When I give my clients their images, they receive all photos in both colour and black & white (they also get them in both high and low resolution, but that isn’t really important for this post). I can often be heard saying that not every photo works in black & white, but this way my clients have the option and can choose for themselves which setting they prefer for each image.
Personally, I love black & white images. When I first learned how to shoot with an SLR, black & white film was all I used. It created so much drama and emotion in the photos that just wasn’t quite there in colour. Later, when I got my first decent digital point and shoot, I could be seen taken most of the images in the black & white or sepia mode (I didn’t have Photoshop at this point in my photography life so I had to do it straight from the get-go if I wanted non-colour images). Since these days, I have learned to love colour. And, more importantly, how to do colour images right to get that same emotion pouring out of them. That being said, there are still images that are just better suited for the non-colour world.
Recently I posted a bit about our trip through Bath in the UK. We took some really lovely night shots there that I absolutely loved on the back of my camera. When I ran them through Photoshop, I saw that the black & white were equally as good! I really thought that the stunning blue sky wouldn’t translate to black & white, but seriously, I really love these long exposure night shots in a classic black & white.
What do you think? Colour or Black & White, which is better for these shots? Which do you prefer overall?
