Every now and then I run across a picture that I truly can decide whether I like it color or black and white. Often a picture just looks best one way or the other. Usually I happen to prefer the classic, timeless quality of b&w. It can also (I'm giving away my best secret!) hides a lot of imperfections in a picture. So of course most of my imperfect photos are lent an added charm by switching up the tonality. I honestly think most pictures I take look better in b&w. So when a picture looks good in color I keep it in color because I feel I lucked out on the settings I had set and the light I was using, etc.
When a photo is lovely in both I am pleasantly surprised. But then I have to make a choice! Which one? Just one?
Here is where the indulgence of digital, never mind the vanity space of blog-world, let me get away with both!
A recent shoot with baby sister yielded several nice shots (more to come!) and for the sake of this discussion I am posting both color and black and white versions to enjoy. Feel free to vote which ones you like better! I'll take that into account when the time comes to make the final decision of which to actually print. (Although at thirteen cents a print it's not that hard to print both, too! How did people do it way back when with expensive film?)
click through for more color versus b&w photos
3 comments:
I like b&w for the first one and color for the last one, but the second one I just like both. Maybe color slightly more . . . Did you take these on the table pushed up against the wall? I love the clean white background. But I think that's why I like the first one in b&w - so that the color on the lamb isn't distracting. She is so lovely :)
The best tip I've ever been given about black and white photography is to bump up the contrast. Out cameras are designed to take in color, so when you turn it to grayscale it just looks flat and unsaturated. Sometimes just a little (or a big!) bump in contrast on a B/W makes me wonder why I ever leaned toward the color version!
@xivonne Yes, I agree! The first thing I do when changing to b&w is run the contrast scale way up. Especially on the eyes is this gorgeous. When doing baby pictures I find myself doing less contrast than maybe I do for older kids or grown-ups. Maybe the little bit softer look appeals to me? I'm still figuring out my whole aesthetic. I'll look at other photographers who have major moody contrast for even the tiniest of babies and I love it, but when I go to do it on mine I pull back and soften it again. It's fun to play digital dark room in any case!
@Katy yup, it's that table against the wall again. It's the perfect little natural light studio come afternoon. I'm glad you had a hard time choosing on that second one, the close up. Me too. I just like both. :)
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