When I was little I would look at my parents' snaps and think that black and white was boring.
I could not understand why, with all of the colour in the world, the photos were in different shades of grey.
Of course, there was not a lot of choice back then.
Now I look at the photos I take and wonder if they would look better in black and white, or even sepia!
There are just some photos that lend themselves to less colour.
So, how and why do I choose which ones to convert to Black & White?
* B & W softens faces.
(My Mum often thanks me for this, heh heh).
It instantly takes the focus away from lines and smoothes out the skin.
* There is something classic and timely about B&W.
I think converting to black and white instills some charm into the photo.
Especially in portraits.
*It can make a photo seem less busy.
Sometimes when I am taking photos of the kids, the crazy colours and patterns they wear clash wildly. When I see the photo in colour it looks busy and hard on the eye but if I convert it to B&W it calms all of that down and I am able to look at the picture as a whole. My eyes are not instantly drawn to the mismatch.
Here is an example that I took of Maddy and Ivy at the beach.
At first glance, I thought, Yuck! Too busy, does not relay the peacefulness of the moment because of the wild exclamation marks on Maddy's jumper, the background is too busy, the shadowing on their faces, all wrong and I find it difficult to see the picture as a whole.
Can you see what I'm talking about?
Now, here it is converted to B & W.
Much gentler, easier on the eye and I am able to see the emotion and the photo as a whole, not just the
busy – ness.
* Black & White is the great cover up!
When Ivy is sick, pale, has a rash, flushed, converting to black and white takes all of that away.
In this photo she was very pale and had been unwell for the week. Aside from the dark circles, it covered all of this nicely.
Unless I specifically want to capture her looking unwell, I will almost always change over to black and white.
* B & W can take the impact away from a scene.
When I am taking photos of a traumatic event, like a hospital stay, the B & W photo can diffuse the situation.
* B & W can even out the light.
Sometimes I see a nice photo but the lighting isn't right. The sun is too bright or the shadowing is severe. Converting to B&W seems to even a lot of this out.
Here is an example. It was a lovely moment between father and son but the sun was in the wrong place and the original photo was very disappointing but when I changed it over to B & W, the contrast between the direct sunlight and the shadowing was much less noticeable. It is one of my favourites, despite all of its faults.
Converting to Black and White can save photos, punctuate memories, soften faces and brings to the subject an old world charm.
Why don't you try changing some of your photos over?
The results can be amazing!
When Tiff is not spouting off tips and tricks about photography, she is posting about life with seven little Australians at Three Ring Circus.
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Thanks for the examples! It is nice to see when certain photos might benefit from turning over to black and white.
Fantastic post! Yay, you!
I love how you showed us what you meant by converting the picture of Maddy and Ivy to B & W. It looks like a totally different picture.
This is a fabulous post. This is exactly what I used to think about black and white pictures.
What used to be a boring piece of paper to look at suddenly as an adult, became the way that I capture some of the amazing moments we have as a family.
Now I cannot get enough of black and white or sepia. Thanks for sharing such a meaningful post.