B&W or color for the streets?

[Jamie Pillers]

If you were about to step out the door and go for a walk with your RF around the inner city, would you load B&W or color film? Why?

My thoughts are confused at present. I understand that the choice for some might be affected by the subject matter of interest, lens of choice, etc.. I, on the other hand, seem to turn this thinking around (possible backward).

I find myself thinking of the anticipated subject matter (the passing scene, people & animals encountered, street graphics (signage, graffitti, billboards, etc.), etc. differently if I know I have B&W film vs. color. When using B&W, I think I may be weighting my approach to the subject with a "big philosophical issues" leaning. With color, I may be seeing the subject more in a more... mmm... easy going day-to-day life way. In other words I can easily justify in my mind using B&W or color for the same subject matter, but possibly with a subtle, or maybe not so subtle, change in what I think the resulting pictures mean.

I'd like to be a bit more clear in my thinking about this matter and so I thought the wise folk at RFF might be able to help by explaining your approach.

 

[btgc]

While enjoying B&W street captures, I have caught myself that there are color pics which also make me to return. Here's one from my flickr contacts, just take a look. I think - color captures should be about color.

 

[Leighgion]

Objectively, I don't think street photography should be any different than any other general category far as the choice of color vs B&W goes. As said, it depends on the subject matter. Obviously, a lot of graffiti will play much better in color than B&W.

Practically though, even though I'm not really a big time street shooter and a fairly recent serious dabbler in B&W, I think I lean a little towards B&W. The best answer I can think of offhand for why is Cartier-Bresson's feeling that photography was "instant drawing" to him. A fast sketch is rough, but that's part of its unique appeal. B&W street photos are kind of like a sketch to me; a representation of certain essentials while skipping distracting details.

That said, here's two street-type shots of mine, one color and one B&W. These were shot digital and the B&W one converted from color. I feel both are best served by being color and B&W respectively.

 

[kipkeston]

There has to be a hierarchy of color in a color photo. The street is random enough as it is in black and white.

 

[BillP]

I usually shoot b&w if I am going out for a wander around the streets. I think differently whether I shoot b&w or colour. I like Leighgion's point about sketching - b&w does feel a bit like that, to me. What I can't do is shoot a roll of colour "pretending" that it is b&w, knowing that I can desaturate it later if I wish. I just end up with colour photos. The converse is true - if I forget that I have loaded colour, and go out thinking I am shooting b&w, I HAVE to desaturate to "get at the image". Breaking this down, I think I shoot b&w more with form and contrast in mind, while colour is all about, well, colour.

Conclusion - I agree with kipkeston - b&w "purifies" the street, and reduces it to its' essential elements, in the same way that snow reduces a landscape to a monochrome rendering of curves and shapes.

Regards,

Bill

 

[Larky]

I shoot B&W for the simple reason that I can dev it at home. I don't have a huge amount of money to get films developed.

I do want to start colour, and have a large stock of it, but when I shoot it I know I wont see the neg for a long time.

 

[kshapero]

Mostly B&W for me.

 

[mfunnell]

Bill,

I agree with you about everything in theory - but find that I've acted otherwise in practice.

For quite a while, with my M3, I've wanted to shoot B&W but found that I haven't achieved what I wanted with chromogenic B&W film (XP2 or BW400CN) because, at ISO400, they were just too fast. So I've been shooting Kodak Gold 100 or 200 as B&W film because they convert so nicely in Photoshop (whereas I've found myself unable - so far - to get a "good enough" B&W print from digital, even for shots that work well on screen as B&W - my limitation, not the format).

This doesn't bother me as long as I don't "remember" that I'm actually using colour film. The moment I do, and take a deliberately colour photo, I "lose" seeing in B&W for the rest of the roll. OK, so I never said I was sane.

This may change now that (1) I've started developing my own B&W film and (2) have an appropriate set of ND filters.

But even so, I'm still mostly convinced of the virtues of Kodak Gold shot deliberately as B&W.

...Mike

 

[Samsam]

i use b&w film more than colour, but color is great when the sky is sunny. ( love kodak portra 160 )
here are few examples

 

[Hates_]

Colour for me. Every time I even think of trying B&W I only have a look at a Meyerowitz or Mermelstein photo to realise it's a silly idea. B&W feels incomplete to me.

 

[petronius]

Mainly I agree with Hates_:
But there were times, and I´m sure there will be, when I don´t need color. Whatever my head/heart wants to have: I´m shooting only for my pleasure!

