Ananasfreak

When color photography first became available to the masses it seemed like most amateur photographers - and more than a few professionals - couldn’t wait to consign their black and white films to the museum of photographic history. How times have changed. There is once again a certain cachet attached to black and white photography. It has become, once more, the fashionable option for many different types of photographic subjects. A very good reason for choosing to photograph your subject using black and white film in a portrait is that it is a very forgiving and flattering medium. Skin blemishes don’t tend to be as apparent in black and white photographs as they do in color. From a photographers perspective, it’s also easier to highlight what you wish the viewer to look at in a black and white photograph. In a typical color photograph the background may have so many clashing and competing primary colors in it that it is difficult to get the viewer’s eye to focus on your subject in the foreground. Black and white photographs tend to be less ‘busy’ and as a result can be easier on the eye. Many amateur photographers have found that they have been accepted as ’serious’ photographers since taking up black and white photography. Perhaps this is because in the modern era black and white photography is somehow seen as more ‘artsy’ than its color counterpart. Black and white photography has an aura of timelessness about it, it is seen as being from a bygone era and, in some people’s minds at least, anything old-fashioned seems to be regarded as inherently better than anything modern. This is perhaps why black and white photography is coming back into vogue for weddings. If you’re an amateur, or professional, photographer and you are called upon to photograph a wedding, you must of course discuss it with the bride and groom before deciding to photograph it in black and white. They might have gone to great pains to color-coordinate everything and they might not be too thrilled at your idea to remove the color from everything in the photos. Of course, an ideal compromise might be to take two cameras and photograph the wedding in both color and black and white. You’ll then be able to experiment to see which shots are best in color and which in black and white. Of course, experimentation with using color and black and white photography should not be restricted purely to weddings. Try it out in all aspects of your photographic work. Doing this cannot help but make you a better, more versatile photographer.

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