Black and White vs. Colour

It is easy to take colour for granted as it features in our everyday lives. However within the context of photography, along with lighting and subject matter it becomes a key component of a photograph and often what makes an image effective. A good digital photographer will know as soon as they take a picture whether or not they want to put it in black and white because they will know what effect they want the image to achieve. Colour can be used in fashion and advertising to make a product seem more attractive but in fine art photography colour can often completely dominate and therefore define an image. Recently as digital photography has become more accessible we can manipulate photographs and therefore choose exactly how we want the colours in the images to look.
De-saturation can be used to change an image entirely; it can be used to add depth and mood and some may argue that it makes the image look more “stylish”. Black and white is also used in fashion and advertising to emphasize a romantic or classic theme in the photographs. I like black and white for a number of reasons. I like the fact that photography began in black and white and therefore this effect will make an image look classic and elegant. This comes through in a lot of my work as a lot of the artists that I am inspired by work in black and white. I like the idea of taking their ideas and developing them in my own way in order to pursue a more modern approach and I think that this helps my own photographic style to develop. I find it fascinating that an image can be made up of an endless amount of shades of one colour and how this contrasts with colour photography. colour is the medium through which everybody sees the world and this cannot be changed; black and white can only be seen through photography and film which I think makes the process singularly captivating.