mixing black&white vs. color

<p>I'm currently editing a wedding that have some images that really work as b&w and some that really work as color. What is standard in delivery for the whole shabang? All one or the other...or a mixture? Do you offer all in color AND all in b&w?</p>

 

It's kind of late and I have another job tomorrow morning, so I'll keep this short. When I'm shooting something I'm always thinking in terms of B&W or color before I actually take the shot. This usually takes some time to develop this type of technique. It also helps if you prefer B&W over color images.

 

As for standard in delivery, I don't have one, nor are there any set rules as far as I know. I've seen several wedding websites focused only on B&W. None, or very few color images are in the site. Of course other sites are color only. It comes down to the personality of the photographer.

 

I'm not sure if this answers your questions, so perhaps post more details of what you are looking for.

<p>When I shoot a wedding, I have ideas that some of the images might work in b&w and others might work in color, but I don't decide until the editing stage.</p>

<p>When I choose my final selection I just look through the images and just get a feeling which ones would look good in b&w and which in colour. I would say that the couples final gallery is about 70-80 % colour, the rest b&w. Everyone has been happy with this so far.</p>

<p>Several studios/online galleries allow consumers to pick color, B&W, sepia when they order a print. I put almost all of my images in color and select just a handful for artistic actions or conversion to B&W. My clients understand that anything that they see can be converted if they wish and they can request conversion or even spot coloring (AKA selective coloring). Personally, I don't like the online option of B&W, since it's generally a quickie conversion to gray scale. I prefer to convert using the channel mixer method once they've requested a conversion on a specific print.</p>

<p>I think you'll still come across a client or two that want everything in B&W and you might even encounter the rare bird that wants everything captured in B&W using film and not converted from digital. There might be a niche market for such coverage but I'm personally not aware of any successful studios doing so here in the Midwest.</p>

<p>There's no right or wrong. Do what works for you.</p>

<p>My preference is to commit to b+w / color in advance of the shot and then not to change my mind later. Some photos I visualised in b+w before I took them and they stay that way. Some work better in colour and I don't offer an alternative. And frequently I shoot film, hence the output is fixed from the start.</p>

<p>You asked about delivery. As a rule, I provide a color version of every shot I show the client. If a shot is particularly amenable to black and white treatment, I will provide a black and white treatment in addition to the color; and often I will comment briefly on this fact in the description field for the photo (if only briefly, as in pointing out the obvious with the words "black and white treatment").</p>

<p>I always show both because (a) it helps clients to be able to compare the black and white with the color and see for themselves why the black and white treatment is superior; and (b) because some clients simply DO NOT see the superiority of the black and white treatment and insist on buying color. Some people just don't like black and white. Don't like black and white movies, don't like black and white photos. Sad, but true.</p>

<p>I also make it clear in my gallery instructions that ANY photo can be converted to black and white—although in some cases I may urge a client not to convert, as some photos really work much better in color.</p>

<p>As for shooting, I'm like Anna Bravington: I often see the black and white candidates while I'm shooting, but the real decision isn't made until I am on the computer. My camera can convert to black and white as I shoot, so I can see black and white on instant review. I've heard some photographers say they find this really helpful. I have played with this feature but don't use it routinely. Unless I'm deliberately practicing seeing in black and white, I just don't see the point of committing to it while I'm shooting.</p>

 

<p>Hey Sarah, I edit every picture exactly the way I want my client to see it before I 'send it out the door'. I make sure that each picture is perfect. As I'm editing I know which ones would look great in black and white (because I too look for B&W opportunities while I'm shooting) and which I will leave in color. Very rarely does anyone ask me to change anything. I do not offer several different color variations of any picture. If they do happen to ask I will convert a picture one way or the other. I want my clients to be happy!<br>

Go with your heart - do what you feel is best and own it. </p>

<p>The ones that I want in B/W are always accompanied by there color counter parts. Some people just do not like b/w, so matter how great I think it will look, they may love the shot but prefer it in color. In LR (where I do all my proofing post production), I simply make a virtual copy. This way the images are numbered "name- 1-2" and "name- 1". They know it is the same image, just one in color and one in bw. I always explain this numbering system, just to be sure, but I've gotten feedback that it is simple and that they like having both versions to compare.</p>

<p>We do the same as Jen. Mostly because the clients we have really like to have a choice. Even if I do any kind of creative editing...faded color, sepia etc, I always leave the orginal in tacted. </p>

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<p>Awesome. Great feedback. I am shooting digital and I pondering this question specifically for the online gallery. I'm not soo keen on offering the images in multiple platforms merely because I want to optimize each to it's best potential in my editing and toning process. <br>

Just wasn't sure if it was tacky or weird to have a combination all in the same package. Perhaps I will have groupings so they aren't so -one this one, one that one.<br>

I like the idea of sticking to one from the get go and may incorporate that into my system moving forward.</p>

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<p>I'm not soo keen on offering the images in multiple platforms merely because I want to optimize each to it's best potential in my editing and toning process.</p>

