Why do you shoot B&W instead of Colour?

[RObert Budding]

Why do some artists choose charcoals and others water colors?

 

[dadsm3]

I agree that b&w is more forgiving exposure-wise, but I think it's more difficult to get a really good shot....no cheating allowed, flaws are more readily apparent. The subject, the light, and the tonality all have to be there, in addition to some degree of originality.

 

[Bryce]

Agreed, dadsm3, assuming we're comparing to color slides. Color neg.s are the most forgiving of exposure error of any process. Even color casts aren't too big a thing since Photoshop came to town.
I definitely had to learn to "see" black and white. And I'm colorblind!

 

[raid]

You have to "see in B&W" to get powerful B&W images out and you have to be able to play with colors to get awesome color photos back. Both types of powerful images can be excellent.

 

[summaron]

I've been shooting for years in color--Porta and Fuji 800 at night and find myself moving fast over to black and white photography. Perhaps it's the visceral thing, and looking at Moriyama's photographs recently certain didn't help.

What I could do with color was create layers of depth, patches of orange or purple and other colors moving forward or back, away from each other. What I can do with black and white, with Fuji 1600 or Agfapan--what I still have left in a develper like FG7--is elimate all superfluous detail and dramatize two or three objects against a surface as if they were actors in a play or pieces of sculpture. So I'll say for me b&w is sculptural and anguished, and color is painterly and about subtle harmonic differences.

 

[bmicklea]

I guess in the end the wisest move is to stick with colour film and have B&W prints done..

Or have two camera bodies - one with B&W and one with colour...that's how I'm trying to justify my GAS!

 

[sf]

why I shoot B&W instead of color (most of the time):

1. Cheaper film, cheaper processing (I do it myself)
2. Easier to print good B&W than good color in my case

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

You have to "see in B&W" to get powerful B&W images out and you have to be able to play with colors to get awesome color photos back. Both types of powerful images can be excellent.

Well said. I don't like confining myself to "camps". I love shooting B&W film, and I also love the possibilities of color film. The best challenge is to bring out the best of both; it's easy to stick to only one thing.

 

[terrafirmanada]

I print at home. I used to work in the closet (literally) and now have the whole basement. I do it for the basement.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

You mean, because you like the basement, or it's for the basement's good that you shoot B&W?

 

[phototone]

I can process all the common film types, C-41, E-6 and all sorts of b/w. I PREFER b/w for much of my personal work because I like to visualize with light and composition. Texture and Shape.

When you shoot in colour, you shoot with color in mind.

Good b/w is a more difficult media to excel in. I relish the challenge.

I will sometimes go out with my Leica and b/w film and actually NOT shoot, because the light is not right, with Colour, I could have shot, because the separation between subject and background is treated differently, and the colors of the scene can make the photo.

I also like the archival nature of well processed b/w negatives.