My age really shows when I think about photography. I fell in love with taking pictures as a teen; my mom was a photographer, she had a dark room and developed black and white pictures. I have a long-standing love affair with black and white photos even to this day. I do like the versatility of digital pictures because any photo can now become black and white.
There are so many reasons I love black and white, but the largest one is there is no prejudice The absence of color draws attention to the subject, and without the distraction of color it can provide a stronger connection to the subject. The artistic viewpoint believes that color depicts reality and black and white is an interpretation of reality.
Parameters of a world without color forces you to see things differently, to stretch and workout your creative eye and push your limits of creatively. It allows you to begin to think about the key elements of the picture such as lighting, composition, and elements in and out of the picture. It can amplify the use of negative space and highlights the shape, form, or pattern of the photo. The black and white images
One of the strengths of a black and white photo is creating a darker, more dramatic and somber mood. The contrast of the shadows and highlights in black and white makes the detail pop off the paper. The details of the subjects in the photo appear to be more intimate than in color pictures.
The black and white also capture the awesomeness and glory of the world in a way that color just can not. The majesty of rays of sunshine bursting from beyond a large cloud seems to be more impressive, black and white give the images an eerie quality.
Black and white can see the contrast between dark and light, this is called tonal contrast, which is an essential component of good black and white images. Black and white make you look at the scene in terms of tones rather than colors. All genres of photography the photographer may end up relying on the strength of color to carry the image, it can't be done in black and white images. Black and white images rely on the basic building blocks of composition, texture, line, shape, pattern, form, placement and negative space. Learning to base your composition on these elements and not just color helps create stronger images.
For me personally, a black and white image is timeless and classic, reminds me of the past and its a throwback to dark rooms and developing pictures.
