Pre-digital Photographic Technology

Photography could no longer be the same once the colored film came out. It allowed new advances in all views of the world from the colors that are shown. The color film provided photojournalists the ability to capture pictures in their realistic setting, which would be immensely better in perceiving the picture than capturing photos in only black and white. 

Before digital cameras and all the high tech lenses, everything was black and white and because of this, photojournalists would have a tougher time capturing the mood of a photograph. If a photo has a really happy and uplifting mood, it is really hard for the photojournalist to depict that in his image if he only has black and white film. From people not being able to tell if it was a fall or spring from the color of the leaves on the trees in the background, or a clearer picture of what someone specifically looks like by their hair color, skin color, red blush from anger or embarrassment, none of this was told through black and white photography. The only thing you can tell from black and white photos is emotions on faces, who was there, what they were doing, and where it was happening, but the details come with the color. In earlier times “Subjects had to sit or stand absolutely still for as long as eight seconds then. Pictures were taken on glass plates, and printed outside in the sun.”  Now that times have changed with new advancements, color film and photography have a lot more positives than black and white photos do. 

Image by: Gates Kelliher

Image by: Gates Kelliher

Image by: https://digital-photography-school.com/4-tips-to-help-you-decide-between-black-and-white-or-color-for-your-image/

Bringing colored film into a colorless world was new and exciting at first I would assume, but not only was this exciting because of advancement, the world was also able to view itself in a realistic way. Movies became something clearer with larger headlines due to the color aspect that brought in more revenue. Not only did it provide pleasure and excitement to the public eye, law enforcement no longer or not every time had an issue with the identification of human mugshots- facial features that can be seen with color but not black and white. Having the new ability to identify people by skin tone, markings, hair and eye color applied a more specific spectrum for police. Photojournalists could now take a photo in the real digital picture with the exact or close to the same color presented in real life changed views. Now being able to see the blood dripping down a soldier's uniform instead of thinking it was dirt or some kind of residue in a black and white photo. Not only to the naked eye but from a microscopic view, capturing different types of diseases in color without knowing if that was a nucleus or new cells reproducing on the death of old ones. Capabilities allowing photographs to capture canvases of large wide open color provided change in a world that only saw views from two plain colors for such a long time. Although I have much respect for the photojournalists that were able to take pictures during a time that you needed a wagon full of photographic equipment, like Roger Fenton did during the Crimean War, color pictures seem to resonate more with people because of the emotion the present. 

Of course, in 2019 colored film is no longer such a big hit in today's world compared to when it came out due to everyone growing up with everything in real-life color. Never having to adapt from one to another did not give this generation and the ones before the ability to appreciate old black and white film and photography. All technology comes with its main colored film and even presents attributes such as filters and designs that you can now put into or over your photo or video was taken, even having apps that allow people to put photos in black and white only give us a thought of what times before us must've looked like. Live photos are now evolving in providing people with taking a photo on a smartphone and having it capture seconds before and after the photo was captured. Images were taken with precise measurement and accuracy in earlier times and still to this day but a famous photojournalist named Arthur Feligg once stated: “News photography teaches you to think fast and be sure of yourself.” In stating this he meant that many news photographers don't catch the best shot every time but when they do, it is out of pure confidence in what could happen and not in the sense of what probably could happen, if that was so every photograph would look the same in headline news. Photographs that are unexpected are the ones that make the paper.  Instead of having a still image that doesn't move and only has one shot or view of whoever or whatever is being taken at the time, all angles could be seen in the matter of multiple seconds on new cameras. 

Having color added to human life through photography brought out new beginnings in ways to view the world and the beautiful landscapes it brings. Black and white will always be great due to the outlasting effect that it had before color pictures. With all of this being said, cameras and pictures hold so much power in the world, more than we give them credit for. Although black and white pictures have passed their time, cameras and the pictures they produce still have a lot of teaching left to do. Gordon Parks once said, “I saw that the camera could be used as a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of wrongs, I knew at that point I had to have a camera.”