Black and white photography vs. Color?

Recently I've gotten into street photography. Whenever I flip through portfolios or google street photography for inspiration, I see that many pictures of people are in black and white, but there are some that are in color. When should you use black and white? I am editing some photos and I just cannot decide which is better.

 

I'm not sure if I should post an example picture, so if you need a reference so you can help me with a complete answer please let me know and I'll leave one in the comments!

That's a tough question to answer, as color vs black & white is a very personal choice. I often prefer b&w when it comes to different subject matters......street photography, portraiture, landscapes, still life, etc., etc. Color can often be distracting when trying to convey a message with your image. Try looking at your images both ways and see what moves you most. You might find that others will see or feel what you do as well, with a simple conversion to b&w. Some may accuse you of being old-fashion, but you're not. You're being artistic!

Check out THIS ARTICLE, which has several examples of well-known photographers who’ve done street work in color.

 

Does something in each of their work strike you as a reason they used color? Would something be lost in a black and white version? Notice warm and cold colors and how that makes you feel and how it influences the content. Do colors add a boldness in some cases, a sense of mutedness or softness in others? In which photos does color seem essential and in which does it just add to the overall expression? How does color help create mood and atmosphere? How is it used to move or direct your eyes? How does color help isolate, or join, objects? Doesn’t color sometimes seem to define a scene?

Check out THIS ARTICLE, which has several examples of well-known photographers who’ve done street work in color.

 

I don't mind color for street photography, but the guy writing the article comes across as a real idiot who's stuck on his hatred of B&W photography.

I don't mind color for street photography, but the guy writing the article comes across as a real idiot who's stuck on his hatred of B&W photography.

I posted it because I thought these were good examples of color use in street photography, not for the writing. I supplemented it with questions I thought the OP might consider in choosing color.

I posted it because I thought these were good examples of color use in street photography, not for the writing. I supplemented it with questions I thought the OP might consider in choosing color.

I looked at the color examples shown, and didn't have any problems with them. That's good, isn't it? LOL.

Dark adapted vision doesn't see color, but most night street photography isn't that dark.

Even so, it seems to me that color is less visible in night street photography.

 

Also, the lack of red in mercury lamps, not quite as common as they used to be, makes nights

less colorful. San Jose, CA, uses low-pressure mercury street lamps, which are pretty much

monochromatic yellow, with two very narrow and close together spectral lines.

(589.0nm and 589.6nm. Hydrogen-Like Atoms:Sodium )

So, everything is light or dark yellow.

 

So, maybe it is that black and white is closer to the way we see night streets.

 

Daytime street photography should be colorful, though.

When should you use black and white?

• When there is a reason to do so, like:
  

1. (Mass) printing issues.
   
2. personal wet darkroom preference.
   
3. WB mess
   
4. disagreeing with your subjects color (choice)s
   
5. Winogrand quote: "I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed. "
   

• When it is, what your camera will deliver. (Monochrom or Tri X, HP5 etc. loaded)
  

I can't come up with a rule demanding B&W on color screens captured with color capable devices beyond: If you think it looks good, that 's probably right.

I have & had fun shooting native B&W, but I must confess: I very rarely ended converting color. Maybe shooting BW JEPEGs along with one's RAWs helps getting into that mood?

These days I only shoot B&W with my film cameras. but almost always color with my digitals, as it is easy to convert to B&W if I desire to do so.

There isn't a single answer, IMHO. Even though I came of age in a B&W wet darkroom, I don't convert from color to B&W all that often. When I do, it is usually for one of two reasons, which are really aspects of the same thing. when the interesting parts of the image are things other than color--lines, textures, patterns--B&W sometimes highlights them. Second, sometimes color is a distraction. I think the second occurs fairly often in street photography. For example, when you want the viewer to focus on a face, a brightly colored street sign is less of a distraction if you convert to B&W.

Good question, @viprit, my take on it is that the earliest well-known street photographers (born between 1910 and 1940) shot in B&W. Some current street photographers assume that 'street photography' means B&W, either as a tradition or as a homage to their predecessors. Often, amatuer photographers take a 'walking around' photo and assume that a B&W version looks more like 'street photography' than the origional color version. Other well-known street photographers (Bruce Gilden, Martin Parr) shoot in color.

 

Personally, I don't think that 'street photography' is much

different to other genres, except for the fact that it's more acceptable in B&W than other genres.

 

 

 

- tghehe first recognised

Recently I've gotten into street photography. Whenever I flip through portfolios or google street photography for inspiration, I see that many pictures of people are in black and white, but there are some that are in color. When should you use black and white? I am editing some photos and I just cannot decide which is better.

 

I'm not sure if I should post an example picture, so if you need a reference so you can help me with a complete answer please let me know and I'll leave one in the comments!

I still have some Panalure if I want to make black and white prints from color negatives.

color vs black & white is a very personal choice

 

For sure. In film you could print B&W from color negatives, but it wasn't very satisfactory, IMHO. Nowadays with digital I just shoot RAW and make decisions about monochrome or color depending on what I'm doing and how I feel at the moment.

 

Now that I have scanned in my former slides, I can torture the image as I please.

IHMO, there are no 'rules' for choosing B&W or color. As previous posts have said, both B&W and color photos are legit for street photography. Well known street photographers - past and present - have used B&W and/or color. IMHO, it often helps when setting up a photo to have a 'feel' for whether the photo is (probably) going to look better in B&W or in color. This 'feel' can change when viewing or in PP.

 

IMHO, street photography is not much different to other genres. For some photos, color can add a lot of value. For example where color range or contrasts contribute to the photo. In other photos the color perhaps distracts.

