Changing it up: Color vs B&W for Street Photography

[Disaster_Area]

I've always been a fan of black and white for street photography, this winter I accidentally re-discovered how much fun shooting in color can be however. It really opened my eyes and prompted me to revisit some old photos and do color versions.







I wrote up a blog post about the experience of transitioning to color, and you can see the rest of my converted images here on Flickr.

I'd love to know what you think. Which images work better in color, which in the original black and white? I think there's room for both in my portfolio but it would be interesting to know which ones you all think work best in which treatment.

What about you? Is choosing black and white over color, or vice-versa, all the time a conscious stylistic choice or a crutch you fall back on because you've just always done it that way?

 

[Disaster_Area]

One thing I've found is that I have a hard time switching between working in color and black and white on the same day. One of the two will just look "better" to me that day and there isn't much I can do to make the other a viable choice. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[Pastor Chris]

Interesting thoughts, and it is nice to have the choice. Horses for courses, I suppose. If I am going out "street shooting" specifically, I load with black and white, but I don't think I would change out if I had color in the camera. I have been using expired color film a bit for street, finding that overexposing by a stop works well. As I said, it is nice to have choices and I don't feel the need to commit to one or the other. It will be interesting to follow this thread.

 

[Disaster_Area]

It will be interesting to follow this thread.

I hope so, I'd like to get more thoughts on the subject. From what I've seen browsing peoples galleries on Flickr, with street photography, more than any other genre people seem to make the choice between black and white or color and stick to it... I don't seem many people that switch between the two with much frequency.

I have no problems switching it up now, at least between batches, but once I start processing in one I have a hard time "seeing" in the the other in the middle of a batch.

 

[David_Manning]

The previous examples--great pictures, by the way--all seem to be "toned"...almost like Hollywood color-grading a scene in a film. Toning aside, there is no bright, clashing color like the eye would see on the street. This isn't a criticism of your photographs...they are great. I think for me, b&w makes me focus on the usual things...faces, shapes, shadows and light. Whenever I try to shoot color for street, there is usually a conglomeration of terribly colored backgrounds...visual noise. Lacking the usual fix (throwing the background out of focus), hyper focal or small sensor/small aperture makes the problem harder to control.

Your images above are great. I can't seem to get it right unless I tone and grade the shots. In that case, I might as well just enjoy them in "classic" b&w.

 

[Disaster_Area]

They are definitely all toned to some extent, I find it really helps get around the problem you mention about grating, clashing colors. By slightly toning the shot you give all the discordant colors a base color to relate to and it seems to help bring some order to the chaos.

I like the toning to bring mood to the shots as well... every city I've shot in has it's own mood and feel... I'm trying to narrow down the toning color that will help convey how Ottawa "feels" to me... I think I'm getting there. The toned shots definitely feel more like how I felt when I was taking the shot as apposed to the colors straight out of camera.

I agree though, sometimes the clashing colors are just too much and B&W comes to the rescue 🙂

 

[David_Manning]

The golden yellow toning seems very summer-like or for cities with warm climates. I'd think toning with blue would make interesting, visually interesting northern (or VERY southern) climates.

 

[35photo]

Well, I don't think this toning thing works at all personally....and the images are not interesting enough to hold my interest really. Its like your in between...to me you have to choose color or B&W...and once you do then you can exploit the strengths and weaknesses of them... With B&W its more about maybe feel, tone, and contrast and with color it about maybe a description of things, color and light and how they interact with each other.
I would encourage you and look more with or without the camera make mental notes, pay attention to details big or small look at relationships between things...

Marko

 

[jbot]

One thing I've found is that I have a hard time switching between working in color and black and white on the same day. One of the two will just look "better" to me that day and there isn't much I can do to make the other a viable choice. Anyone else have this problem?

You hit the nail on the head here. I get this all the time. I feel like one day I'm passionate about colour, and the next I'm excited about B&W. But it's one or the other.

 

[nightfly]

I've been shooting more color street stuff lately and find it a very interesting challenge. It changes what I look for and how I compose. I look at everything very differently and I don't think my color and black and white stuff would be interchangeable. I need to know which I'm shooting while I'm out (since I shoot film this isn't a problem). I tend to use different cameras for black and white and color too. Maybe just to jog my brain to know what I'm doing.

I like the composition of your images but there is something in the toning and maybe the clarity of them that makes them look a little fake for lack of a better word. I mean this is in a sort of Philip-Lorca diCorcia way. They don't read to me as street photos but more as movie outtakes or set up shots. Not necessarily a criticism as I don't know how you want them to read but there is something slightly unreal about them.

