of the negative was in fact a positive, or the 'print'. This simple chemical process could be done at home by amateurs right from stage a to z.

The fall of B & W
There was nothing going the way of B & W once color hit the markets. All but a few enthusiasts switched to color. As far as people's mentality goes, a color TV is better than a black and white one, and the same applied to photographs. Once color film was introduced, black and white took the back seat. And once digital showed up, well that seemed like the last nail in the black and white coffin. Or did it?

The rise of B & W
In this modern day and age of digital cameras, scanners, desktop printers, super fast film and such, who would want to mess around in a black and white darkroom? Well, people who understand the rest of this article maybe. Did you know you could use color filters to create unique effects on black and white film? Yes! Try using a red filter and shoot an outdoor scene. the sky comes out almost black! Nothing else can give this effect. Photoshop ? No! Nothing can give quite the same effect as a color filter on black and white film. It is all about complimentary colors. Red, Blue and Green are primary colors that have opposites in the form of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. As far the the dark sky example goes - here is what happens. The Red filter lets all light rays pass through it to the film except for its opposite or complimentary color cyan, which is what the sky is mostly made up of. So, you get a dark sky. If you wanted to make grass appear dark what would you do? You would use a color filter of the color opposite to green, or complimentary to green, which is yellow. Every single blade of grass would turn darker, while the rest of the image looks fine. Can you imagine the possibilities with using color filters on black and white? You can MAKE your photographs exactly as you want them to be, and no two photographers need shoot the same scene to make it look all the same. This is the charm of B & W that no one will ever be able to take away, computer or no computer!

About the Author

Abhishek is a Digital Photography enthusiast and he has got some great Digital Photography Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 59 Pages Ebook, "Digital Photography Inside Out!" from his website http://www.Fun-Galore.com/634/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

Infrared Photography Editing


digital ir photography5
digital ir photography5