Weekly Poll: Color or Black & White

[Nicole]

Last week we had an overwhelming number of people who preferred zoom lenses to primes. Feel free to keep adding your votes and opinions over there.

This week, we ask the question, if you could only shoot in color or black & white, which would you choose?

Maybe you feel that black and white photos can show more emotion because they focus on the subject more, or colour photos are too busy. Or maybe you feel that you can't really express your vision without colour because that's how we live our lives every day. So, tell us which one you would pick, and why.

This week is more a personal preference than a technical preference, so feel free to express your opinions any way you choose. The only limit is that you can't choose color and choose it for the reason that you can later convert to black & white (just cause you have to pick color or black & white)

[jsanders]

I think, if i would have had a choice i would go for Color. Black and white can be very nice in specific situations. But i think that colored pictures give's me more possibilities.

[Sime]

I voted B+W for no other reason than I love it... contrasty B+W shots... storms, old things... yep - if the color button fell off of my 30D, i'd live with B+W... s

[ike]

I always shoot in colour.

I find colour shots more interesting and more editable than B&W shots, as i seem to be doing a bit more editing now adays than i used to, but its mainly crops. I think this is mainly because most of what i shoot needs to be colour, landscapes, buildings, family days out etc. although some do look good in B&W i wouldnt want to shoot them all that way.

ike,

[PRH]

I LOVE b/w but I shoot mostly colour (I have more experience with it). Digital b/w still has a long way to go before it matches film (just an opinion).

[Joe Hoetzl]

I too love B&W shots, but our eyes see in color (for the most part), so if I had to choose only one, it would be color.

[Saralonde]

Most of my shots are color, but if I was limited to one, I might choose b&w. The images that most interest me tend to be b&w. I've always loved Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ansel Adams and I'm amazed what people can do without color. B&W looks so simple, but is so hard to get it right. Definitely a challenge to do nothing but b&w!

[jdepould]

I'm usually pretty old school when it comes to stuff like this, but I don't think I could bring myself to give up color. There are just so many possibilities.

[xxpinballxx]

I shoot in RAW+jpeg and se tmy canon to B&W. Best of both worlds.

[Jargon]

Definitely color in everything. I can't forget the feeling that I missed some experiences while watching my parents' black and white TV before they got a color TV. I can't forget the wonder I felt the first time I used a color PC monitor after years of using a monochrome (black and green, then later black and white) PC monitor. I can't forget the excitement of finally being able to print in color after years of using black and white dot matrix printers. I can't forget the thrill of having a cell phone with a colored screen at the time when most other phones still had monochrome screens. Color has always amazed me because I've already spent too many years looking at things in black and white.