Colour vs Black and White

Colour Vs Black and White

Joel Meyerowitz spent a small part of his career trying to decide wether to shoot in colour or black and white. For two years, everywhere he went he carried two cameras with him, one was loaded with a roll of colour film and the other was loaded with a roll of black and white film. Every photograph he took, he would then repeat with his other camera. One day as he was observing some of the images he had taken during this period he realised, all black and white is, is the reduction of colour. Colour is information and so when a person shoots in black and white they are removing information from an image and with a loss of information comes with it a loss of context along with several other things. 

Yet many things can also be gained from shooting in black and white, one of them is the accentuation of form. Wether it’s the accentuation of form of the expressions on a persons face, or the accentuation of from on the bark of a beautiful tree or a magnificent building I believe that it can yield wonderful results. I believe also, that in particularly colour busy images, by converting to black and white you can sooth, calm and potentially salvage a photograph. Sometimes colour can distract from a subject rather then lend to it.

Below are a few images I chose to convert to black and white and why: 

To be honest, when i first saw this photograph it felt a little trashy, with the style of top and the red lipstick with a black background I felt as if it were trying to hard. However, the hat she was wearing seemed to carry the feeling of something from the 1920’s or 1930’s. To add some implied context to the image and restore a little simplicity and hopefully class I converted the photograph to black and white. Although a little cliche it seemed to provide the image with a nice harmony of both new and old.

Although these flowers offer some beautiful colours, I felt that to an extent, the existence of colour in the photograph comes at the expense of the form, texture and shape of these plants, which often go unappreciated. 

To view them through a photograph provides a unique opportunity to view them in black and white and get a feel for their texture etc. Hence the reason I converted the image.

However, although black and white can offer some incredible benefits, colour definitely has it’s place in photography.  The photograph below I found on the internet, it was taken to display the high levels of pollution in China that have resulted from it’s industrial revolution.  

It’s clear to see that the intended context of this image is completely lost by the removal of colour and is therefore obvious that this isn't an image that would benefit from a conversion to black and white. 

Below is another of my own images, I have titled this image serenity. A title that the colour blue lends to heavily. Blue is as you can see below, the colour of the sky and sea and is associated with calmness, coolness, relaxation, wisdom, serenity and for some it can translate even as the colour of heaven. The gradation of blues in this monochrome colour scheme lends beautifully to the overall harmony of the image and again, I believe that his image would not benefit from a conversion to black and white.        

So there you have it, my two cents on the endless debate of colour vs black and white. I think it’s clear that both have their time and both can produce wonderful results, I guess it’s up to the photographer and what he or she is trying to translate through their images. 

Below I have provided the search link of my favourite black and white photographer:

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB576GB576&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=hengki%20koentjoro

Along with a very famous photographer who throughout his career experimented with and championed the use of colour:

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB576GB576&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=william%20eggleston

And finally a link to my own website: 

www.josephrigbyphotography.co.uk :)

Thanks for reading ! :)