Why black and white?

Don_D · Nov 12, 2013

I'd like to ask a question: Why is B&W in general preferred over color on this forum?

Is it just tradition?

Is it an attempt to recreate the look of the famous Street Photographers?

Is it for some technical reason?

Is it just the style of SP?

Is color too distracting?

This is a serious question.

Thanks for your thoughts or explanations.

--
www.pbase.com/dond
Don

KilroyWasHere · Nov 12, 2013

Here is a quote by B.D. Colen.

As Ted Grant, who is justifiably known as the father of modern Canadian photojournalism — no, that is not an oxymoron — likes to tell students, “When you shoot a person in color, you see their clothes; when you shoot them in black and white, you see their souls.”

I will admit that talk of souls makes me a bit itchy, but Grant really depressed the shutter release on that one: if you want to really see a person, if you want the viewer’s eyes to go to the subject’s face, their eyes, shoot them in black and white.

If you want to capture a child at play, and really see the child, shoot them in black and white.

If you want to capture a couple in a café, a tired commuter on a subway late at night, a cop on the beat, then do it with black and white.

If you don’t, you’ll end up with frame full of conflicting, distracting colors, and they are what will grab the viewer’s attention. - B. D. COLEN

Don_D · Nov 12, 2013

KilroyWasHere said:
Here is a quote by B.D. Colen.

As Ted Grant, who is justifiably known as the father of modern Canadian photojournalism — no, that is not an oxymoron — likes to tell students, “When you shoot a person in color, you see their clothes; when you shoot them in black and white, you see their souls.”

I will admit that talk of souls makes me a bit itchy, but Grant really depressed the shutter release on that one: if you want to really see a person, if you want the viewer’s eyes to go to the subject’s face, their eyes, shoot them in black and white.

If you want to capture a child at play, and really see the child, shoot them in black and white.

If you want to capture a couple in a café, a tired commuter on a subway late at night, a cop on the beat, then do it with black and white.

If you don’t, you’ll end up with frame full of conflicting, distracting colors, and they are what will grab the viewer’s attention. - B. D. COLEN

Thank you, can't disagree in general.....there is a definite preference of B&W in portraits..

...but I point out that there are plenty of exceptional photographs of people in color.

Your response made me realize that everyday photojournalism was done for newspapers, which printed almost exclusively in B&W until recently.

Not to say that there weren't color photographs in magazines like Life.

KilroyWasHere · Nov 12, 2013

Another quote that can say it better than I can;

If you look at a black and white picture and feel that the image “tells” you a story without any distracting elements, then it is a good picture. Sometimes a color photo only has appeal because the combination of tones is nice and coherent. If color is used to show the color of the garments; then black and white is used to show the ‘color’ of the soul.” – Rui Palha

Pascal Riben · Nov 12, 2013

Don_D said:
I'd like to ask a question: Why is B&W in general preferred over color on this forum?

Is it just tradition?

Is it an attempt to recreate the look of the famous Street Photographers?

Is it for some technical reason?

Is it just the style of SP?

Is color too distracting?

This is a serious question.

Thanks for your thoughts or explanations.

ikwak01 · Nov 12, 2013

So I thought I'd add another quote by Ginger Rogers (she was talking about film movies, but it still works for photography as well):

"Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but black and white films still hold an affectionate place in my heart; they have an incomparable mystique and mood."

Hulamike · Nov 12, 2013

Also compositional. With b&w you're more concerned with broad shapes, line, contrast, light and dark areas compositionally. As menioned, color can influence these. I always recommend to young shooters to shoot intentional b&w when they want b&w as you think through a shot differently, your designing more than capturing. Unfortunately today, b&w is thought of more as a 'save' for a poor color shot than the pure approach that it is.

claude14 · Nov 12, 2013

In b/w you can create a mood, an atmosphere and different shades, were as in colour its there.

Claude

www.pbase.com/clarba

Don_D · Nov 12, 2013

ikwak01 said:
So I thought I'd add another quote by Ginger Rogers (she was talking about film movies, but it still works for photography as well):

"Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but black and white films still hold an affectionate place in my heart; they have an incomparable mystique and mood."

I'm sure that you have noticed those patterned shadows that are projected onto background walls in B&W films.

I think Ginger is right.

Don_D · Nov 12, 2013

Pascal Riben said:
Don_D said:

I'd like to ask a question: Why is B&W in general preferred over color on this forum?

Is it just tradition?

Is it an attempt to recreate the look of the famous Street Photographers?

Is it for some technical reason?

Is it just the style of SP?

Is color too distracting?

This is a serious question.

Thanks for your thoughts or explanations.

Click to expand...

Don_D · Nov 12, 2013

Hulamike said:
Also compositional. With b&w you're more concerned with broad shapes, line, contrast, light and dark areas compositionally. As menioned, color can influence these. I always recommend to young shooters to shoot intentional b&w when they want b&w as you think through a shot differently, your designing more than capturing. Unfortunately today, b&w is thought of more as a 'save' for a poor color shot than the pure approach that it is.

You make some excellent points, especially the last one.

Don_D · Nov 12, 2013

claude14 said:
In b/w you can create a mood, an atmosphere and different shades, were as in colour its there.

Claude

www.pbase.com/clarba

Nice pbase site Claude.... You are a very talented and versatile photographer.

claude14 · Nov 12, 2013

Don, thanks for the kind comment. What is your website?

Claude

Don_D · Nov 12, 2013

claude14 said:
Don, thanks for the kind comment. What is your website?

Claude

www.pbase.com/dond

b traven · Nov 12, 2013

Pascal Riben said:
The good - and serious - question is "Why color?"

--
Pascal Riben
http://pascalriben.com

Because it's there (thank you Mr. Hillary).

If you're shooting digital it's the default state. B&W has to be rendered out of the original image, either in-camera or in post. And if you're doing it in post there are one helluva lot of creative choices between just color or just B&W.

For digital, it's a false dichotomy. The point, I think, is to make a picture that will make people stop for a moment and consider.

PSCL1 · Nov 20, 2013

I don't claim to be an aesthete, artiste, or philosopher of beauty but here goes:

First, I generally commonsensically agree with B&W being traditional and color having a distracting effect in some pictures.

There seem to be three types of content involved in B&W vs. color. This Forum is "Documentary and Street Photography", and there is also a "Portrait and People Forum."

Taking these as 3 separable (and I agree this could be debated, certainly) areas:

Documentary: Color or B&W depends on what you are trying to document. Some content, e.g. war, might have more impact with all the mud and blood in color. Other content, e.g. natural disasters, might have more impact in black and white.

Portrait: Depends on the subject. Youssef Karsh did very well with B&W on Ernest Hemingway. However, color was crucial in the National Geographic portrait of the Afghanistani (?) girl, esp. the eyes.

Street: Depends on what you are trying to convey. If you are interested in depicting juxtaposition of forms, or ironic positioning of people (e.g. back to back, illustrating societal alienation), or people in rela to immediate setting, then B&W might work better. If urban chaos, night lights (w/ or w/o people), etc. is the subject, then color might convey it better.

Doss · Nov 22, 2013

If I may wade in with my tuppence....

Don_D said:
I'd like to ask a question: Why is B&W in general preferred over color on this forum?

Refer to Ginger Rogers quote!

Don_D said:
Is it just tradition?

Mostly. But I do believe, even if colour had came first, there would have been an 'evolution' to monochrome.

Don_D said:
Is it an attempt to recreate the look of the famous Street Photographers?

Definately quite often

Don_D said:
Is it for some technical reason?

Well, there is the fact that colour noise looks worse than monochromatic noise, and grain is less harsh on the eyes in B/w (imho). For these reasons alone I occasionally convert to B/w

Don_D said:
Is it just the style of SP?

It's closely linked

Don_D said:
Is color too distracting?

NO! And the idea you can't capture atmosphere or 'souls' in color = just quotes by very blinkered people.

Don_D said:
This is a serious question.

Thanks for your thoughts or explanations.

--
www.pbase.com/dond
Don

People who use B/W:

Old skool conservative types who don't like change
Artists who truly understand how and when to use B/W for impact.
Those who aren't too hot at photography but think (and sadly they're often correct) if they convert to B/W they'll be taken more seriously. This is 'Emporer's New Clothes' peer pressure and, possibly, accounts for the majority of monochromists.

If I may self-promote: Here's a street gallery in glorious technicolor

http://imagingation.carbonmade.com/projects/5021554

--
http://facebook.com/dossfoto
http://imaging.carbonmade.com/

Brad Evans · Nov 22, 2013

It is simply an option, a personal choice. That's all there is too it.

If one want's to create reasons, there are many...

............
Brad
Urban photoblog: http://www.citysnaps.net
.

nickimay · Nov 22, 2013

Congrats, really beautiful photos and color rendering. Did you use any third party preset or just used LR settings?

jeff hladun · Nov 22, 2013

I like colour and black & white in the same way I like proteins and carbohydrates. Each serve their purpose.

Ralph Gibson has a wonderful reason for shooting monochrome. By removing colour from the image, the viewer is allowed to fill in the missing colour with his imagination...just like the way a reader fills in a story from the writer's descriptors. How often have you said: "I liked the book better than the movie"? It's sort of like that.

I'm sure Gibson has other reasons for photographing in black and white, but this was the most interesting lesson concerning colour I learned from him. (He's also known for his colour work, by the way.)

I like to shoot primarily monochrome because the Canadian light is often flat; since including colour in the image is an additive element, it just makes sense that there be a good reason to include it. No argument from me if I was living in Havana! Good colour photography needs good light - Alex Webb for example, does most of his day's work during the golden hour. Constatin Manos, likewise. There is a limiting factor to good colour photography...it's the light.

Why black and white?

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