Black-and-white

This article is about the term as used in media and computing. For other uses, see Black and white (disambiguation).

A black-and-white photo of a breadfruit, c. 1870

Black-and-white (B/W or B&W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of gray.

A picture which uses only the two shades of white and black would look similar to a silhouette. Therefore, calling a photo a "black and white image" is actually a misnomer. The technically accurate term is "grayscale", or more specifically "grayscale monochrome". A picture which consists only of actual white and black pixels is a "binary image".

Media

The history of various visual media has typically begun with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. However, there are exceptions to this rule, including black-and-white fine art photography, as well as many motion pictures and art films.

Photography

Main article: Black-and-white photography

Further information: Color photography

McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana – Ansel Adams – Taken between 1933 and 1942

Contemporary use

Contemporary photo of a Galápagos tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra) on Santa Cruz Island

Since the late 1960s, few mainstream films have been shot in black-and-white. The reasons are frequently commercial, as it is difficult to sell a film for television broadcasting if the film is not in color. 1961 was the last year in which the majority of Hollywood films were released in black and white.

Computing

In computing terminology, black-and-white is sometimes used to refer to a binary image consisting solely of pure black pixels and pure white pixels; what would normally be called a black-and-white image, that is, an image containing shades of gray, is referred to in this context as grayscale.

See also

• dr5 chrome
• List of black-and-white films produced since 1970
• Monochromatic color
• Panchromatic film
• Selective color