Midterm: Black and White Photography in the Digital Age

Black and white photography in the digital age is a step-by-step guide to black and white photography using new technology to get the most out of your black and white imagery.  Andri Hery said this about black and white photography “To see color is a delight for the eye, but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul.” “Traditionally, fine black and white photography was the province of the darkroom expert, applying subtle tones and tints and skillfully controlling the exposure to affect a lighting and darkening of specific area of the print. But the digital revolution has allowed formerly time-consuming, difficult and even dangerous processes to be easily and safely tackled on the computer screen.” (Inside front cover, Black and white photography in the digital age © 2007) Tony Worobiec and Ray Spence wrote the book “Black and white photography in the digital age” on creative camera, darkroom and printing techniques for the modern photographer. This book appears to cover a good range of different technics in creating stunning black and white imagery.

The book starts out explaining the process of how to convert monochrome film into digital black and white digital images using different types of scanners. Once converted into digital format these images can then be modified and enhanced using different digital enhancement programs like adobe Photoshop. Other techniques are also discussed on how to convert different files into a monochrome or black and white photographs in chapter one of this book.

 In chapter two the book begins to talk about tonal control and controlling contrast throughout the image.  Chapter two also discusses how and when to apply selective tonal controls, with a variety of different techniques. Some of those techniques include using curves and levels, burning and dodging and using gradients and quick masks.

Chapter 3 goes into even more ways to further enhance or manipulate your digital images to create a more pleasing photograph. Some of these techniques include cropping, sharpening and differential focusing.

The next chapter talks about toning and coloring your black and white photographs to achieve even more of an artistic look.  Some of those styles are using sepia toning to create a vintage look or using duotones to create an artistic feel with in a photograph. This chapter also includes a section on how to isolate a color such as red to create an emphasis in a photograph or to highlight a specific detail.

Chapter 5 goes into the process of how to drop in a new or different background or sky to create a more intense scene or just to add another element to a plain looking photograph. One of the examples in the book for dropping in an alternate sky is a landscape photograph of a sand dune with a plain cloudless sky that the authors then drop in a dramatic sky of clouds changing the whole dynamic of the photograph. Another section within this chapter that I liked was creating a special effect by adding the illusion of lightning into a landscape photograph.

Chapter 6 is very helpful to those photographers that enjoy printing their photographic works and give a step-by-step write up and examples on how to create certain styles and looks with your printed digital imagery.  Some of these digital darkroom effects were creating a lith effect or a solarized effect in a digital photograph. Other effects are creating diffuser and texture screens to add an interesting look and feel to and image. This chapter has some of the best and most useful section at least for my photographic style and me.

 Chapter 7 gives both example and different ways of creating borders for you photographic works. Some of these borders and frames are just a simple black or white feathered edge and some of them are more complex making an image look as if it had a film negative or polaroid border. One of the section within this chapter is on how to create an image using a flatbed scanner and another is on how to create a or produce a digital negative, which for me is a really awesome concept.

The in the final chapter the book talk about and shows different ways to output your imagery whether it be thru print or by printing a self published book. The book talks about different types of ink and paper used in printing and publishing.

Overall the book “Black and white photography in the digital age” is a book worth having in your own library to refer to and to use to create your own style and feel monochrome photography in this the digital age. As stated in the beginning with the quote from the inside front cover traditionally great black and white imagery has been created and process by those with extensive darkroom experience using film photography, now with the use of this book or others like it a photographer can create beautiful black and white imagery that can rival that which has come before.

According to the copyrights in the front of the book Tony Worobiec and Ray Spence copyright all of the text and illustrations used with in this book. In my opinion the right images to illustrate and demonstrate the techniques used in each section of this book.