Color versus Black and White Photography

Off and on in recent weeks, I’ve been thinking about the question of color versus black and white photography. As I wrote earlier, I often find myself telling others that I shoot in color only if there is something significant about the color of a composition. Otherwise, I go for black and white. Most of the time this applies to digital photography, where I have the option, thanks to shooting in raw, to render a composition in color or in black and white. Once I start on a roll of film, though, I’m committed to one or the other until I’m through that roll.

As a reference for sorting out my thoughts when I was assembling my mini film stock reviews, which I posted yesterday, I checked out my local library’s copy of The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography by John Schaefer, which I’ve written about earlier. His insight into the various characteristics of black and white film was useful as I tried to articulate what exactly I look for when evaluating a film stock.

After I made my post, I knew I hadn’t given nearly as much thought to color film, so I turned to his introductory chapter on color photography toward the end of the book. Although I don’t reach for color film too often especially for work that is more serious than vacation snapshots, I do think about whether to shoot in color or black and white when I reach for a digital camera. Typically before I step out for a photo walk, I’ll set my Canon camera’s picture style setting to either auto or monochrome and keep it there. More often I go for the latter.

But why? Why do I keep going for black and white when I see the world in color and when my Canon camera is capable of producing images with such rich color?

In his section entitled “The Roll of Color Photographs,” Schaefer’s opening paragraph helped inform my thinking about this question:

Historically, color has fulfilled two roles in photography. Most often it has been used to celebrate form and is therefore a critical element in a strongly seen image—just as in literary terms, it is used as a visual adjective to add further dimension to a noun, so an apple becomes a red apple. Alternatively, color can itself be the subject of the photograph. In this case, the objects in the image are basically vehicles for transmitting color.

Sometimes a subject’s color takes away from the dimensionality of a subject. Other times, color itself is in no way the subject of a photograph. But this isn’t always the case.

Consider the following two compositions which I made while I was playing around with my recently-acquired 55mm f/3.5 Micro Nikkor.

Late afternoon sunlight happened to be hitting an heirloom tomato that was sitting on the counter:

And here’s that same image converted to monochrome with no other edits:

In this case, the monochrome rendering emphasizes the dramatic light and shadows of this still life. Canon’s out-of-the-box ability to add a silvery tone to middle greys is also on full display here. Perhaps this was my subconscious imitation of Edward Weston’s famous Pepper No. 30.

On the other hand, the color rendering shows the tomato’s red and green hues, which only distract the eye and don’t really add anything to whatever power this image may have.

Another subject serves as a useful counterpoint. I have an old pipe stand that I have a sentimental attachment to. Here it is close up and in color:

And in black and white, again with no other edits:

In this case, the color rendering of the dog and the out-of-focus pipe behind it has a warmth that is central to this image’s appeal. Conversely, the black and white rendering appears flat and uninteresting. Looking at it makes me think its contrast needs some tweaking or that it would have been better in different light.

Of course, there are no hard-and-fast rules in photography or in any other form of art. Limiting myself only to black and white or only to color unnecessarily boxes me in.

Thinking back to my earlier days, I do confess that I never really thought much about setting my camera’s shooting mode to anything other than its default. But now, I’m much more cognizant of this simple thing and how much of an effect it can have on the end result.