Undoubtedly, black and white photography has a unique charm. Its classic and minimalist style gives full prominence to the subject or object of photography. This clear simplicity is totally attractive and captivating and, despite the lack of color, can cause an even greater impact by the contrast of this binomial of colors.
This simplicity does not mean that a good black and white photograph is something easy to achieve. The difficulty comes from the lack of color to cause an impression of warmth, detail or texture. A black and white photograph can be cold and flat, blurred and boring if fundamental elements are not taken into consideration.
The most important and obvious elements are white and black. These overflow strength and energy and are also classic base colors, capable of transforming all others. The white is, nothing more and nothing less, that the sum of all the colors, is the symbol of the absolute. White gives a feeling of peace, luminosity, emptiness, purity and positivity. It can also transmit contrary sensations such as sterility and coldness, which allows its use for many situations.
On the other hand we have the black, the representative of darkness par excellence. Black is nothing more than the total absence of light and is born when a body absorbs all the colors of the spectrum without reflecting any. Black is usually characteristic of negativity, fear, the unknown and dangerous, but a classic and elegant color that also provides security.
Absolute light or its total absence are the extremes that photography in black white addresses to create the most beautiful contrasts thanks to the different nuances that these colors generate. This undoubtedly leads us to the study of light.