Black and White vs Colour

As a photographer I constantly jump between my love for black and white images or a preference of colour. Like most things in life of course it’s very much down to personal taste. I often have clients who ask for every image in black and white. And as standard I will offer conversions to all the images in a client’s gallery so as to give my clients the choice. That’s not to say that every image is suited to black and white mind you, but the choice is yours.

 

So what is a black and white image?

 

Quite simply, it’s one that has all the colours removed.

And of course there are variations that people associate with black and white, such as sepia, which is more reddish brown tones and technically classed as monochrome instead of black & white.

 

Then there is selective colour; where the artist or photographer selects just one focal point of the image to remain in colour while the rest of the image is grayscale. This was hugely popular a few years ago. Cute enough I suppose, but for me it takes the focus away from the subject.

 

 

Technically speaking a black and white image should contain a variety of greys ranging from true black to true white. This is why for me, some images just do not work for black and white where as others seem to be made for it, even though they may not have been specifically designed with that intention.

Take this image which contains a large amount of midtones for example. The skin tones are similar to the fabric which leads to being a little “washed out” when the colours are desaturated. For me the colour version pops, where as the black and white is just a bit blah. It’ just a bit too monotone.

 

 

With newborns I tend to want images to have a nice soft feeling, so I tend to opt for a low key style.

I love that black and white and completely change the feeling of an image. It can feel more intimate and emotive – the reason I love using it for parent and family images. It can also have more of a timeless feel to it, so these images tend to look fabulous on the wall.

 

It’s all in the planning

 

In most sessions I will plan specifically for black and white. Using either a true black background, or one that is dark so that I can easily create that true black as a starting point for when I convert. A newborn in it’s parents hands is one of my most requested images. It’s no surprise really, it’s a truly beautiful image with focus all about baby, and how small he or she once was.

 

 

Of course it’s very subjective and there are a million ways to convert an image to black and white. If you were to give 50 photographers the same image they would likely all come up with a different style of conversion.

 

I really admire the black and white work of Trudi Collins of Trudy Collins Photography in Rayleigh. Please do check out her page to view her beautiful work.

 

So what’s your preference? I’d love to hear your comments below.

 

And if you’d like me to create some beautiful black and white images for you, please contact me to book your session and let me know so I can plan the perfect image.