Photography is an interesting thing. It can express emotions in both faces we do and don’t know and it can touch the hearts and souls of every person to observe it. It’s both a form of journalism and a form of art. As someone who’s been doing photography for a short number of years now, I have had the opportunity to have both the privilege of documenting the stories of those that photography has led me to meet as well as creating memories to preserve them for a lifetime (i.e., cap and gown photos).
With this process, I’ve had plenty of time to experiment in the artistic field of my passion, so today I present to you my top points about why I prefer black and white over color photography and the benefits that I have had with this particular art form. While that’s not to say that I don’t do color photography, it’s my preference to use black and white in my work when possible.
1. More Contrasting
Having the ability to put a photo into B&W, especially when taking portraits, makes it possible for a photographer to put additional contrasting into the photograph that, when in color, would only make it look unnatural otherwise. Personally speaking, this also can compensate for when a photographer may not have access to a studio and would need to adjust lighting locations in order to achieve the same look. It can define certain areas of the face to make it seem more textured, as if you were standing in front of them.
2. Sharper Images
When I’m doing portraits, I love bringing out certain details in people, be it their eyes, the contrast in their skin color to the background, whatever the case the best way to do this is by sharpening the image (often with contrasting tools) to bring out these features. These sharper features make the faces stand out much more and it’s a very valued practice in photography.
3. Bad Color? No Worries
This is almost a given. If you have a photo where the color came out horrible, setting it to B&W may make it ten times better. Instead of having to bring out specific colors, you can focus on highlights and shadows. It’s not that it’s a photographer’s way of being lazy. It’s just that it’s easier.
4. Deeper Emotions
As someone that loves taking pictures of people, I’m the kind of person that focuses heavily on the emotions that the photos convey. In color, you might have a photo of a woman smiling with a small hint of laughter. In black and white, this photo, despite the lack of color, may feel more warming and welcoming to the viewer. It speaks a deeper language that, I believe, only the heart can understand rather than what words alone can say. The same goes for saddening expressions where it could easily bring someone to tears without even knowing what the subject of the photo is feeling.
5. Historical Roots
I’ve spent a long time studying the roots of photography, and I’ve had to make many arguments as to why photography is just as much an art form as painting or sculpting. Many people tend to forget that photography can be dated back several centuries with the invention of the camera obscura, but that the first successful photograph as we know in modern day is View from the Window at Le Gras in 1826 or 1827 by Nicephore Niepce.
This photograph led to the eventual invention of the daguerreotype process and became the first public method of creating photographs on a commercial level. As these processes developed, we saw the creation of Kodak in the late 1900s and soon we had photography as we know it today.
Of course, getting to this point was more complicated than I can even begin to say here, but knowing how complicated the process has been makes me much more appreciative of the amount of time that it took before DSLRs were even a known thing in modern society.
And that’s it! Have anything you want to share? Let me know down in the comments below!
