Color or Black and White?

Split Rail Fence and Tree, Yorktown Battlefield National Park (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1, 40-150mm lens @ 57mm; 1/125th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

To me, some photographic subjects look better in color and others with a black and white rendition.  Some subjects look good both ways.  How does one choose and when does one know which way to edit a particular image?  Answer:  Overall, its a very personal choice.

Normally, I know before I press the shutter whether or not a final image will be in color or black and white.  It could be the subject matter itself, the tonality, the contrast, line, shape or form that may catch my eye and almost immediately I know which final look I want for a particular image.  In the case of the image above, it was the subject matter itself.

I knew that I wanted this final image in black and white because of the split rail fence and the texture of the tree trunk.  I felt color would not do it justice as it would be a distraction.  Split rail fences are a very old and relatively primitive type of fence and when we think of old in reference to photography, we think of black and white.

Additionally, in color this image was visually uninteresting.  Overwhelmingly green with a bit of brown from the fence and bark, there really was nothing about the color that made it interesting.  In fact, I think the overall green distracts from the texture or the wood and the visually interesting construction of the fence. 

There are some images I have made, but very few, that look good both in color and black and white.  That is a rare exception.  Additionally, on ocassion, I have started out thinking a particular image will look good in color, but then when editing it, it turns out that it doesn't work in color, but works much better in black and white.

Normally, however, with many, many years of only making black and white photographs, I can easily tune my eye to see luminance relationships while discarding color and easily decide whether or not I want a final photograph in color or black and white.  It takes some practice, but it is a worthwhile exercise looking at things and thinking it through before pressing the shutter button.  In the end, it will pay off for you.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

 Dennis Mook 

All content on this blog is © 2013-2015 Dennis A. Mook. All Rights Reserved. Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution. Permission may be granted for commercial use. Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.