
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine
black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
and
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
to produce a range of
achromatic brightnesses of
grey. It is also known as
greyscale in technical settings.
Media
The history of various visual media began 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 film motion pictures and
art film(s).
Early photographs in the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries were often developed in black and white, as an alternative to sepia due to limitations in film available at the time. Black and white was also prevalent in early
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
broadcasts, which were displayed by changing the intensity of monochrome phosphurs on the inside of the screen, before the introduction of
colour from the 1950s onwards.
Black and white continues to be used in certain sections of the modern arts field, either stylistically or to invoke the perception of a historic work or setting.
Contemporary use
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
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...
terminology, ''black-and-white'' is sometimes used to refer to a
binary image consisting solely of pure black
pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
s and pure white ones; 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
In digital photography, computer-generated imagery, and colorimetry, a greyscale (more common in Commonwealth English) or grayscale (more common in American English) image is one in which the value of each pixel is a single sample (signal), s ...
.
[Renner, Honey (2011). ''Fifty Shades of Greyscale: A History of Greyscale Cinema'', p. 13. Knob Publishers, Nice.]
See also
*
dr5 chrome
*
List of black-and-white films produced since 1966
*
Monochromatic color
*
Panchromatic film
*
Selective color
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black-And-White
Black-and-white media
Photographic processes