Why black and white?

[shadowfox]

I can't even consistently produce good photos with only Black and White.
What makes you think I can handle more colors?

😀

 

[clcolucci58]

I shoot B/W only because I do my own film and have always loved the look of B/W even on the big screen. You can do more with a B/W print and I think it is an art form at it best. Just my two cents worth.
Regards
Clc

 

[menos]

At some point, when I was the first or second year into the hobby photography, I looked for ways, that make it more simple and straight forward to learn.

Taking away colours and forcing myself into concentrating of B/W was a way of focussing myself.
At first I found it unexplainably difficult and after a while boring and really terrible.

Now though, I find seeing and shooting monochrome absolutely natural. From time to time, I shoot a little colour in between, find it interesting, but quickly return back to B/W.

Family members and friends, who are not into photography always question me why I would shoot in B/W, and why I could not make something colourful - I have always a hard time, explaining to them.
When I bought an expensive camera, that could exclusively shoot monochrome photographs, people, who found out about thought, I am a serious nutcase.

For me that camera was the final liberation from any doubts or obstacles about focussing on photographs in B/W. Sometimes concentrating just on the essentials really means freedom with a complete lack of distractions.


couple waiting by teknopunk.com, on Flickr


portrait - two women - fashion by teknopunk.com, on Flickr


portrait - chinese by teknopunk.com, on Flickr


portrait - fish seller by teknopunk.com, on Flickr

 

[jschrader]

It is only a matter of taste.

BUT

Most people do not think much about photos, neither about those they make nor about those they see. So, what they get is a color photo because that is what the camera produces.

To produce b&w, you must take a decision. Most don't.

By the way, I often find b&w in a mixture of color and b&w photos weak, although I prefer clearly b&w. Maybe that makes it even more difficult to decide for b&w.

 

[jjtelecaster]

I shoot B&W because color just does not exist. At least do not exist by themselves, they're an artifice created by our senses. I'll explain: the navy blue T-shirt I'm wearing as I'm typing this is not navy blue; it only looks navy blue under some light conditions, but it can go from cerulean blue, indigo, ultramarine, purple... depending on those light conditions, so the idea of capturing real life colors is doomed to failure if we consider this and the many filters (lens, sensor, film, software...) it will undergo.

B&W, OTOH can be measured in terms of ammount of light; it is real. Sure, it's an artifice, a cheap trick that keeps on surprising, an illusion, but it's an artifice which is closer to the real thing than color.

Besides, I mainly shoot for the print, and color prints fade with time and eventually get a kitsch look.

Just my view; YMMV
Juan

 

[jschrader]

of course, this was my explanation of why most people make color. Not what about what I prefer.

I think one strength of b&w is that it is more abstract, in the meaning of more distant from to original. It is easier to take it as what it is and not to compare it with the reality. It is easier to take it as a piece of art, so to speak.

To those who think "well the world is colored, so why not show it colored?" one might say "well the world is also not static - why not video it all?"

 

[jschrader]

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

I found it always difficult to change digital photos to b&w. Not technically, but something left me unhappy.
I changed back to b&w film (and from Nikon DSLR to Leica M) and since then I am free. I know my photos will be b&w and that is it. Somehow, my mindset is switched. Technically I could take the same pictures with the Nikon (except for that the flare in the AI 2.0/35 and the Biogon 2.0/35 are lightyears apart), but I DID NOT TAKE them with the Nikon.

Hope I can afford an MM some time soon.....

 

[MikeDimit]

Consider this - Photography is a ball game. B&W, color, digital - balls. But You chose to play Basketball or Football or Handball. All are played with some kind of ball, different rules and goals. And we are into it for the sport. Just chose your game.

 

[icebear]

Usually the composition in B&W is better because the weight of color patches that do not have any meaning besides a heavy swath of color is irrelevant and the geometric shapes and lines and their proportions gain more importance. Thinking about these aspects at time of exposure will yield a better picture.

B&W is closer to the essence of the subject.
It automatically reduces any distraction by color and forces to concentrate on the subject itself not e.g. on the bright color of the shirt and it's relation to the color of the background.

 

[lewis44]

In Black & White:

 

[paulfish4570]

i alnmost always shoot bw, or convert to bw. i am shooting some c41 color right now because it is available locally, inexpensive, and there is a very good drugstore lab in our closest town. most of what i post here from that color film is converted to bw. bw is magical with light more often than color is ...

 

[airfrogusmc]

I photograph in B&W because it's the way I have been seeing the past few years.

 

[rhl-oregon]

this has all the visual justification necessary to make the case Why B/W. splendidly composed, understated, respectfully intimate, and as memorable as a really well-written closing (or opening) paragraph by a master of short fiction.

It would be pedantic to gloss it in detail, but the essence conveyed to me in a glance is that these two are together, though as different as spots and plaid; are grounded if not marooned; and though there may be an ocean between them and their homeland, the means to go home are there in the mist, and knowing these things are at hand may be all they need.

Hard to imagine that a color version would add more than it would detract from the characters and their quiet, solemn surrounding.

In Black & White:

 

[mansio]

i do B/W because i could do my own developing, less waiting, and less expensive

while i find color to be effective at times, b/w could sometimes produce more powerful photo.

 

[FrankS]

Reasons for black and white photography in descending order of importance:

Photography is as much about what you leave out of the frame as about what you choose to show. If colour is not the subject or an important aspect of the subject, then it is a distraction.

Plus, with the materials available, I can develop and print black and white in house without sending anything out. I have control of the entire process.

And it is cheaper.