40 THE HASSELBLAD MANUAL
black and white tone or as a sepia print. All these new computer possibilities have already
created a new interest in black and white Fine Art photography, especially from photogra-
phers who never considered such work before, and it is generally felt that this trend will con-
tinue at an even faster pace.
With Hasselblad, black and white images are created in the computer, not in the camera,
which at fi rst may be considered as a disadvantage. This is not the case for most photogra-
phers. Serious fi lm photographers interested in both black and white and color photography
often photograph scenes and subjects both on black and white and color fi lm. This not only
requires a change of magazine (or camera) but also a different approach to exposure and the
use of color fi lters on the camera. With a Hasselblad digital camera or digital back you take
just one picture in raw and then decide on the computer, where you have all the time in
the world to evaluate the image, possibilities for changes in the gray tones and then decide
whether you want to print it as a color image or change it to a monochrome or fi nish it in
both. If you shoot raw, as you do on Hasselblad, you have possibilities of creating black and
white images with the richest tonality in dark and light areas.
Seeing the World in Black and White
If you have not done serious black and white photography on fi lm, you must realize that
effective black and white images require a completely different visualization approach. Unlike
color images, where the visual effectiveness is often created solely by the presence of vibrant,
saturated colors, black and white photographs depend mainly on the compositional arrange-
ment of lines and shapes and even more often by lighted and shaded areas that are created by
the light. The human eye is drawn toward areas of greatest contrast, which may be created by
areas of greatly different colors or by light and dark areas. Dark shaded areas, with little detail
that may be unacceptable in color, may be an affective part of a black and white image. To
create effective black and white images you must see the world in elements of light, tone, and
pattern, and it will not be long until you discover what is needed to create effective black and
white images.
A special color of light, such as the warm color of the late afternoon sunlight that may
give your outdoor color image its special quality, may add nothing to a black and white image
and is effective in a black and white image only if it also creates interesting lines within the
composition. You must realize that all colors are recorded in different shades of gray tones. A
red object, the attention-creating element in a color picture, surrounded by green foliage may
be recorded in black and white in almost the same gray tones as the surrounding green area
and be lost as an important image element. The directors of photography in black and white
motion pictures were aware that the world looks different on black and white fi lm and often
evaluated the scenes through a viewing fi lter that showed the scene similar to the way it
would be recorded on fi lm.
Creating the Digital Black and White Image
While some images recorded in color may also look great in black and white just as they are,
more often they can be improved, or they are effective as black and whites only if they are
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