Monochrome photography

A monochrome photograph, Doris Ulmann's Laborer's hands

Monochrome photography is photography where the image produced has a single hue, rather than recording the colours of the object that was photographed. It includes all forms of black-and-white photography, which produce images containing tones of grey ranging from black to white. Most modern black-and-white films, called panchromatic films, record the entire visible spectrum. Some films are orthochromatic, recording visible light wavelengths shorter than 590 nanometres.

Black-and-white photography is considered more subtle and interpretive, and less realistic than colour photography. Monochrome images are not direct renditions of their subjects, but are abstractions from reality, representing colours in shades of grey. In computer terms, this is often called greyscale.^{[citation needed]}

Monochrome images may be produced using black-and-white film or paper, or by manipulating colour images using computer software.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Black and White Film Information and Comparisons Chart