1. White, black and shades of grey

2. White - when using white, try using off-white

3. Black - when using black, try using dark colours/shades of grey Jet black looks quite artificial - it’s not around us in nature. Some artists never use black but mix it from other colours

4. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASisley-Bridge_at_Villeneuve-la-Garenne.jpg Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne, 1872, by Alfred Sisley (1839 - 1899) Fine Art Many of the Impressionist painters avoided black http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGeorges_Seurat_012.jpg Bridge of Courbevoie, 1886-87, by Georges Seurat (1859–1891)

5. Varying black and white Using off-white and different tones of black (e.g. dark grey) may still give the impression you are using black and white but the effect is softer: M O T I V A T I O NM O T I V A T I O N Which example above uses pure white and jet black, and which uses off-white and dark grey? 1 2 M O T I V A T I O NM O T I V A T I O N

6. Black, white, grey and colour Black, white and grey are neutral colours and therefore it is easy to place colours next to them M O T I V A T I O NM O T I V A T I O N 1 2 M O T I V A T I O NM O T I V A T I O N

7. Removing colours changing saturation You can open an image in Photoshop and de-saturate colours (i.e. make them greyer). Select Image > Adjustments > Hue, then select the colour from the drop down menu, and slide the saturation to the left: In the photo on the right, the background has been greyed out by de-saturating the green and yellow tones. Notice the grey still harmonises with the girl’s dress and colour tones

8. Summary questions Look around you and if something looks pure jet black or brilliant white, ask yourself is it really? Identify anything that has grey combined with colour: is it harmonious ? Open an image and de-saturate the background so the foreground becomes coloured