B&W or Color?

[Bill Pierce]

In the pre digital days of the wet darkroom a lot of folks shot black-and-white film simply because the darkroom requirements were much simpler than those for color processing. Now we don’t have to decide between black-and-white and color. A digital file can give us either. If anything, color is probably simpler than black-and-white, and that’s why my family snapshots of dogs and grandchildren usually get emailed as color.

When it comes to prints, that’s something else. Even when the newsmagazine started printing in color, as much for the ads as the news pictures, I would often convert my color work to black-and-white when I printed it for portfolios. Nothing against color. It’s just that you can’t control it when you’re shooting news. You take the color that you are handed by the scene. Sometime it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. The same when you are shooting on the street. You’re not in control of much of anything, much less the color. So, much of my street work is printed in black-and-white. An added side benefit, folks seem to take the pictures much more seriously when they are in black-and-white; who knows why...

Now that a digital camera can produce any picture in either black-and-white or color, which do you choose? Why?

 

[airfrogusmc]

I prefer B&W and shoot all of my personal work in B&W. It's the way I see.

Should have added I have a M Monochrom and I use it to shoot all of my personal work.

 

[Michael Da Re]

I love the fact that with digital I have the option of either. I usually prefer B/W however I find that I can sometimes enhance the mood of a photo with color. I can't say that either is the way I see so to speak. I process all my photos both ways then keep the one I prefer......sometimes that's both...

 

[segedi]

Yes. That is all.

 

[Pfreddee]

To be honest, while I can shoot both color and B&W with my digital camera, I feel that shooting in B&W somehow isn't *real* photography. Maybe because I like the look of the B&W files I get with my camera set to Monochrome, I don't bother converting color files to B&W, which seems to be the recommended method. So. the result isn't real, for some silly reason. Makes no sense to me, BTW.

I still have a love affair with film, too. I use both color and B&W film; I have a very good pro shop where I have my film processed. I like the prints I get from film, although I can get prints made in digital, too. I got some 10X13 inch prints that looked like medium format...

I have fun with both mediums, which is the reason I got into photography in the first place, and sometimes I get something beautiful.

With best regards,

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[Bruno Gracia]

Black and White with film and color with digital.

 

[haempe]

... If anything, color is probably simpler than black-and-white ...

For me, personally, it is harder to produce a really good color-photography.
I guess I'm not practiced to deal with color composition after years of b/w only.
Or, maybe, I'm simply not talented for that...

 

[Richard G]

For me, personally, it is harder to produce a really good color-photography.
I guess I'm not practiced to deal with color composition after years of b/w only.
Or, maybe, I'm simply not talented for that...

Agree. Colour photography, as opposed to pictures of things in colour (e.g. for the family), is more difficult than black and white, and very different photography too. With the M9 I like the option of both, but I often take a shot specifically intending that it will be black and white. With the Monochrom it's like Tri-X: the colour version doesn't enter your calculations at all. Unfortunately I never see a potential colour photograph so well as when I have the Monochrom or another camera with black and white film loaded.

 

[ssmc]

Definitely digital for color, film for B&W (of course there are always exceptions, this is just my preference)

IMO it's virtually impossible to get monochrome digital files to look quite like B&W film, particularly when it comes to grain. The way I see it, when you add "grain" to a digital file, you're destroying information; with film, the image emerges from the grain as you move away (i.e. reduce magnification). It's like magic!

My 0.02
Scott

 

[struene]

Same for me,

i see the things in BW, trying to see the light only. Even when i shoot digital on a x100 i switch the picture-view and also the rarely used EVF to BW.

Of course a picture with good light works in colour too, but then often not because of the colours. In contrary they can be distracting.

I find it very dificult to take pictures with the colour already in mind... i have the impression when i shoot colour with too much concentration on the colourcomposition in my mind from the beginning, i forget about another important aspect of the Picture...

one never stops learning...

schöne Grüße,

Johann

 

[NeeZee]

As others have said I don't think color photography is "simpler" than BW at all. It adds another compositional aspect which is hard to get right. That's why you see many beginners converting their digital pictures to B&W in order to save a poor color composition. In most cases it doesn't work of course.

Not saying B&W photography is easy - it's just different and as difficult to get good results of course.

 

[kshapero]

B/W for me unless I shoot with the iPhone. So 90% B/W.

 

[ABrosig]

I have a definite preference for b&w, possibly because that's where I started more years ago than I care to remember. As I developed as a photographer, no pun intended, I did start shooting in color, mostly Kodachrome and later Fujichrome, but I always gravitated back to black and white. For me, black and white is just a purer medium. I think, sometimes, a less-than-ideal image can be saved by flashy colors. But, with black and white, all you have is the elements of form, shape, light and shadow. I'm not saying one is better than the other or one is easier or more difficult. Both have their own particular demands, challenges and rewards.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

It is nice to have both. Macro in b/w it is like street in color🙂
But I admire Frank Herzog street work in color. It is historical treasure.
I also read A.Adams in color book. To me it was interesting. Pictures and his thoughts about color.
I like b/w on film mostly.
But it is not a problem to process c-41 at home and scan for print. I like color film for autumn colors.
I use digital color for family photography and for local events photography if pictures going to be in use for public.

 

[soultheworld]

about 95% of my digital work is color.while i appreciate others work in B&w ...for my own work i prefer color, i see color and i love processing color. when i shoot film i use kodak tmax but i rarely shoot film these day.

 

[lynnb]

I tend to only shoot colour when I can see a good colour picture in front of me, or when I can control it, such as portraits. I don't mind digital or C41 for colour, they are just different.

Mostly I see in bw, and shoot bw. I have gone back to shooting most of my bw on film, 35mm and MF. The Merrills do interest me for digital bw.

 

[jsrockit]

I choose what works better for the photo. Mostly color... first in the color darkroom, now in digital. However, there are times when an image just needs to be B&W.

 

[Bill Pierce]

Here are number of useful thoughts on digial b&w...

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/digital_black_white.html

 

[MIkhail]

I beleive it is a lot more difficult to shoot color (not colorful) picture where color actually makes a statement.
I try though.
In bright sunlight film does better job to smooth colors out for me, at low light digital is better, in my opinion.
Black and white - God gave us TriX-400 for that 🙂

 

[Godfrey]

I choose what works better for the photo.

What works better for the photo, for me, is really "what matches my intent for the photo best."

I like B&W, I like color, I like whatever works to express the mood, produce the emotion, give the look I have in mind when I'm taking and then rendering the photos.

Doing color process in the wet lab without costly and labor intensive machinery to regulate it properly for consistent results was no fun, so I didn't. I did my color work in film with the help of a photo lab, and did B&W in my darkroom.

Producing color work and monochrome work using digital image processing and inkjet printing is equally difficult, and far less annoying than working in a darkroom, so I'm happy now that I can do both by myself with the need to work with a lab. And I can do whatever rendering, from monochrome to saturated color, I feel is appropriate to my intent and the photo.

Which do I prefer? Well, overall, I tend to use B&W and limited palette color for a lot of my photos, but I make some photos with deep, rich, saturated color.

G