Monochrome photography

What is Monochrome Photography?

Monochrome photography implies the act of recording light in a single color or wavelength. Though there are many wavelengths of light with which this might be achieved, monochrome photography generally refers to black and white photography, the making of a photographic image recorded in neutral tones of gray ranging from near white to near black¹. Black and white photography could also be referred to as grayscale photography, as a black and white image can contain a multitude of distinct shades of gray. Other forms of photography qualify as monochrome such as infrared photography, X-ray photography, etc..

Photography began with the discovery that silver is a light sensitive chemical. Silver halides, or silver salt compounds, break down when exposed to light and form black metallic silver². The darker areas of a negative that received more light during exposure block the light that would reach photographic paper during printing, thus allowing the paper to remain whiter in relation to the local negative density. The lighter areas of the negative that received less light during exposure allow more light to pass during printing, darkening those areas of the print.

All forms of photography have evolved from monochrome photography. Color film is black and white film with three layers of emulsion. Each layer has a colored coupler that makes the resulting black metallic silver deposits in the negative respond to colors in the visible spectrum; red, green and blue. Digital photography employs a silicon sensor that records focused light falling onto it in much the same way that light rays reaching the film expose that portion of the film. So all photography has evolved from the original techniques created to record light rays onto silver halides.

Monochrome images are not direct renditions of their subjects. They could rather be considered deliberate departures from reality. With monochrome photography, not only is the photographer trying to render a three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional piece of photographic paper, but he or she is also attempting to convert a world that exists in color into one that is represented only in shades of gray. With the use of contrast control filters and film developing techniques, monochrome photography allows the photographer greater license to interpret the subject by controlling local contrast values in the image.

Making a Monochrome Image

For an amateur photographer it can be difficult enough to transfer his or her vision successfully to a photographic negative through exposure. There are two ways to make a monochrome image photographically. One is to expose a monochromatic film surface to light. The other is to manipulate a color image electronically, either through the use of computer software or by utilizing features available on certain digital cameras.

There are external controls that enable the photographer to mold the final outcome, the monochrome image. One such control is the use of contrast control filters. These filters are made of glass, plastic or other materials that transmit the wavelength of light that corresponds to the filter's color and block that color's complimentary color for the purpose of increasing/decreasing local tonal contrast in a photographic negative or a digital image file. (For more information on light and its characteristics view visible spectrum/³.) Some newer digital cameras have filter features on the camera that allow a monochrome image to be made with emphasis on a particular wavelength of light and de-emphasis of another. Computer software programs can alter a color image into a monochrome image and can further increase one color's amplification as well as contrast in that image.

Another control that the photographer can bring to bear is the archival toning of photographic films (see below) and papers. During the printing process, photographers regularly tone their prints with different chemicals to protect them from aging and to achieve a certain 'look' to their images. A photographer might use a sepia toner to get an aged look. Selenium, cyanide and other chemicals can be used for this purpose as well.

Monochrome photography can provide consistent results to those who have a command over the tools at one's disposal and a basic understanding of the characteristics of light. The photographer might learn how to alter the exposure of his or her image for the purpose of controlling contrast and tonal seperation in the photographic negative/image. Other tools such as pre-exposure⁴, Ansel Adams' Zone System and a basic understanding of sensitometry can be put to use to achieve this goal.

Monochrome Film Processing⁵

Black and white film, and other monochromatic films for that matter, require a differing method of development than do other films. With a minimal amount of equipment the photographer has the means of developing his or her own black and white film and creating negatives from which to make prints. The process includes breaking down the silver halide crystals into black metallic silver and washing away the unexposed crystals to provide differing negative density values which in turn translate into print values. The following is a general order of processing. The photographer will, over time, arrive at a particular process that is preferred due to experience. Chemicals are readily available in stock solutions that can be mixed with water for use or can by made from base elements.

• Developer. This first step's purpose is to reduce or 'break down' the exposed silver halide crystals to a black metallic silver which creates area negative density. More light on exposure, more density on the negative, less density in the print. It is higher on the pH scale, alkaline in nature. Most developers at the proper temperature call for between six and eight minutes of development time, though times may vary according to temperature variances. The photographer should consult the film manufacturer's data to varify proper development times.

• Stop Bath. This next step is an acidic neutralizer to slow the effects of the developer. Most procedures call for only thirty seconds in the acidic stop bath.

• Acid Fixing Bath. As the name indicates, this next step is also acidic and its purpose is to wash away all of the unreduced silver halide crystals from the negative, leaving lower negative density areas which translate to darker areas in the print.

• Water Rinse. The film must be washed in water for up to thirty minutes or as directed by the film's manufacturer. This is done in order to wash away all of the previous chemicals' residue from the negative. A 'hypo' clearing agent may be added to this step in the process where time constraints are a concern and can reduce this phase down to as fast as five minutes.

• Archival Toner. Some photographers choose this juncture of the development process to submerge the film in an additional chemical. Archival toners, such as selenium, cyanide and others, can add protection to the negative to add years to its life and quality.

• Drying. Most roll films can be air dried by suspending the film from a clip on a string and held down with a small weight such as a clothespin to prevent the film from curling. Sheet films can be dried in blotting books that absorb the remaining water from the negative though hanging in developing racks is still best.

An example of Monochrome Photography

File:Water 01 2006.jpg

Water #1 ⁶

Footnotes and Bibliography

¹ - Chpt. IV - The Negative "The Zone System" pp.47-97

² - The Photographer's Handbook "Black and White Photography" Basic Principles p.38

³ - See also Chpt. II - The Negative "Light and FIlm" The Electromagnetic Spectrum pp.9-10

⁴ - Chpt. V - The Negative "Filters and Pre-exposure" Pre-Exposure pp.119-123

⁵ - Chpt VIII - The Negative Darkroom "Processing" pp.181-193

⁶ - Water #1 taken in 2006 by Christopher A. Walrath of Delaware. This is a copyrighted image displayed here with permission of the photographer. Photographer's notes - (The image was made with Kodak TMY TMax ISO 400 Black and white film. It was taken with a Minolta sr-T101 35mm camera with a 50mm Minolta MD mount Rokkor-x f/1.4 lens set to f/16 at the 'B' setting (hand held light meter - Sekonic L358 - metered the scene at EV13. Mounted on a tripod and with a shutter release cable employed, the subject needed prolonged exposure to get the flow of the water so I used three neutral density filters (NDx2, NDx4 and NDx8) to reduce the light reaching the film enough to get a long enough exposure (two seconds) without washing-out the highlights in the image.)

Adams, Ansel. 1981,2002. The Negative. The New Ansel Adams Basic Photography Series/Book 2. ed. Robert Baker. Boston: New York Graphic Society. ISBN 0-8212-1131-5 HC AACR2. Reprinted, Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 2004 (11th reprinting). ISBN 0-8212-2186-8 PB.

Hedgecoe, John. 1977. The Photographer's Handbook ed. Dorling Kindersley Limited. London: Doring Kindersley Limited. ISBN 0-394-40754-7. Reprinted, Italy: A. Mondadori Verona, 1981 (9th reprinting, 11th printing).

Author's note: Any uncited material in this article is based on extensive study over numerous years from innumerable and unrecallable sources. Christopher A. Walrath (talk) 02:06, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

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