Those of you who shoot in B&W: don't you miss color?

[raid]

I always have an internal struggle when I get the temptation to replace color with B&W, whether it is film or digital.

What goes through your minds when you decide on using B&W, and how did you get started on such a path by which you ignore colors and by which you favor grades of grey instead?

Is it an "art factor" or is it the B&W chemistry in developing film or is there something else that lets you see beauty in B&W that you do not find with color?

Is it maybe just a way to save money ( it was cheaper in the past)?

Thanks for your input here.

 

[Stuart John]

I tend to shoot mainly B&W whether film or digital. I started using B&W film about twenty years ago when I first got interested in photography it was a great way to see the results very fast, a great way to learn and I had always liked B&W photos so I gave it a try. So after I got started with B&W I found that most of the time I just prefer B&W to color.

 

[Morry Katz]

I shoot b&w because it is subtle. Shapes, tones, and textures are dominant. The end result is an image that invites close inspection. Colour images are about colour. The chromatic content overwhelms every other aspect. Decidedly unsubtle.

 

[FrankS]

What do you think of his statement:

While I do some colour photography - sometimes colour is the subject after all; I much prefer black and white images. Colour focuses attention onto the surface of things; black and white somehow allows us to see more profoundly. Our 3-D world is abstracted by photography's 2-D projection, and the additional layer of abstraction of monochrome representation with black and white film, causes the viewer to conceptualize the scene, to see not the thing itself, but the idea of the thing, thusly engaging the mind

 

[Vics]

What do you think of his statement:

While I do some colour photography - sometimes colour is the subject after all; I much prefer black and white images. Colour focuses attention onto the surface of things; black and white somehow allows us to see more profoundly. Our 3-D world is abstracted by photography's 2-D projection, and the additional layer of abstraction of monochrome representation with black and white film, causes the viewer to conceptualize the scene, to see not the thing itself, but the idea of the thing, thusly engaging the mind

Very well said, FrankS! My sentiments exactly. I've always thought that a color portrait tells us what a person looks like while a monochrome portrait tells us who he or she is. Every time I put color in my camera, I wish I hadn't.

 

[Godfrey]

I always have an internal struggle when I get the temptation to replace color with B&W, whether it is film or digital.

What goes through your minds when you decide on using B&W, and ho did you get started on such a path by which you ignore colors and by which you favor grades of grey instead?

Is it an "art factor" or is it the B&W chemistry in developing film or is there something else that lets you see beauty in B&W that you do not find with color?

Is it maybe just a way to save money ( it was cheaper in the past)?

Thanks for your input here.

I like to work with both color and B&W.

When I started doing photography, doing color processing at home was beyond both my means and my skills. So I could either take pictures and have the photofinisher make my photos if color, or process and print the film myself if black and white. I mostly chose the latter as I enjoyed the ability to control what I made.

When I worked for a photofinisher, I could do all the color process I wanted and have complete control. I still liked doing a lot of B&W work—the abstraction from a world of color differentiation to a world of gray tones and shapes is a useful constraint on the visual language.

With the advent of film scanners, digital cameras, image processing software, and quality inkjet printers/inks/fine art papers, I can do either color or b&w with equal facility and at the same cost. And control the whole process, from capture to print. Now I choose when I want to work color, when I want to work B&W, based on my intent and the subject matter I'm photographing.

I often process the same exposure several different ways .. a full color rendering, a suppressed palette rendering, a monochrome palette rendering, etc. In the end I pick the rendering that suits my intent—both my intent at the time of shooting and my intent in post-visualization to suit a particular project. Because when you have full (and reversible) control of the process, end to end, post-visualization becomes just as significant to the end results as pre-visualization.

G

postscript:
I tend to stick to B&W when I'm shooting film. I like the look of B&W films, where I can almost always do a better job with digital capture on color work.
It's not too critical, tho; just a preference.

