Why Black & White

[JBrunner]

Color helps give the brain cues to make stuff up, to fill in what it knows before a person really sees. B&W doesn't have so many of these cues, and so people tend to really see what is there, rather than what their brain tells them they should see, so in many cases it has a clearer voice, particularly with someone who hasn't yet learned how to see. (relearned really, we all could see when we were very young.)

 

[Q.G.]

Or conversely, without colour filling in much of the picture, B&W allows the viewer to discover the image, make up what there isn't, engaging him more.

 

[MattKing]

I don't know how much B&W I would shoot if I had my own colour lab (film development and colour prints), but I would still shoot some.

As I don't have my own colour lab, I currently shoot lots more B&W than colour.

The opportunity to do my own printing is critical. As my available space is so limited, I would probably have to sacrifice one (B&W) for the other (colour) if I were to print in colour.

I used to work at labs, so I used to print colour, and I miss it.

I see subjects regularly that I think will work best in colour. Same goes for B&W.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I shoot both black & white and color. While I do have color processing equipment, I do not have enough custom color printing to do to make it economically viable. So I do my own black & white darkroom work.

Black & white is harder to get a good final print because one needs to be able to compose in black & white well. The ability to do that improves the color work and allows me to work on the "art" part of photography.

Steve

 

[2F/2F]

It looks good...

...and all of the coolest color films and papers are going away.

I definitely used to shoot a lot more color when there was more variety, and when I could easily print things myself.

Black and white is instantly recognized as abstract by our brain/eyes. Almost nothing we see in reality looks like it. I believe we automatically question things more and think about them more when we see a black and white picture. I believe that we try to "figure it out," naturally.

Thus, I prefer color for straight documentary/journalism because it is more representational of what actually happened. Other documentary photographers, who want to solicit a particular reaction from their viewers, as opposed to simply imparting information to them, tend to prefer black and white for exactly the opposite reason: it is automatically more representational of something physically intangible; a mood, an emotion, etc.

I prefer color for many things, because it is so much more subtle, and it is easier to be subversive when someone takes something more literally and doesn't think about it too much.

In other words, I believe that we unconsciously see a black and white picture as a picture of a thing, while we naturally accept a color picture more as the thing itself.

When in doubt about what I want when shooting, I usually shoot color, unless I am simply after the ease of processing and printing one gets with black and white. I can always - and relatively easily - make a black and white print from color film (using analog or digital methods), but I cannot do the opposite.

...but as I said, printing color may not be an option for much longer.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

I like color but I love B&W. It's magic to me.

Jeff

 

[Christopher Walrath]

I prefer it. It has been my medium for over four years exclusively. A few months back I viewed AA's Color Photography book. And I did not like it. Most of the images therein were very, extremely similar to other black and white work and, as they were in color, they appeared very flat and lackluster in comparison. He was a great photographer, but in black and white he was complete. Upon realizing this I, for the first time, recognized my own bias for black and white photography.

I don't know how or when, but I much prefer black and white (properly executed) to color.

 

[removed account4]

cause i like to ?

i find it just as easy to do with color as i do
with black and white, but because i have been
doing it with b/w for longer it is easier.

besides i am too broke to send film to the lab...

 

[ic-racer]

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on why they practice photography in black & white.

What is the attraction or impetus to photograph in black & white?

Its not that much of a choice, the black comes from elemental silver and I can't change that. I guess there is some choice of paper color, but white seems to work best for me.

 

[mooseontheloose]

I used to shoot 100% in colour, but started dabbling in black and white a few years ago. After taking a darkroom course I was hooked, and now 90% of my shooting is in black and white. One thing that black and white developing and printing did was open my eyes to what was good with my photos, and what was not. It really forced me to become a better photographer, since I hated dealing with problem negs in the darkroom. I see things more photographically now, think much more in terms of light, and as a result I think I have more keepers overall. Also, it's easier for me to develop, print, and process black and white at home, as opposed to colour.

That being said, I do miss shooting in colour sometimes, but it's a different mindset I think. The colour photography I like best is where colour is the subject. Unfortunately I live in a pretty monochromatic country, so it doesn't really inspire me to pull out my expensive slide film, except for festivals and fireworks.