As an old motorcycle commercial once touted, "Different Strokes for Different Folks". I am primarily a B/W guy, but my digi camera allows me to select a b/w mode while on the fly. No regrets when this is done, as the monochrome is just as good as with the "real film" camera. Here the color is represented in monochrome with a red filter added. Subject matter might change, but the effects would be similar. Aloha, Bill

As an old motorcycle commercial once touted, "Different Strokes for Different Folks". I am primarily a B/W guy, but my digi camera allows me to select a b/w mode while on the fly. No regrets when this is done, as the monochrome is just as good as with the "real film" camera. Here the color is represented in monochrome with a red filter added. Subject matter might change, but the effects would be similar. [ATTACH=full]1287450[/ATTACH] Aloha, Bill

 

My eyes like the B&W conversion here better Bill. Good catch.

Something I notice about Bill’s black and white version (nice conversion and toning, by the way), is how much bigger, clearer, and seemingly more forward the wall art is. It’s due in great part to the way the blue of the sky relates to the blue in the wall in the color version, creating less sense of separation.

Check out THIS ARTICLE, which has several examples of well-known photographers who’ve done street work in color.

 

Does something in each of their work strike you as a reason they used color? Would something be lost in a black and white version? Notice warm and cold colors and how that makes you feel and how it influences the content. Do colors add a boldness in some cases, a sense of mutedness or softness in others? In which photos does color seem essential and in which does it just add to the overall expression? How does color help create mood and atmosphere? How is it used to move or direct your eyes? How does color help isolate, or join, objects? Doesn’t color sometimes seem to define a scene?

 

It's sort like this for me. What black and white can do is encourage the viewer to really look at what's in the photo. I believe that our minds take a lot of shortcuts when it comes to interpreting the images we see. Colors speed that process. But when the colors aren't there we are forced to look harder to pick things out. We notice things that we might not otherwise. But there are plenty of instances where the colors are integral to what we're trying to capture.

 

Right now I pretty much only use film for B&W unless it's medium format or higher. There are exceptions. I have a bunch of 12 exposure rolls of expired film that I use to test cameras and I'll get some nice pictures that way but for color photography it's 90 percent digital for me.

I've always thought that B&W prints have more impact than color prints, mainly since we see in color, not B&W. As a result, B&W requires more attention to interpret since we're not "used to it". Just my opinion.

I've always thought that B&W prints have more impact than color prints, mainly since we see in color, not B&W. As a result, B&W requires more attention to interpret since we're not "used to it". Just my opinion.

Good point.

 

On the other hand or at least in addition, historically speaking we’re more used to black and white photos so a case could be made for color photos being more unusual and commanding attention because of that history. I guess this goes along with my seeing photos as much as an artifice as a representation of the world, both aspects being important. So, I tend to see photos as much in relation to other photos and forms of art as I do in relation to the world.

My choice for black and white is when color does not add anything to the photos impact. But as already mentioned, that is extremely subjective.

I consider myself a decent b&w photographer, not so much color. I only shoot digital now, and have never felt the need to make a monochrome print from a digital image. I mostly take snapshots with meaning to me, certainly not art. Or commercial images. If I ever pick one up again, I'll use a film camera entirely differently. Or maybe I just like the smell of fixer. A confused puppy fer sure. What I really wonder about is how my photographic upbringing and exposure to a lot of old (I call 'em classic) images affects how I react to a photo, compared to somebody younger, who's been exposed to an entirely different group of images of a different style, and who certainly has a different formal or informal photo education. A younger friend once looked at some of my b&w images, that were entirely current, and said they looked really old just because they were b&w.

(snip)

 

A younger friend once looked at some of my b&w images, that were entirely current, and said they looked really old just because they were b&w.

 

Since much of what one ordinarily sees now in black and white is old, I wonder if we are,

subconsciously learning to associate black and white with old.

 

Reminds me how many people don't like colorized movies.

 

Some old movies we expect to be in black and white.

 

I was not so long ago watching some of the old "Adventures of Superman"

series from the 1950's. Since we had a black and white TV when I

was watching them (as reruns in the 1960's), I thought that they were all in

black and white. It seems, though, that the later ones are in color!

 

So, even though I hadn't seen them for 50 years, it still seemed wrong to

see them in color.

 

On the other hand, since I do mostly black and white darkroom work,

(often trying out older cameras), I have many new black and white pictures.

Somehow that doesn't seem strange in the same way. I know they are new!

(Especially if the subject is new.)

 

As for colorized movies, the story was that you could turn down the chroma level

on an (analog, at the time) TV set and get back the right shading.

(That is, they add chrominance, but don't change the luminance.)

 

But that isn't so easy on today's HDTV sets. (Maybe it is in the menu somewhere.)

Many photos on Photo.net are not great and most of the photos I post are not great. Instead they are following a post’s theme. Perhaps it’s one of humor and I have a snapshot that fits the bill for that post. BUT, when you view a b&w image on photo.net, it usually has more artistry behind it. When I convert an image to b&w I feel like I’ve just stepped through a mirror, not to the past, but to a realm where an image becomes more than just a click.

IMO, the key in photography is contrast. Color contrast and luminance contrast are completely different things which is why many times a color photo looks completely different in black and white. Bill's photos in post #15 illustrate nicely (at least for me). In the color version my eyes are drawn initially to the red. In the B&W version, my attention is drawn initially to the faces.

 

In many cases color photos have color contrasts that pull eyes away from what is important. My most effective color photos are ones with few colors (although photos in which you're bombarded with colors can be striking as well!). B&W allows showing contrast that may be hidden by a multitude of colors in the real world.

 

Interestingly (to me) I shoot primarily with three cameras: a Leica M10, M246 Monochrom and a new-old Rolleiflex into which to-date I've only inserted B&W film. I believe that when I have a B&W camera, I take different shots than when I have my color camera.

 

-K