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My 2 Zone technique for Hand Coloring Black and White Photographs.

By Phillip A Jones
3 January 2008

Based on the concept of visual change in negative exposure of one stop ( a factor 2x). This change in tone is referred to as a zone in Black and White photography. Most prints contain about 9 zones. The 18 % reflectance gray card responds to zone V (5). In the Munsell system of color notation, middle value of 5 has a reflectance of approximately 18 %.

I print all of my Black and White Photos in the range of zone 3 to zone 8, it give me 5 zones to Hand color in the final print. Only the neutral colors ( Blacks , Grays, and Whites), have no hue and zero chroma.

In my Prints I add color to predetermined points of interest in the fore ground , middle ground, and back ground. I will also add colors to the bottom, in the middle and on the top of each print. This enhances the third dimension and gives the print some what of a fourth dimension. The colors have a tendency to levitate and float.

I use only color film to create my Black and White Photo Art. Color films have three layers and Black and White Film have only two layers. I find that color films record the true mood of each scene as it really is. Reds are red, blues are blue, and greens are green.

Black and white films records the tones and not the hues and the chroma of each scene as it exist. I use my color prints to aide in my color balancing process Hand tinting each black and white print.

I have a simple formula that I created, to achieve my color balance and color contrast of each final print. The foreground = A, middle = B, back = C. The bottom = 1, middle = 2, and top = 3. I can place my hues of color in one of the cubes to create unimaginable illusions of Grandeur.

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