Now you may be asking: why are black and white portraits beautiful? Convert the photo to black and white and, the problem may go away – the imperfections of the original photo becoming an area fitting with the tonal spectrum of the rest of the face. Lastly, there is contingency: sometimes a color photo just doesn’t look right or looks awkward.
Its simplicity brings advantages: in black and white, the tonal range and contrasts can be manipulated without color interference.īy taking away the color, you remove one layer of distraction from the photo revealing, for instance, form and lighting in a new, clearer way – so important when you want to draw the eye to your subject. This is really befitting for B&W portrait photos, or even when using monochrome or grayscale. But why shoot black and white portraits?įirstly, there is an aesthetic appeal: black and white photos can look startling pure and sophisticated. However, despite this and even though black and white seems to be a retrograde stylistic step, black and white is still a choice for many photographers, including those who shoot portraits. Since Eggleston’s intervention over 40 years ago, color photography has rapidly overtaken black and white photography to become the obvious choice for all kinds of photographers from fine art, to photojournalism, to wildlife. In fact, it was one exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1976, by William Eggleston, that helped challenge the norm and propel color photography to where it is today. Kodak invented the first color film in 1935, but it was not until the 1970s that color photography really began to be recognised as an ‘art form’.Ĭolor photography wasn’t widely used until the 1950s and to begin with, it was seen as being primarily for snapshots or adverts – not for serious or artistic photography. You may have found yourself at times asking the question: why do photos look better in black and white? To answer this question, it’s useful to briefly look at black and white photography compared to color photography.įor ‘serious’ photographers, black and white was the predominant photography mode until very recently, in relative terms.
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