Model Airplane International – September 2019

N

ow that may sound a

little glib and facetious

but one of the most

instructive experiences

I had when I fi rst

fi red up the 28.8k modem and

joined the old “rec.” modelling

newsgroups - an early form of

(anti)social media - was the sheer

hostility being levelled between

what were passing as grown-ups.

I’d somewhat naively thought

that there’d be a certain level of

comradery such as I’d (mostly)

experienced at UK shows. Instead

there were intense fl ame wars

going on with the most bizarre

levels of vitriol being fl ung and,

more often than not, the cause of

this confl ict was colour - or rather

the absence of it.

We’re talking the dark art of

interpreting black and white

photos.

This has been a bête noire

since the hobby existed and

as time has passed and the

general pool of knowledge has

increased, so our understanding

of what might be going on in

some photos has improved.

Mostly. It’s long been known

that certain fi lm types can throw

colours, the most obvious of

which is Orthochromatic stock

that is more sensitive blue and

green light. An RAF A1 or C

roundel photographed with Ortho

fi lm suddenly exhibits near-black

yellows and reds while the blue

appears paler. But when you

don’t have such obvious markers

or markings to interpret a black

and white image, things can get

thrown and what is assumed

to be an entirely differ colour -

be it a lighter or darker shade

of camoufl age - may actually

be something more regular or

standard, it’s just the type of fi lm

stock throwing things.

Similarly the use of fi lters in

black and white photography. I

can remember from my art college

days of messing around with Ilford

HP5 35 mm fi lm and red fi lters to

create dark skies with dramatic

white clouds. Trying to get into the

head of a wartime (or even post-

war) photographer and working

out what kinds of fi lters they may

have used can be rather nebulous

effort, which then brings me back

to the bun-fi ghts that occurred

when it comes to trying to work

out what is going on with older

black and white images.

The use of fi lters and high-

contrast fi lms can show up things

that may not be readily apparent

in colour photos. I was recently

researching Grumman Hellcat

drones and was sent some colour

photos that appeared to show a

horizontal division between an

orange and red of sorts. A few

IT’S ALL BLACK-AND-WHITE...

OR IS IT?

6 MODEL AIRPLANE INTERNATIONAL - September 2019

In the beginning there was the Usenet bulletin board. And within fi ve minutes of its creation people were arguing...

Jonathan Mock looks at the thorny question of interpreting old photos.

COMMENT 170.indd 2 06/08/2019 11: