Is Black and White photography better?

I have loads of black and white family pictures.

That's because in the old days color film was either too expensive or simply not available.

Technical reasons are also why photography started out in black and white only.

Many of the images we consider iconic today were taken in B&W.

Also B&W photography has a certain look about it, that's for sure.

But today color is free and it's not a limiting factor anymore, you can even tweak colors to suit one's taste.

So why do some people still shoot in Black and White? Is it about art or tradition? Is it about being different? Or does it have something to do with focusing on shapes and light rather than color, which is perceived as a distraction from the true meaning of a given image?

Please explain.

Rambow said:

So why do some people still shoot in Black and White? Is it about art or tradition? Is it about being different? Or does it have something to do with focusing on shapes and light rather than color, which is perceived as a distraction from the true meaning of a given image?

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Since we have few limits on photography like we did in the B&W film days, if someone still shoots or processes for B&W it's purely a matter of personal taste.

Myself, I grew up in the former and yearned for color and now that I have it I'm reluctant to go back to B&W, but once in a while I feel nostalgic and will process for B&W.





My gallery of black 6 white conversions and a few monochrome and selective color.

https://pbase.com/merriwolf/black_white

--
Regards, Gordon
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Photography since 1950 • Digital since 1999
My online photo galleries

This shot was boring regardless of how I processed it in color. But, in B&W, it takes on a whole different character. Because B&W deals with contrast, a so so color shot can take on a new life in B&W because it's much easier to manipulate contrast than it is color.




Shot a month after Covid pretty much shut down Winnipeg.

David

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The hardest part about being a vegan is getting up at 5AM to milk the almonds.
Viewbug: https://www.viewbug.com/member/David_Pavlich

I shoot everything in colour but I convert quite a lot of images to b&w when I think that suits them better than colour. Sometimes I like and keep both colour and b&w.

That's a... great image, congratulations.

I'm impressed!

Rambow said:

That's a... great image, congratulations.

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Thanks. One of the big advantages to me of B&W today in the digital world is being able to emphasize how bright or subdued you can make a color's grey tone. That could be done in the old film days using filters, but one still had limited control compared with what can be done with today's photo editors.

For example, in autumn the trees can easily be made to look like the shot was taken with infrared by brightening the grey tones of the leave's reds and yellows and darkening the grey tone of the blue sky...







--
Regards, Gordon
_
Photography since 1950 • Digital since 1999
My online photo galleries

I shoot both black and white and color. I especially like black and white for people pictures, because it can sometimes eliminate distractions and draw the eye to faces and expressions.

I also think that there can be a kind of "mystery" to black and white. You look at the picture and have to use your imagination. It's hard to explain, but it's part of what pulls me towards black and white.

I go through periods when I shoot black and white 'by default,' on both film and digital. I'll get bored with my hobby and switch it up. I like black and white film, especially, since you can't switch to color afterward and have to think in terms of black and white from the beginning. (I don't have a monochrome camera—maybe someday!)

Here's a picture I took of my son in the backyard this summer. I think it's better in black and white than it would've been in color.

View attachment 7c6c81c21f76410eb9c34c8361651e73.jpg

B&W is essentially another form of colour palette. The nice thing about modern photography is that you can defer final image representation to a point in time when you can think clearly.

I offer, without comment, an article from "The Times" a few years ago

Why do I shoot back and white? Because I came up on it, since I couldn't afford color film, and I still think that way. Because I do black and white and greyscale graphics most of the time in my "other art" and have always considered color a special effect there. Because I often shoot outdoors in all kinds of light, and there are plenty of kinds of light that make colors look silly or clumsy to me. Because black and white pushes texture to the forefront. Because black and white composition is super fun for me.

I love color and shoot a lot of it. But I always circle back to black and white. I even shoot sepia a fair amount, which can alternately be loving, tasteless in a fun way, or utterly disruptive.

I find black and white to be more challenging, because I don't have the fallback of color.