 

[Sparrow]

I don't mind colour in bright weather, not sure about the examples in the first post, a bit too HDR for my taste I'm afraid

 

[Disaster_Area]

They don't read to me as street photos but more as movie outtakes or set up shots. Not necessarily a criticism as I don't know how you want them to read but there is something slightly unreal about them.

I think the main reason for this is that I come from a theater and stage background, and it definitely comes through in my editing and how I look at things. When I'm walking around, I find I'm keeping an eye out for movie or theater style poses or scenes.

I can't take all the credit for the clarity or crispness... the voigtlander 15mm and 25mm at hyperfocal is razor sharp, especially on the NEX 7... I don't have to go very heavy on the sharpening in post processing.

The street I shoot on most might have a lot to do with it as well. Rideau Street lines up PERFECTLY with the rising and setting sun so during the golden hours you get lovely direct side lighting with enough diffuse lighting bouncing off the corridor of buildings to alleviate harsh shadows. For a half hour each morning and night the street really does have a theatrical quality to the light.

 

[Disaster_Area]

Here's an example of a shot NOT taken on Rideau... much more subdued lighting, not so much of that theatre style, and with a much softer lens (Jupiter 8 on the Nex 7)

 

[burancap]

I'd love to know what you think. Which images work better in color, which in the original black and white?

and...

I mean this is in a sort of Philip-Lorca diCorcia way. They don't read to me as street photos but more as movie outtakes or set up shots. Not necessarily a criticism as I don't know how you want them to read but there is something slightly unreal about them.

I quite like them, especially the first shot and the "mannequinesqueness" of it.

 

[Sparrow]

I think the main reason for this is that I come from a theater and stage background, and it definitely comes through in my editing and how I look at things. When I'm walking around, I find I'm keeping an eye out for movie or theater style poses or scenes.

I can't take all the credit for the clarity or crispness... the voigtlander 15mm and 25mm at hyperfocal is razor sharp, especially on the NEX 7... I don't have to go very heavy on the sharpening in post processing.

The street I shoot on most might have a lot to do with it as well. Rideau Street lines up PERFECTLY with the rising and setting sun so during the golden hours you get lovely direct side lighting with enough diffuse lighting bouncing off the corridor of buildings to alleviate harsh shadows. For a half hour each morning and night the street really does have a theatrical quality to the light.

... wouldn't that only be true on a few days between each solstice?

 

[Disaster_Area]

... wouldn't that only be true on a few days between each solstice?

the street is wide enough that even when it's not perfectly aligned it's close enough, and the buildings aren't too tall here... so even when it's at its farthest out of alignment it just cuts down the time the light is good. Plus the buildings have nice reflective mirrored windows that helps channel the light

 

[anjoca76]

I like to see street photography, or whatever you want to call it, in color. It's a nice change of pace. I always see this style in black and white, which is perfectly fine and usually makes the most sense for on-the-fly metering, but it also is limiting and makes just about everyone's street photography look the same after awhile. The first time I saw Winogrand's color work I was blown away. I wished he had shot more.

The photograph of the woman with the banjo works very well in color, imo. I don't think b&w would have made it any better; in fact, just the opposite. Maybe it's that her tattoos stand out more.

 

[Disaster_Area]

The photograph of the woman with the banjo works very well in color, imo. I don't think b&w would have made it any better; in fact, just the opposite. Maybe it's that her tattoos stand out more.

yeah, without color you wouldn't see how the burgundy in the tattoo matches the same color in her bandana... I tried those shots in B&W but they just didn't "pop" like they do in color

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I like all the images you've posted in this thread.. a LOT! Compositions, color tones, subject matter are excellent.

I've always preferred color for street photography. I have a slightly different take on the color vs. b&w 'thing'. I think b&w adds meaning to an image that is often not real. B&w often fictionalizes a scene, in my opinion, adding an element of 'grit' or 'toughness' or 'danger' that wasn't part of the original scene. I'm not going to say that any photo tells the absolute truth about a moment, but I think leaving color in brings the scene closer to reality.

 

[nightfly]

I like color and lighting on the woman with the banjo quite a bit better.

One thing that strikes me about all of these which contributes I think to the surreal look is that they feel very frozen. Not sure if due to a high shutter speed or what but I think a little motion blur would free them up a little and breathe a little more life into them. Again this is more a matter of personal taste and you might want this sort of look.

I think in general they have a very contemporary feel and a very definite style and the color contributes to this. They certainly seem more a part of modern photography trends than classic street which gets a lot more attention here on this forum.