When I look at photographs, I see in color. Even if the picture is in black and white, I envision it in color. When I took my first(and only) photography class in high school, we took pictures and developed them in black and white. I thought it was the best ever. That you can soak a piece of paper in chemicals and an image would magically appear! What a thrill that was.
Now technology has it that you can take a picture and instantly see it on your camera. Remember buying film rolls with 24 exposures? Now you can take hundreds of pictures and delete them on the spot. Or not...as I have a tendency to do.
When I take pictures, I look for bright, vivid colors. I like the blue skies, the deep blue waters, bright yellows and reds in trees turning color, and greens in fields. I also look for interesting textures. Most of the time, I just hope it turns out ok. Interesting to look at is my goal.
I decided to put some of my travel pictures in black and white. I thought...easy! I will just pick a few and it will look great! Well, it was much more difficult than I imagined it would be. My eye would trick me to think...aw, there goes all of the bright colors. Instead of, the light and texture look better without color.
Here are two pictures I decided looked better in black and white. Or do they? What do you think?
The "Lost" cow in a field
"Fenced Out"
How do you decide what pictures to put in black and white and what to keep in color? Which do you prefer?
For instance...what picture looks better? The fence below in black and white or in color?
Or how about these trees? Do you think it looks better in color or black and white?
