Matt says that shooting black and white strips photography down to light, shape, and emotion — that color can sometimes distract from the core of an image. Have you ever photographed with black and white in mind from the beginning? How might removing color help you focus more on composition, emotion, or storytelling in your own work? by Kathryn Mayo

2025-04-22 02:33:22 UTC

By shooting black and white it allows me to look for more of the detail and drama in the scene or subject and capture that with the right amount of lighting.

2025-04-22 04:51:29 UTC

Most of the time, yeah. I find at this point that I get more enjoyment out of using black and white, but I tend to enjoy playing around with and utilizing contrast and shadows to set the mood and create my images.

2025-04-22 05:02:52 UTC

I firmly believe all photographers should learn with black and white first, because it forces you to really think about what you're doing. I really enjoy black and white, and it almost feels easier than colour at this point.

2025-04-22 13:13:33 UTC

ALL THE TIME. So there are stories to be explored about light, space. balance, texture, and color prevents us from seeing and telling those stories

2025-04-23 20:24:36 UTC

I usually photograph with black and white in mind, the only time I don't is when I'm using my digital camera. I think photographing with only black and white in mind allows you to see how something can be more visually interesting when it comes down to just the shapes and light. A sign that's really colorful could just feel boring when taken in black and white because the shade of grey can be too similar when the color is taken away. It makes you think more about how the composition is going to make it interesting instead of the colors

2025-04-24 05:05:21 UTC

I'm not sure black and white, per se, leads to more thoughtful, intentional photography. Working with color relationships can be just as (or even more) thoughtful and intentional. Black and white does seem to reduce the number of variables to work with and that can be very satisfying for the photographer and the viewer, particularly in how it abstracts away the image from many common everyday visual experiences.

2025-04-24 05:18:06 UTC

I’m old so I grew up with a lot of black and white film. It was cheaper than color and color prints faded away over time. B/W didn’t. Color was so cool when it was new, but now everything’s color— all over social media, TV (used to be black and white in my day!), anything digital. Black and white today looks artsy, especially if done right. Because there’s no color, you have to use shades of blacks and whites to hint about color. Those tones represent your shadows and your highlights. We were always told it’s easier to shoot B/W than color because B/W is more forgiving than color. It was certainly easier to process and print than color before digital, but I’m not sure it’s really easier to compose. Without the correct lighting, B/W goes flat really fast so you have to pay attention to lighting while composing the photo— where is it hitting? Is there enough? Are the shadows falling where I want them to fall?

2025-04-24 22:34:13 UTC

I honestly have found that good color photographs in high contrast lighting make good black and white images. There are many good tools in Photoshop to edit the black and white images that even change the direction and focus of the light. I cannot imagine a color scene in black and white. I took some images in monochrome and color once and liked the color converted to b&w better. It's all in the eye of the photographer and how he perceives the light.

2025-04-27 03:25:46 UTC

I believe that all the photographs I take should have good bones, and I will usually take photos with the intent of being in black and white. I think I am even more intentioal with color, as I mostly shoot bnw.

2025-04-28 04:55:51 UTC

I started out shooting only color a few years ago, but since being here at CRC, I’ve mostly been shooting black and white. It’s changed the way I compose and look for shots—paying more attention to light, shadow, contrast, layers, and how I place the scene within the frame. I did some of this with color too, but now I look with a lot more intention. I feel like almost anything can look good in black and white, while color relies a lot more on how the hues interact.

2025-05-12 19:29:09 UTC

I can definitely agree with 'Matt.' I'm also a painter and I find stripping things down to the most basic grayscales helps me get the correct color values in painting. This helps me in photography because as he also said not every image translates well into black and white. I squint my eyes at my desired shot to break down the light and dark values which is very important when working with the zone system in black and white photography.