Color or B&W?

18 Comments
One of the frequently thrown questions to me when people saw my photography work is "why black and white?". I usually do not have a straight and consistent answer. I guess it all comes down to personal preference and reasons for choosing to remove colors from a photograph. I do think some photograph appear a lot more compelling and expressive when the colors are absent.

For example, the following photograph.




I personally lean towards the B&W version. I do not know how or what to tell you how I justify my preferences, but to my eyes, the B&W works much stronger to convey certain feel and emotion of the human child portrait. Just my thoughts. What do you guys think?

Oh and that M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8 is just amazing. Enough said. 



18 comments:

  1. UnknownJanuary 8, 2014 at 11:57 PM

    Monochrome brings out the soul, no doubt about it.

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  2. David G.January 9, 2014 at 1:15 AM

    B&W for this shot - no doubt. The best thing I ever did for my OMD-EM5 was buy a beautiful 45mm f1.8 and put 'em together! That lens makes me fall in love with portraiture all over again.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2014 at 1:34 AM

    The kid's eyes bring out the soul in both these pics. Each version is evocative.

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  4. Ida G RoedJanuary 9, 2014 at 2:55 AM

    I agree that the mood in this picture is centred in the expression of those gorgeous eyes - and I find the colour distracts a bit. .

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  5. Ron JoinerJanuary 9, 2014 at 5:45 AM

    I prefer the B&W shot. More expressive IMHO.

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2014 at 5:50 AM

    I prefer color. The reds are strong and essential in this photo.

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  7. calexJanuary 9, 2014 at 9:45 AM

    Colour dilutes the focus of the photo, whereas B&W brings focus to the main expression of the subject.
    I guess it depends on situation, composition, subject and background. And of course the message you want to relay.
    Both the photos work for me. Each tells a different story, amazingly from the same picture.

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  8. GlennJanuary 9, 2014 at 10:17 AM

    I prefer color 99 times out of 100. In this particular photo I think the gold and red spots on the forehead are interesting elements. And I like the skin tone as well.

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  9. KazbJanuary 9, 2014 at 11:04 AM

    The dark skin and the other colours of the photo make it a great shot...

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  10. XiaoKSJanuary 9, 2014 at 12:06 PM

    Robin,
    To each his own. Your photos are superb; be it BW or color.
    SiewKS

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  11. UnknownJanuary 9, 2014 at 8:23 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. AndreJanuary 9, 2014 at 8:25 PM

    Both color and B/W can work well. In this case, the B/W adds "drama" or "character", (as it often does; in this case it works very well also because of the eyes of the child. Color sometimes distracts.

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  13. UnknownJanuary 9, 2014 at 9:07 PM

    My sentiments align with yours. I think that for me it is that, when a image calls for rendition in color, it is the color that is the "thing." Whereas, b&w/monochrome (again, for me) it is the subject itself and mood or recognition of otherwise unnoticed patters/compositions that is the "thing"

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  14. letstinkerJanuary 9, 2014 at 10:19 PM

    In this example I really like the color version, but otherwise colors can get pretty quickly distracting and b&w is also more timeless.

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  15. seadriveJanuary 11, 2014 at 10:15 AM

    Hi Robin!

    The power of this photograph has nothing to do with the color, or lack of color, or forms that are stronger in b&w than color, or tonal gradations that are smoother in b&w than color, so it's just a matter of personal preference. I prefer the color version, but I like both.

    If you look at Arnold Newman's work, most of his portraits would not have "worked" as well in color. He used B&W to create shapes that would not have been as strong in color.

    Regards,
    Steve

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  16. UnknownJanuary 12, 2014 at 3:32 AM

    Hi Robin, I prefer the color version as well and agrees to what seadrive said above. Anyways, both pictures are awesome!

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  17. UnknownFebruary 4, 2014 at 1:05 AM

    Wow!!! really nice, amazing work . Here is one of my work, if you want you can see it.

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  18. UnknownJune 17, 2014 at 8:50 PM

    I think BW will take more emotion
    Học đàn guitar cơ bản

    ReplyDelete

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