Actually Black aswel as White are no 'colours'.
Black is nothing, in the sense of that there is no light just absolute darkness and by this there is "nothing to be seen".
On the photographic negative film it is described as "d min" which is 'density minus or minimum' (not taking in account the base fog).
White is the absolute opposite if the above described Black, it is all light in the sense that there is , again, "nothing to be seen".
On the photographic negative film it is nominated as "d max" which is 'density maximum'.
The grey tones are held in-between these two 'limits'.
In colour photography it is actually the same: no light at all and all the light...
All the colour tones are held in-between these two 'limits' (and technically grouped in three 'families' Yellow, Magenta and Cyan' (and sometimes Black designated as 'k')).
So, till a certain extend, in relation with the concept 'colour photography', one could speak of 'grey (-tone) photography' but this sounds rather awkward...
Photography is the recording of an object (or subject) as it is shaped by reflecting the light by which it is enlightened.
By this, till a certain extend, photography is not recording the object (or subject) as such, but as how it reflects the shapes of the light...
The colours are formed by the colour of the the object (or subject) and the colour characteristics of the light.
This is how I understood it when learning photography at the art academy, about 45 years ago...
PS: I am not going to discus 'light and wavelengths', as this would go beyond my knowledge by far!
PS bis: as English is only my third language please do forgive me my clumsy wording...
Bookmarks