B&W or Colour?
Tim Wilcox
@timsk3d
B&W or Colour?
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Hi Frameliners, As a newbie, one of the (many!) issues I wrestle with is deciding whether to shoot in mono or colour. I guess most of you shoot RAW and so the question doesn't arise. However, shooting jpegs on my little Fujifilm X30 - I have to decide in advance. My wife is crystal clear on the topic: always shoot colour! But I'm far from convinced, although I am of the view that a poor to mediocre picture will look less poor to mediocre in mono than it will in colour. So, how does one decide - how do YOU decide? My thinking is/was: let the scene dictate which way to roll. If it's a dull grey day with little to no colour in the frame - shoot mono. If one's at Notting Hill carnival on a sunny day - colour is a no-brainer. Or is it?! Anyway, attached are six images from my recent trip to Thessaloniki in Greece that are in colour but, looking at them now, I think may have worked better in B&W. Let me know your thoughts!
. . . PS. I know I bu88ered up the focus on the barber shop pic' - but I included it anyway as, hopefully, you can see what I was trying to do. Had I nailed focus, I would have been happy with this. That said, would I have been even happier if it was in focus AND in B&W? :-)
You can always make a color photo monochrome, but it’s not so easy to add color back to a monochrome photo. That’s my two pence :) As far as how and when to do what I’ll let others weigh in. I love that first image!
Hi Tim.
I choose colour or B&W based on what I am trying to achieve, for example, my first submission for this months assignment *41 Familiar was someones bright red front door with leaflets sticking out of the letterbox that had a sign saying NO JUNK MAIL which I posted in colour. It was vibrant and the image was enhanced by being in colour.
However, I replaced it with an image of an American Peterbilt truck with Stars and Stripes livery that was part of a circus on my local common with the big top in the background also in red, white and blue, plus a moody sky. I posted it in B&W. I did so because the colours were a distraction to the overall ambience. I liked the scene with the shapes of the big top tent, and the truck with its chrome, cropped tight against the moody sky.
Have a good start to your week.