Black and white for newborns

<p>I read in a Sony ad yesterday that black and white often works for newborns.<br>

I have never tried this and wondered if anyone has any strong views, for or against?</p>

<p>I did B&W years ago both for my daughter and my granddaughter. It just depends on if you like B&W rendition or color, not different than anything else. These days with the versatility of digital you can shoot in RAW, then convert to B&W if you like very easily.</p>

<p>One nice thing is you can filter to even out the blotchy skin tones. Might make for a more pleasing, even if not as realistic, picture.</p>

<p>Newborns are often difficult to make look--by conventional portrait measures--good. I can definitely see, at least in certain circumstances, the potential for a carefully-considered conversion to B&W helping produce a good portrait-type shot of a newborn. Personally, I've gone a slightly different route with my pictures of my kids as newborns--and with each of the four I became more photographically sophisticated--most recently using a combination of soft light, manipulation of contrast with the curves tool, <em>slight</em> desaturation, and some spot retouching (cloning / healing, especially where she'd scratched herself). But conversion to B&W could be another good way to go.</p>

<p>We did all B&W for our daughter since she bruised during delivery. I was grateful to have lovely photos without the distraction of her skin color :)<br>

I also think B&W is so timeless and beautiful.</p>

<p>It's purely a matter of personal taste. I shoot very little B&W and none of my children or grandchildren. I've seen B&W photos of newborns, and they're just not for me.</p>