 

[Fawley]

Raid: A very good question.
I have almost always shot color, other than for those occasional shots that cry out for color. Cost is not the issue. And although I enjoy darkroom work, that's not the real reason either. I think I simply find that BW images convey more emotion. I also like the departure from reality that BW quite easily permits.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Those of you who drink wine: don't you miss beer? Or vice versa.

Those of you who read books: don't you miss magazines?

Those of you who eat meat: don't you miss vegetables?

Cheers,

R.

 

[jschrader]

i started b&w in school where we had a lab. It was the only way to afford larger prints than 9x13 cm.

But soon it turned into an esthetic attitude. I simply do not like color. Even if a picture is better in color than in b&w, it is not good (in my opinion - I should rather say I don't like it).

I do not know when this started, but it was after I had turned to b&w.

 

[jasonhumor]

I have shot B&W flms as dedicated for almost over 8 years. Now often think or be tempted to shot colors. I rekon this is natural things as human but the delema is which way to go...negative film or digital. See what happens.

 

[zuiko85]

For practical reasons I only shoot color with my digital camera and reserve my film cameras for B&W. I make no claim film is superior to digital in B&W, it is only that I like the very mechanical nature of my old film gear. I don't even like the later electronically controlled film cameras, the battery dependent ones. This is a very personal bias and does not reflect at all on my opinion of those who choose to use modern cameras, film or digital.

There is no "art" aspect in my choice of B&W. I have never considered myself an artist. I like B&W because I can develop and print it myself. I know someone will say; "well, I process C-41 at home" and that is fine but I just don't want to get into that.

 

[retnull]

I like B+W because it's timeless, and (as Frank S suggested) more of an "image" than a "window into another time and space".

I do like color, but I HATE the colors that digital cameras give. I prefer subtle colors, maybe artificial ones...hard to explain, really. Tweaking in LightRoom can't seem to get me colors I enjoy, reliably.

So yes -- B+W is reliably interesting. Under very certain conditions, I think color can work in similar ways.

 

[luibargi]

Two different worlds, very much different for me and, as I shoot depending on the mood, 95% has been B&W in about forty years now so I don'y have a particular feel for color. Can't tell exactly why though.

 

[Spanik]

Our 3-D world is abstracted by photography's 2-D projection, and the additional layer of abstraction of monochrome representation with black and white film, causes the viewer to conceptualize the scene, to see not the thing itself, but the idea of the thing, thusly engaging the mind

That's not my sentiment at all. While photo reduces 3D to 2D, b&w reduces it to 1D. Everything is lost when going to b&w. It becomes extremely flat and emotionless. Everthing looks official and dead in b&w. Certainly in the new way of doing b&w without any grey in it.

Honestly, what it the value of a b&w shot of autumn leaves?

 

[Roger Hicks]

There are some wonderfully meaningless flat assertions in this thread. "I don't like it" or "I can't understand it" = "It's no good."

Cheers,

R.

 

[taskoni]

I shoot B&W because it is easier 🙂

 

[FrankS]

That's not my sentiment at all. While photo reduces 3D to 2D, b&w reduces it to 1D. Everything is lost when going to b&w. It becomes extremely flat and emotionless. Everthing looks official and dead in b&w. Certainly in the new way of doing b&w without any grey in it.

Honestly, what it the value of a b&w shot of autumn leaves?

What is the value of any shot of autumn leaves?

😉

I just do what I choose to do. I have no problem with what and how others choose to do their thing.

 

[Roger Hicks]

What is the value of any shot of autumn leaves?

Dear Frank,

Beautifully phrased!

Transience; hope; texture; light; the turning of the seasons... If you can't see any of this without colour, well, that's fine, but what are you seeing?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Deep Fried]

colour for me tends to be a representation of reality. B&W is an abstraction of reality.

I use colour for portraits to show 'this is what so and so looked like at this time'

I use B&W when I want to say something

 

[Sylvester]

Black and white is more artsy looking... And cheaper when you shoot film, I can develop it for way less than a dollar a roll and you can buy bulk rolls of film to save money. But I just bought 10 rolls of Portra to try colour.