Mixing of color and B&W prints: What are your thoughts?

[noisycheese]

Hey, Everyone -

I would like to hear your thoughts/opinions on mixing color and black and white images in a given presentation or body of work.

For years, I have heard others discourage the mixing of images; a book, a gallery exhibit, a box set of prints or a portfolio should always be either all color or all black and white; this helps to unify the images and makes the body of work stronger in visual impact. That has been the thinking in the past, at least.

Today, it seems that the "no mixing of color and B&W images" (unwritten) rule may be changing or falling by the wayside. Whether or not this is a good thing remains to be seen; the jury is still apparently out on this issue.

I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on this. Please kindly take a minute to vote in the multiple choice poll and post your thoughts on the matter afterword.

Thanks! 🙂

 

[michaelwj]

I like things to be cohesive, so I'd only mix them for a portfolio/web gallery, which doesn't have to be cohesive, i.e., it can span several 'projects'.

I'm also interested in what others think...

Michael

 

[Chris101]

I often mix a b&w or two into a color set, but very, very rarely put a color picture into a b&w series. As far as the former goes, I figure black and white are colors too, but color cannot be monochrome. So there has to be a good reason to do the latter.

I know, kinda non-committal. I'm not authoritarian with myself. Another area I play it loose is mixing vertical and horizontal orientation. I often mix, but try to do so symmetrically.

 

[lawrence]

I think the tricky one is 'For publishing a photo book' and I guess it depends on the book. Maybe for a book on a specific project they should not be mixed but for a monograph it would be OK.

 

[jschrader]

I think one should not mix. I don't publish so I never heard any rules about it. I think so because whenever someone converts some, but not all photos into b&w, they are poor.

That is what makes b&w difficult: one has to decide beforehand.

 

[Roger Hicks]

As with most things in photography, it's a firm, unequivocal "It Depends".

In a book, the publisher decides. Mixing B+W and colour is normal in commercial publishing. I've done it in e-publishing too: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/e-books.html

In a portfolio, it depends on what you're trying to sell to whom: see http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps critique.html

In an exhibition, it depends on the size of the exhibition space and the size of the exhibition. I'd never put a colour picture in with a B+W series, or a B+W in with a colour series; but if the exhibition were big enough I might run both colour and b+W series. Similar considerations apply to a web-site, as on my own: there are colour, B+W and hand-coloured galleries.

Cheers,

R.

 

[jesse1dog]

I wouldn't put both b&w and colour on the same page spread of a book, but two b&w on a spread followed by two coloured on a spread can work very well especially if the photos are a different size.
Self publishing using BLURB for instance lets you have a good look to judge the effect - try it to see!

 

[telenous]

It'd be unusual to use both b&w and colour but it shouldn't be ruled out in an offhand manner. Like anything, it's a creative choice. If using both serves some purpose, then why not.

.

 

[mike rosenlof]

I voted based on the number of prints in each type of collection. Pretty much considering color and B/W and different media, my thinking as follows.

Portfolio: you want to show everything you can do, it's a resume, show various styles.

Box set, Gallery show: small set of prints, expect a theme, don't mix media

Photobook: really too general, is it a Portfolio-type book, or a "box-set" type book? Does it represent one project, or several?

Web Gallery: It's the web, do anything you want! To me, really the same questions as the book...

 

[Frank Petronio]

Many photographers seem to think that a bunch of photos somehow becomes a set (book, show, web gallery, etc.) simply because they used a consistent technique throughout. Which is a pretty weak unifier.

Seems to me it's stronger to build "sets" based on unified ideas or a timeline sequence... or even some art-babble theme if you're stuck.... Anything but, "They're all B&W". If you have a good "set" that engages people then you could mix all different kinds of media and tell your story well.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Many photographers seem to think that a bunch of photos somehow becomes a set (book, show, web gallery, etc.) simply because they used a consistent technique throughout. Which is a pretty weak unifier. . .

Dear Frank,

True. But better than none.

Cheers,

R.

 

[michaelwj]

I'd never put a colour picture in with a B+W series, or a B+W in with a colour series; but if the exhibition were big enough I might run both colour and b+W series.

Hi Roger,

I think this summarises my position nicely.

Michael

 

[thompsonks]

+2 to Roger.

Of course when you've become famous, your retrospective will contain both.

 

[Harry S.]

I'd never mix.

But I have a fairly high level of O.C.D. when it comes to things like this, for I too wouldn't mix things such as crop ratio, film or sensor size or even focal length.

Sure an audience might never notice or find these constraints important, but it is an important criteria for me which I enjoy working within.