 

[ciocc]

Because it's easier for me to make the prints as the process is more forgiving, both in making negatives and prints. I also have a great deal more flexibility in how the print is rendered. For the most part with color I'm limited to a realistic looking print. I have no such limitation with B&W. I've made one really good color print. Every so often I look at that print, and when I do, I say to myself: color is awesome!

 

[hugopoon]

Short answer: If it isn't adding to the photo, it's taking from it.

Long answer: I don't need this thing called “colour” in most of my photos there's more with less…makes me concentrate more on capturing the moment, the emotion and the shapes more than the colour.
I made a photo last month on a grassy field which could've been done on colour, but then I'd've been distracted by the green of the grass and would've made the photo straight away. But shooting monochrome, I knew I wasn't going to get anything good out of that, so I focused and waited for the kid who'd been walking around picking grass to come back.
2 mins later, she did. Then I made the photo.

 

[Ektagraphic]

I find that black and white gets the point across in a totally unique deep emotional way...I just love it!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Walker Evans said "color photography is vulgar," but he never said there was anything wrong with vulgarity.

Even when I shoot color I kind of favor monochromatic scenes, and when I diverge from that, I usually have to be pretty conscious of what I'm doing, so black and white feels more natural to me.

 

[sanking]

Black and White photography abstracts reality and for that reason most people are better able to accept it as art. Color, on the other hand, retains a realism that we continue to associate with the object itself. Color photography can certain rise to the level of art but has a more obstacles to overcome to get there.

Sandy King

 

[mick8585]

I find it easier to express myself in the forms and textures of b/w. Someone once said b/w is the 'domain' of photography. Whatever.

My world I can create remains devoid of colour but limitless in tone. This satisfies me.

 

[leicavit]

I see better in B+W, weird as that sounds. Also, color introduces elements into the photo that distract from the subject, or have to be "managed/filtered" to work w/ the subject. I have so much more control w/ B+W. Also, I like the craft of negs and prints. For me, there is no craft in digital. I tried it, didn't like it.
Love the darkroom,(even tho' it's very time consuming).

 

[keithwms]

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on why they practice photography in black & white.

What is the attraction or impetus to photograph in black & white?

I wrote an APUG blog on this some time ago; here's the link, should it interest you....

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Curt]

Cole Weston said "We see in color don't we" the World is in color. For me it's an abstraction of an abstraction. A photograph is an abstraction and to make one in Black and White is a further abstraction. Another thought is photography in the beginning was black and white, monochrome, not color, that came later as variations of the process developed. For me personally I was exposed to great photography and great photographers by looking at the great magazines back in the 1950s at my grandparents home. Life, Look and others had the spreads by some of the Worlds greatest photographers and they were in Black and White. Maybe that was the spark that ignited the appreciation of Black and White.

 

[Existing Light]

I dont think B&W is better than color or color is better than B&W.

I do B&W because it's easier to process B&W negatives (IMO) and print. I did have to take a color darkroom class when geting my associate's degree, and I liked the color process, especially slides. Color slides, in a long, drawn-out, convoluted way, got me interested in making black and white slides. So far, I think my black and white slides are as nice or nicer than the Kodachrome slides I had to shoot for my color class (*prepares for bashing by kodachrome lovers*).

I like the black and white process better, for the most part. I dont have to be perfect in my processing, and I like having the freedom of playing around with developers and dilutions and agitation.

 

[phaedrus]

I find my thoughts on black & white reflected in most comments here. And I'd like to add that the best black & white actually isn't. Toning is essential.

 

[Saganich]

Black and White is our internalized representation of what we are only marginally conscious. Color only exists outside.

 

[Worker 11811]

Why black and white?

Ask Calvin's dad...

Dead Link Removed

 

[Tony Egan]

Below is a photograph by a famous Australian photographer that I was initially only aware of for years as a black and white image, having seen it in exhibitions and reproduced in many books. I recall when I first saw the original colour image it was quite a shock. It felt like a cheap and badly colourised version of a favourite black and white movie.

David Moore - Migrants arriving in Sydney, 1966

 

[darkroomphotography]

I don't think the b&w photography is more important than color photo.
Perhaps a little more difficult due to the plainness of the picture, but even more challenging.
From size and sketching dominates color, plain and unadorned, having as it's only tool the shades of gray and it's gradation from sheer white to deep black.
All these, simply render b&w photo different, neither better, nor superior.
It's just a matter of what suits pur personality and
by what means we can best express it.