I’m old enough to remember the time when newspapers, magazines and books only had black and white photos. The architectural journals I read while at university were illustrated with beautiful black and white images frequently taken by the famous Australian photographer Max Dupain.
Historically, photography was black and white except for hand-coloured photos. Today, colour is the default, and many people think of black and white as a filter that an image can be treated with. A print of a well-crafted black-and-white image has a magical quality of abstraction that clarifies and sometimes mystifies. This YouTube video, “9 Quick Tips for Better Black and White Photos,” by Jamie Windsor, explains the why and how.