the power of BLACK and WHITE

hARTS.ro NOVEMBER THEME

What makes black and white pictures so aesthetically pleasing to the human eye? Why do we chose these dark tones over the multitude of colors out there?

Even though the process of taking colored images was invented as early as 1907, they only became popular to the end of the 50’s and early 60’s. Up until then, these types of photographs were considered either too expensive or not worth the extra work and time involved.

Today, we live in a society where people hold advanced apparatuses that are capable of taking high-definition photos in their back pockets where ever they go.

So what is it that makes people still call onto the old-fashioned visuals of black and white? What makes them select the black-and-white filter on their social media?

Black and white present the biggest contrast present in the natural world.

Black and white are not colors because they do not have specific wavelengths. Instead, white light contains all wavelengths of visible light and black, on the other hand, is the absence of visible light.

These two ‘colors’ can be said to be a contrast of value. In general, large differences in lightness are considered to be pleasant for the eye, but low contrasts of value can also be useful for more subtle differences – for instance, in a background.

Basically, the eye needs to undergo less in terms of biological and physical processes in order to detect black and white and through a much more difficult one to process colors.

Did you know?

Our brain only processes 60% of the image around us. More than 40% of it is made up by our imagination combined with surrounding analysis. What that means is that the brain does not see through your eyes every single thing around you, but scans 60% of it and fills the rest in on its own.

Amazing, right?

That is exactly why, as humans, we prefer black and white photographs. Not only do they present less work for the eyes and the brain, but consequently we are able to analyze what is in front of us much quicker.

As humans, we can detect details much faster in black and white images than in colored ones. In contrast, after the period of adapting to the shock of colors, the brain can distinguish differences easier in a colored picture.