What do you think about mixing both B & W and Color in your photo book?

[fixbones]

Hey all,

Trying to put together my first Photo book but not sure if i should stick to either B & W/Color or mix both of them.

What do you think about mixing both B & W and Color in your photo book?

 

[fixbones]

Good to know.
I wanted to include only my B & W pictures but realized that there is not enough pictures to actually show the place.
Most of my B & Ws are 'moments' whereas my colors shows the place and culture.......

 

[Frank Petronio]

I mixed them in one and was strictly B&W in the other... both were well received and satisfying.

Where the image sequence switched from B&W and Color, there was still some other factor -- subject, design, light -- that provided a linkage between the differently colored images. So I edited for content, not so much color.

 

[payasam]

As an old hand in book production, I can say that B&W is a lot less expensive, so if the folios are well laid out...

 

[Turtle]

I think if you are doing it to show off your work in the broadest sense, mix them. If looking to have the greatest intensity and theme, I think either or works much better than a mix. I think mixing them disrupts the viewing mood/feel, but thats just me.

 

[fixbones]

Turtle: I do agree and mixing them disrupts the viewing mood/feel but at the same time i guess it wont represent the whole of my travel experience.

This book is just a way for me to have a hard copy of some of the images from my recent travel. Not intending to sell or exhibit. Just for friends and families. So i guess that why i feel ok mixing them.

Will be using blurb.

I guess the other advantage if i stick to B & W is that i wont have to worry about color reproductions.....

Thanks for all your opinions so far....keep them coming =D

 

[250swb]

I can't see a problem in mixing them, but the editing has to be more critical perhaps? Does the colour add anything to the 'storyline' or is it gratuitous, or is gratuitous OK and you don't want to force people into reading a 'storyline'? Do you use the colour images as establishing shots, or are they the pinnacle of the expression you want to convey?I would tend to look at documentary books where photographers have used both B&W and colour for jouranlistic work, say the Vietnam people like Larry Burrows, and see how B&W and colour work together without the 'art' banner of rigid conformity (or discipline)to one or another. Of course if the colour work is separate enough in content and treatment to warrant a section on its own, like its all landscape where the B&W is all street shooting for instance, the default position seems to be to insert it all at the back of the book. Steve
P.S. Once again sorry for what reads like a stream of conciousness rant without paragraphs, it must be something to do with my keyboard, but sometimes paragraph breaks do not show up in my text.

 

[brainwood]

I dont have a problem mixing colour and B&W. I agree with Frank that sometimes subject matter or content can overide the change from Colour and B&W.
I have just got hold of Chris Steele-Perkins latest book 'England,My England' and he very succesfully mixes between the two in a seemingly random manner but what holds the whole thing together is a link ,usually in the content of the photo. Often they are opposite sides of the same thought. The juxtapositon he uses add further to the content of the book. In this way he has colour and B&W happily sitting next to each other on the same page.

 

[35mmdelux]

As long as it doesnt look like mishmash and is intelligently laid out I find it okay.

 

[Frank Petronio]

B&W in Blurb is a whole nother issue! But it has gotten better now that they have ICC profiles.

 

[Damaso]

I'm thinking about this exact same issue for a mock up I'm preparing and I'm leaning towards just sticking to color. Personally I find switching back and forth to disruptive visually unless the photos are amazingly compelling...

 

[lawrence]

I have just got hold of Chris Steele-Perkins latest book 'England,My England' and he very succesfully mixes between the two in a seemingly random manner but what holds the whole thing together is a link ,usually in the content of the photo.

Chris Killip's recent book 'Here Comes Everybody' also mixes b&w and colour, though each are on opposite pages.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

It can be well done in different ways... But it's good to have "sections" for one and the other, and not a constant mix...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[ray*j*gun]

Its more about communicating an emotion IMO not chrometics.

 

[Matus]

I would mix, but it would depend on what kind of work is being presented. In fine-art books I probably would not. For documentary/travel mixing should work, but I would go with more complex layout that one image per side (images with different sizes, some text to separate them).

Truth to be told - I am yet to make my first photo-book ....

 

[robert blu]

I am actually working in printing a fotoalbum (cottonpaper, inkjet print) which will contain a pesonal project . It's a story about a journey in my dreams, memories, nightmares. A research about my self and my family roots. It will be printed mainly in B&W, but there will be some colours. Like a dream, which can be B&W sometimes or color some other times...but planning the layout is more difficult than only a B&W story (or only color).
robert

 

[dcsang]

FWIW, I've stuck to the following credo:
When using both B&W and color images within an album (wedding) do not put color AND B&W on the same page/spread. Use B&W images on one spread, color on the other but don't "mix" them together.

It seems to work very well from the perspective of flow/emotion/feel.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Leica All Day]

I remember showing my editor at Gamma in Paris a project that I shot in Calcutta....about 80% of the photos were in black and white and the rest were in color....he looked at me like I was crazy.....he told me that it would be very hard to sell a story that was mixed like that......I learned a good lesson that day.

cheers, michael

 

[mackigator]

I don't see that many books that mix them, but the exceptions are significant. I was looking through Moriyama's Buenos Aires yesterday and he mixes. Georgian Spring, a recent Magnum book, mixed them. I'm sure I could think of others if I tried.

Even though I'm sure it is discouraged (mixing the two), I'd love to learn some of the guidelines for mixing - like keeping one or the other on each 2 page spread. I think it's likely that I will mix them in the future when I print a book.

 

[Spleenrippa]

FWIW, I've stuck to the following credo:
When using both B&W and color images within an album (wedding) do not put color AND B&W on the same page/spread. Use B&W images on one spread, color on the other but don't "mix" them together.

It seems to work very well from the perspective of flow/emotion/feel.

Cheers,
Dave

Hmm.. This would be about the only time I could see mixing as acceptable- and even then it would have to be carefully done.
Unless the mix is critical to the story or flow of the book it is much safer (and you will probably be better received by the community) to just go for one or the other