David, that is very interesting, indeed.
I have always thought of studio b&w photography as a matter of intricate light and shadow, achieved through the skillful manipulation of Fresnel spot lights.
Perhaps an equally accurate description of theatrical stage lighting technique.
Color film photography requires soft, shadow-less, nearly non-directional flat light, generated by what I like to refer to as “fog-lights”.
Black & white photography created using lighting maximized for color looks remarkably poor and uninteresting. This may account for the technically yucky pseudo b&w images created by digital cameras with the saturation turned off.
Thus, theater people must surely have a better understanding of the technique of b&w photography than many color photographers.
Perhaps b&w photographers have an understanding of drama which approaches the level of stage actors.
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