when to go black and white?

[hotchilidamo]

Some photos just look so much better in black & white dont they!?

So how do you know when to go black and white and when not to? Any tips or rule of thumb that you use? or is it simply trial and error?

[Smallfish]

I know what you mean, I love B&W so I have to be careful not to make everything a b&w shot. Some pictures just scream to be converted others have colours that demand to be seen. I tend to do a quick conversion with the majority of my photos to get an idea. Some will be much better in colour, some will be much better in b&w and the worst ones are those that I can't decide on :-).

[ravncat]

Originally Posted by hotchilidamo

Some photos just look so much better in black & white dont they!?

So how do you know when to go black and white and when not to? Any tips or rule of thumb that you use? or is it simply trial and error?

Definitely. Black and White is (often) about tonality, contrast and pattern. Anything with main elements including strong lines and textures is a good candidate for black and white. Black and white also works well when using a wide range of tones from black to white - it's very much about light. Without color, an image becomes more dependent upon Composition and Tones.

When color becomes involved, suddenly an image that has a very small tonal range can become visually interesting because of the hue's. If there are interesting colors, or strong relationships between color, the image probably won't do as well in black and white. Take a look at the lightness values in your image, say you have some sand dunes and a sky - you may have a very sharp color contrast between them, but in black and white they may be a very similar gray. If color doesn't add anything to the image, try black and white.

Of course that's pretty subjective. If you convert lots of images to black and white, and really look at the differences between them - you'll begin to find images that work because of the color, and in black and white they are boring. You'll of course find other images that don't work in color as well as many images that work either way.

I recommend practicing seeing the world in monochrome. It takes awhile, and Trial and Error is good.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by ravncat

Definitely. Black and White is (often) about tonality, contrast and pattern. Anything with main elements including strong lines and textures is a good candidate for black and white. Black and white also works well when using a wide range of tones from black to white - it's very much about light. Without color, an image becomes more dependent upon Composition and Tones.

When color becomes involved, suddenly an image that has a very small tonal range can become visually interesting because of the hue's. If there are interesting colors, or strong relationships between color, the image probably won't do as well in black and white. Take a look at the lightness values in your image, say you have some sand dunes and a sky - you may have a very sharp color contrast between them, but in black and white they may be a very similar gray. If color doesn't add anything to the image, try black and white.

Of course that's pretty subjective. If you convert lots of images to black and white, and really look at the differences between them - you'll begin to find images that work because of the color, and in black and white they are boring. You'll of course find other images that don't work in color as well as many images that work either way.

I recommend practicing seeing the world in monochrome. It takes awhile, and Trial and Error is good.

Thanks Ravncat, you kept me from having to type all of that so now all i have to do is quote you and say +1!