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<p>That's great and all, but what if you are losing a reprint sale because a client didn't like your "toning process" but thought they would love the shot, if only it had been "normal." I wouldn't want to lose a sale because I toned an image or made it black and white, or whatever, and the client ending up wanting the opposite of what I thought best. </p>

<p>I shoot a lot of close-up, low-key portraits that are stunning in black and white... they are equally as stunning in color ;-) Why not leave the important aesthetic choice to the client? A color version may speak to the person's sense of color relationships and associations that you might not have. The black and white version may illicit no more emotion to them than a pile of rocks...Why gamble? Rather, why limit the client and force them into your "optimized" choice? </p>

<p>Personally, if I was offered 25% of my wedding images only as toned or bw images, I would have been pretty ticked. By presenting 2 version, 10 additional reprints were made... had my wedding been done by our studio at anything other than cost, that would add up to a great deal of profit that you are losing because you aren't offering a choice. </p>

<p>I guess I don't understand why you would automatically take away a choice that is purely personal and could result in additional sales. I would rethink your assertiveness when it comes to limiting client choices. </p>

<p>We offer all images in color, and then an artist's selection in b/w. And we only choose the most compelling images to receive the b/w treatment because our b/w is not grayscale, it's actually a warm-tinted b/w customized to each image and takes a lot of time, effort, and artistic expertise on our end to make these conversions. By offering only a limited selection in b/w, the perception of these images is that they are more artistic and have a higher prestige than their color counterparts. Of course, the client can order anything in grayscale through the lab, but they rarely, if ever, do. After they see our custom b/w, they usually find the grayscale conversions cheesy and inadequate.</p>

<p>Things were different 3 or 4 years ago, when shooting in JPG with lower ISO capabilities inevitably resulted in some shots that were keeper moments but just looked horrid in color because the white balance too far off or the light was bad resulting in too much grain or noise. Today, with all of Canon's advancements with light sensitivity and higher ISOs, and because we shoot everything in RAW, it is almost always possible to offer a good color version of each image. Which is a good thing, because every once in a while there's the client who just doesn't get b/w, despite how awesome and superior they may look to us.</p>

<p>We still may experience strange lighting conditions (like a room with bad flourescent lights, lavendar ceilings, and a green carpet) or some exaggerated motion blur that just isn't fixable in color (that or a second shooter who forgets to switch to RAW and is overexposing everything for the first half of the day). And in these cases, we simply let the client know that a particular image is only available in b/w because the color version just did not meet our standards.</p>

<p>I process 95% of my Wedding images in color and select about 5% (or less) for conversion to B&W. I always inform the bride and groom that any color image can easily be converted to B&W at their choosing but generally they are pleased with my choices. I recently shot a Wedding in which the B&G wanted all images in color & all images in B&W, which of coarse is no problem what-so-ever.</p>

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<p>I guess I don't understand why you would automatically take away a choice that is purely personal and could result in additional sales. I would rethink your assertiveness when it comes to limiting client choices.</p>

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<p>Jen, I understand your point of view but I think there is an opposite angle too, one that's worth mentioning for balance.</p>

<p>You talk about maximimsing the chance of selling a reprint. Fair enough, but for how much? $10, $20, $30, $50 maybe? I suspect it's difficult to sell prints for much more because they don't have any added value if they're not special or unusual. And they're never going to be very special if the photographer has done nothing more than add an action in LR. And if you don't know who you're selling them to (because you don't know whether they'll prefer b+w or color) then those prints are even less targeted and less specialised.</p>

<p>This is the problem I see with offering wide choices. Unless you're a studio with multiple photographers with radically different styles, the process of offering wide choices means the single photographer has to commit less to their vision, and allow much more for the lowest denominator of a wide and generalised set of possible client choices. In other words, the work becomes commoditised by intent.</p>

<p>To be honest, that type of commoditised market isn't one that interests me. I'd much prefer to be a specialist than a generalist, and I'm often looking for ways I can offer fewer products that are more closely tailored to a specific client.</p>

<p>So I don't sell prints that way but I do offer fibre prints, for example - conceived from the beginning as black and white images, shot on medium format, on film, developed by hand, printed by hand, toned by hand and finished as fine-art pieces. And I don't sell them for tens of dollars, but for several hundred per print.</p>

<p>And this specialisation increasingly feeds into my business model. I've been hired for several film-only weddings largely on the strength of my b+w work because clients think it looks different. And some of it is different because I shot it as b+w from the beginning, on film.</p>

<p>I went to a wedding fayre recently where 95% of the photography looked exactly the same. People had identikit albums, all using the same suppliers, pretty much with the same type of images (often the same poses), probably made with the same actions from the same action kits. It was really disappointing. There was so little sense of personal vision. Prospects were not left with much to choose from beyond price or vendor personality. One of the reasons, perhaps, for the increasing trend of people shopping by price and not seeming to care about the work.</p>

<p>Luckily that's not a problem I'm facing. Because I prefer to fit the client to my work, not my work to the client. Hence 'taking away a choice', and offering work that is deeply personal, can actually mean more sales, not fewer.</p>

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