When black and white works though, it really works. Being old, I did do darkroom work with black and white film. We still like black and white movies. I have one color image I took in San Francisco about ten years ago on a rainy night. It is a photograph of John's Grille, which was Sam Spade's watering hole in 'The Maltese Falcon'. To film noir fans, this one is a classic. It is a nice photograph in color, but in black and white it takes me back to Sam Spade and "...the stuff that dreams are made of". It was digital photography that got me this one.

My high regard for black and white is just my opinion. We have had similar such threads in the past where some individuals have posted extremely intense dislike of black and white, so clearly black and white is not universally popular.

There are times when the composition is there when I am there (a key element) but the color is not. I've taken the photograph anyway since I would not get another chance, and then found that processing in black and white gave me the image I wanted.

There are also times when a photograph works in color or black and white. The attached photo works in color or black and white. But I prefer it in black and white.

Since the print I make is my photographic objective, we have somewhere around 120 prints on the walls in our home. Of those only around a dozen are black and white. I would like more, but this is all (thus far) that qualify.

Black and white is superior for emphasizing shapes/geometry and textures. Or when colors would interfere, detract, or overwhelm the subject.

And many artists prefer it for portraying certain moods and atmosphere, or when it suits the subject matter. Not just photographers but film directors as well. Jim Jarmusche is particularly adept at black and white, and he's far from the only one.

Bobthearch said:

Black and white is superior for emphasizing shapes/geometry and textures.

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I very much doubt that. Can you produce any evidence to support your assertion?

I’m sure I could google, but don’t care enough. Curious that people will pay thousands for a Leica that only does black and white when all anyone has to do is click a button for black and white. I’m guessing there’s something magical about completely removing the rgb pixels, but I don’t get it.

I did like dead trees in the desert southwest in a sepia tone.


I don’t think color strikes the right mood here.

JustUs7 said:

I’m sure I could google, but don’t care enough. Curious that people will pay thousands for a Leica that only does black and white when all anyone has to do is click a button for black and white. I’m guessing there’s something magical about completely removing the rgb pixels, but I don’t get it.

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I think there is a substantial technical benefit in having monochrome pixels: substantially greater resolution and substantially better low-light performance.

Of course, whether that is worth the extra money is another matter. I'm quite happy converting to b&w in pp.

Tom Axford said:

Bobthearch said:

Black and white is superior for emphasizing shapes/geometry and textures.

Click to expand...

I very much doubt that. Can you produce any evidence to support your assertion?

Click to expand...

It is sometimes true depending upon what you intend to emphasize. Fo example, two different emphasis of the same image:













--
Charles Darwin: "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."
tony

tony field said:

Tom Axford said:

Bobthearch said:

Black and white is superior for emphasizing shapes/geometry and textures.

Click to expand...

I very much doubt that. Can you produce any evidence to support your assertion?

Click to expand...

It is sometimes true depending upon what you intend to emphasize. Fo example, two different emphasis of the same image:

Click to expand...

Nice images. Although I do agree with you, I think the vignetting on the B/W image is a bit too strong, whereas there seems to be no vignetting at all in the colour image (?).

Rambow said:

I have loads of black and white family pictures.

That's because in the old days color film was either too expensive or simply not available.

Technical reasons are also why photography started out in black and white only.

Many of the images we consider iconic today were taken in B&W.

Also B&W photography has a certain look about it, that's for sure.

But today color is free and it's not a limiting factor anymore, you can even tweak colors to suit one's taste.

So why do some people still shoot in Black and White? Is it about art or tradition? Is it about being different? Or does it have something to do with focusing on shapes and light rather than color, which is perceived as a distraction from the true meaning of a given image?

Please explain.

Click to expand...

It's about art. B&W is an artistic expression.

You mean lightness, not light. Light is color.

True meaning? No such thing.

tony field said:

Tom Axford said:

Bobthearch said:

Black and white is superior for emphasizing shapes/geometry and textures.

Click to expand...

I very much doubt that. Can you produce any evidence to support your assertion?

Click to expand...

It is sometimes true depending upon what you intend to emphasize. Fo example, two different emphasis of the same image:





--
Charles Darwin: "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."
tony

Click to expand...

For me, the B&W version of this is a much stronger image.