Why black and white?

When I got back into photography with the Digital revolution, I was attracted to bright colors, city lights and the interesting color-casts you get from fluorescents vs incandescents, and the purple skies at the edge of the night. Many times, color IS what the picture is about.

But, now after several years and with more experience, I find myself working a lot more with B&W. Composition and arrangement of shapes in the frame is more direct, or maybe I mean that the photo becomes much more about composition when you remove the color.

There is so much "visual noise" (hat tip to Christos Kapatos) in the world, both Urban and Natural, that it is easy to photograph chaos, and hard to simplify and organize what you see into a nice photographic image. I welcome Winter snow and rainy days
 
I like contrasty, moody B&W shots, but I love the film color palatte.
Portra makes the world muted and saturated
Velvia makes everything happy and cheery
 
I just prefer b&w. I would never hang a color picture on the wall.

If if a picture is better in color than in b&w, it probably isn't good.

My opinion.
 
skibeerr said:
de gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum :D
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"there is no dispute about the sense of taste and colors"

Agreed... to each their own taste.....

I shoot both... Film in B&W only, so I can develop them at home, and with Digital.. Color, but many are converted to B&W if it makes a more powerful image..

Color can be very useful in many images.. it just depends if the color is a part the images story, or does it distract from it? then B&W may make a better story...
 
It's just that, if I use high contrast black and white, it doesn't matter that it's a wonky, out of focus shot of a woman's arse. 'Cause it's Street. An' it's Real.

Innit.

;)
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
]Black and white is still popular today because it, by removing color from the image, makes the image a partial abstraction that separates it from a literal recording of reality.
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I know that my pictures are not a literal recording of reality (either they lie, or I use them to lie), and feel that B&W de-emphasises the connection between my photographs and real life thereby lessening the absoluteness of that initial and unavoidable lie.

Also, it's easier and cheaper for me to shoot and self-process B&W film than colour film. And I love B&W film.
 
robert-frank-best-with-type.jpg
 
This thread could offer some relief from the film versus digital discussions.
We need some more fire though, pretty lame so far. :angel:
 
skibeerr said:
This thread could offer some relief from the film versus digital discussions.
We need some more fire though, pretty lame so far. :angel:
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Colour is for the people who wanted auto wind, auto exposure, auto focus, digital sensors, photoshop and Anne Geddes

Black and white is for poets













Please don't take this post at all seriously!
 
I've always preferred black and white, though for the longest time I couldn't say why. I'm still not 100% sure. My feeling is that in most color photos, the color is distracting and hardly ever adds to the image, especially when it comes to portraiture.
 
skibeerr said:
This thread could offer some relief from the film versus digital discussions.
We need some more fire though, pretty lame so far. :angel:
Click to expand...

OK, how about this:

There was a Robert Frank quote earlier in the thread (I assume its accurate) that says "Black and white are the colors of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is subject."
This quote is just a feeble incomplete thought in my opinion. There is a LOT of life between hope and despair, and I guess Mr. Frank would leave all of that stuff to the color photographers.

How do I feel about b&w? Hmm... First, I like it. And it has its place. BUT, it can be WAY overdone. i see tons of b&w images on the web these days that is desparately trying to interject drama where there isn't any. Street photography is where I see that most. If you put the color back into 99% of the street photos seen on the web, you'd see that its just another view of the ordinary world we all live in. Nothing more. So, I think B&W is a great tool to express drama when its called for.

I prefer color these days. Its a challenge to make a color street photograph, but only because you can't fake it by subtracting the color and call it gritty or powerful or whatever. Gotta go... dinner bell just rang. I'll come back for more discussion. (I just love RFF :) )
 
I often take a color photo and convert to black and white because the colors are too distracting, especially in the background. I can't find an example right now but imagine a portrait of a person at a carnival, with lots of colored lights in the out of focus background. In black and white, those background colors recede into out of focus "mist" and don't distract from the main subject.

Tom
 
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