 

[Samsam]

Amazing shot, Hates_ . And i agree with you about Meyerowitz and Mermelstein, the best color street photography i've ever seen

 

[Mackinaw]

I think whether one shoots B&W or color depends on the situation. Photographing a Cinco de Mayo parade, with its bright colors, is probably best done with color. Photographing a street scene on a cloudy, dark day in late November (northern hemisphere) is probably best done in B&W.

This pic was taken in Detroit on a dark, cloudy day in late November. B&W adds to the grittiness, at least to me.

Jim B.

 

[nrb]

I do bw because I can develop it at home. I also develop color film in bw chemistry to be able to do it myself. Labs put fingerprints and dust on film, they don't like your not printing when you have them develop your films.

 

[GeneW]

I always load B&W. But I cheat a little. I carry an ultracompact digicam for the few occasions when I think colour would be more appropriate.

Some carry a second RF body with col film loaded...

Gene

 

[back alley]

Bill,

I agree with you about everything in theory - but find that I've acted otherwise in practice.

For quite a while, with my M3, I've wanted to shoot B&W but found that I haven't achieved what I wanted with chromogenic B&W film (XP2 or BW400CN) because, at ISO400, they were just too fast. So I've been shooting Kodak Gold 100 or 200 as B&W film because they convert so nicely in Photoshop (whereas I've found myself unable - so far - to get a "good enough" B&W print from digital, even for shots that work well on screen as B&W - my limitation, not the format).

This doesn't bother me as long as I don't "remember" that I'm actually using colour film. The moment I do, and take a deliberately colour photo, I "lose" seeing in B&W for the rest of the roll. OK, so I never said I was sane.

This may change now that (1) I've started developing my own B&W film and (2) have an appropriate set of ND filters.

But even so, I'm still mostly convinced of the virtues of Kodak Gold shot deliberately as B&W.

...Mike

mike,
try the xp2 shot at 200 and developed normally.
great looking stuff.
joe

 

[minoltist7]

Ideally, it depends from the subject of shooting.
contrasty scenes, where light and shadows plays key role - BW for sure.
geometric stuff, various regular patterns - BW
people - BW (if I don't have special intention to make accent on something)
summer market - color
funny painted houses - color
architecture - color (but BW seems good if subject is lit properly).
lanscapes and nature - color, with rare exclusion.
I tend to shoot color on digital, becouse I lazy with post-processing scanned films (it requires soo much time to get exact colors in Photoshop - I'm not good at this). So I don't bother. Color is for digital, BW is for manually processed film.

 

[williams473]

I think it is important not to set rules for yourself. Whether you shoot color or not is just one of the many technical decisions you need to make in the process of creating the images you want to make on the street. Even within color, you need to decide whether you'll shoot negs or chrome, and then within that category, what type of film (warm or cold tone etc.) The same goes for black and white.

So think ahead of time which will serve your purposes - there's no right answer.

 

[nightfly]

I've always shot B & W for street and it feels right to me. Part of it, as others mentioned is control, I can develop it the way I want at home and part of it is that my eye is more drawn to form than color which I think is a very personal, subjective thing. I think with color, you need to organize the color somehow in a way that my brain doesn't do whereas the sort of formal aspects of black and white come more naturally to me.

Obviously one doesn't literally "see" in black and white but for me, my vision tends to be drawn to scenes with black and white rendering in mind. So I do see more in black and white.

Seeing Mermelstein and Meyerwitz recently at the street photography thing at the Museum of the City of New York (Mermelstein on the panel and Meyerwitz in the audience) made me think about trying some color street, but I will probably stick to black and white. I think the way to decide really is to shoot one or the other and monitor yourself to see if you are bummed out that you didn't have the other in your camera. I usually wish I had black and white in the camera when I'm shooting color, at least for part of the roll, whereas the opposite isn't true.

Of course you can de-saturate but to me desaturated color, digital black and white and C-41 black and white all don't have the bite and tonality I like so it's silver based black and white for me.


Although I do shoot cross processed color for graffitti specific outings:

 

[PaulRicciardi]

I generally "think" and "see" in BW. The street is so random and cluttered anyways that having the addition of colour often times complicates things. Black and white allows one to simplify. I find that humans attach too much meaning to colours and, while this can be a benefit, I generally want viewers to have an emotional response to a photo because of the content not because of a predetermined attachment to a colour.

However, with that said, there are some instances where colour is the predominant element in a scene or where the contrast of colours really adds to the impact of a shot.

But when you get right down to it, shoot whatever works best for you. BW feels better for me though I have been shooting a lot of colour lately. As with most things in life, YMMV.