Why black and white?

[Al83]

I've been looking through some of the excellent gallery photos and it strikes me that you experienced types shoot black and white / monochrome more often than you shoot colour. Why is this? Does the film have more latitude to exposure or is it just down to personal preference? Or do people tend to process their own films?

Thanks

 

[skibeerr]

de gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum 😀

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I shoot both. 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. It also tends to render textures more harshly than color film, which makes the image 'feel' like the texture of an original object is within reach of the viewer. It also allows manipulation of contrast to influence the mood of the image in a way that doesn't work as well with color.

 

[Keith]

Personal preference for me. Even my two Merrills, which are known for their superb colour rendering, are both set permanently on monochrome. Same with film ... I don't think I actually have any colour film on hand!

I can't shoot colour for crap and only do it when I have to ... ie paid gig.

 

[DominikDUK]

B/W because it is more direct and removes the beauty of color. Depending on the subject matter color waters down the impact of the image, unless of course the image subject is color or a form defined by color (Gursky North Korea photo for example). That beeing said I love both color and B/W the medium has to suit the subject.

 

[kuvvy]

I second what Chris says. I've been preferring B&W for years now. In fact, I really struggle to shoot colour for other than snaps. I know some shoot colour street photography and I even like what they produce, but I'm never really happy with my colour shots. Maybe I need to work on it. Okay, the odd landscape, pattern/texture shot or if there is a need to show the colour of uniforms/team strips but for me the preference is B&W.

Paul

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

It's an interesting question. In fact, these days, a vanishingly small proportion of non technical pictures are made specifically in monochrome. It's only on a few sites like this that you'll find such new work. My guess is that 99.999% of pictures are taken, stored and viewed as colour.

That said, monochrome dominated photography for most of its history. At least until the end of the 'fifties, and probably well into the 'sixties, the exact opposite of what I claim above was probably the case and there are many millions of monochrome images that can interest and even excite a given viewer.

Personal preference is now, I suspect, the determining factor as to which is used.

 

[Keith]

Colour is bullsh!t

HCB's own words apparently! 😀

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

HCB's own words apparently!

Ah! That would be Henry Charles Blanding of East Cheam - the notorious Victorian potty mouth painter. Of course, he could only afford black paint, so I believe he could be described as biased...

😀

 

[mdarnton]

Many photographers, me included, find that shooting color, for them, tends to force the photo over into being about the color at least as much as about the subject matter. It doesn't have to be that way, of course, but it does provide that opportunity.

 

[Murchu]

I think one of photographies great fallacies, is that because the medium is so good at rendering detail, that many often believe when they are looking at a photograph that they are seeing some literal/ straight reproduction of something in front of the camera. In this way, black and white is one way of several, to add a level of abstraction to an image, I think.

In this vein, I was recently reading a little of the book In Conversation with David Hockney, where he expressed the view that a lot of photography looks the same to him, which he attributes to the inherent realism in photography from which there's been no departure from by most photographers. I found this an interesting thought, even if the example he used in the passage I read, was of gallery photography.

 

[Steveh]

I tend to agree about B&W adding that extra level of abstraction to the image. I massively gravitate towards black and white in my own work although I don't have any principled aversion to colour - it just turns out that way when I come to process my images. There is also the fact that with colour you have one extra element to manipulate - I find getting the tones, shapes and graphics of an image right hard enough without adding a whole other layer of visual problems to solve.

Sejanus.Aelianus is right thought that outside places like RFF monochrome is a very minority pastime - very little modern art photography is done in black and white, and a lot of the best work that appears on RFF is very retro in style compared to what's going on in the wider photographic world. That's one of the reasons I like it here!

 

[craygc]

Colour is merely symbolic; the real truth is in luminosity!

 

[cz23]

I find color distracting. So often the photo becomes mainly about the color. Not that that's bad; just a perference. BW is more elemental, in my mind, providing greater focus on form and content.

That said, occasionally I'll take a street photo that I prefer in color and that makes me consider pursuing color seriously (a couple examples below). And I really admire the work of photographers who do color well, like Saul Leiter. Still, I'm committed to BW, at least for now. Every time I set out to do a street project in color, I end up reverting to BW.

On this forum another key factor is all the film shooters and the ease and low cost of home BW processing.

John

​

 

[helen.HH]

even though Color has its place in the World of Film
b&w makes me Swoon more

 

[Mcary]

Simple I have horrible perception of color, plus B&W film most especially LF is lot cheap to shoot and process.

 

[helen.HH]

I find color distracting.

That said, occasionally I'll take a street photo that I prefer in color and that makes me consider pursuing color seriously (a couple examples below). And I really admire the work of photographers who do color well, like Saul Leiter. Still, I'm committed to BW, at least for now. Every time I set out to do a street project in color, I end up reverting to BW.
John

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Just Lovely that shot....i do very much like the composition
but its the Colour and mist in blue that is so strikingly soft...draws you in
Beautiful palatte John

 

[Steveh]

Two great examples of shots that colour makes better, I love them both. The second shot looks very "Alex Webb" - I love the L shape of the woman's back and the car but in this case it's the layers of different colours that make the image.

I find color distracting. So often the photo becomes mainly about the color. Not that that's bad; just a perference. BW is more elemental, in my mind, providing greater focus on form and content.

That said, occasionally I'll take a street photo that I prefer in color and that makes me consider pursuing color seriously (a couple examples below). And I really admire the work of photographers who do color well, like Saul Leiter. Still, I'm committed to BW, at least for now. Every time I set out to do a street project in color, I end up reverting to BW.

On this forum another key factor is all the film shooters and the ease and low cost of home BW processing.

John

​

 

[cz23]

Thanks, Helen and Steve. It's these types of shots that make me consider taking up color. I don't come by them often, but I'm sure they would be more plentiful if one actually sought them out. Maybe I'll try a color project and really follow through on it. Helen, did you notice the "Double Gulp" on the cup? Cute.

I'd love to hear anyone who shoots street in color comment on what they look for. I've been shooting a long time but feel like a complete color novice.

John

 

[airfrogusmc]

For me at this point in time I just see shapes, line and tones better than I am seeing color. Not to say those things don't also exist in good color work, it's just not the way I am seeing now.

But I still love the street work of Meyerowitz (which the majority is color) and many others that do it well.

I think that you have to match the medium that best fits your vision whatever that may be.

Also in the gallery world silver gelatin prints commanf on average about 10 times more money than ink jet images so for the gallery world there is also a financial advantage to silver gelatin B&W prints or platinum palladium prints.