Color Or Black And White: How To Use Them Wisely For Glamour Images
Sooner or later, any every beauty photographer encounters one particular choice, which only seems to be an easy one. It sounds fairly simple, but evokes tremendous doubts. The issue is called “Color or Monochrome?”
Most of its history photography has been monochrome – and nobody really concerned about bright and vivid colors. At that time beauty photographs were distinguishable masterpieces, yet none was performed in full color.
With colors becoming another vital factor of a picture’s aesthetic quality, beauty photography altered dramatically. Nowadays, when digital photography enabled photographers to reproduce millions of shades, the “bright” approach seems even more preferable.
As to your own decision on this curious problem, it should be based upon studying pros and cons of both color and monochrome. Just as almost any dilemma in Artistic Glamour Photography, this one is mostly about the artist’s purpose, not some firmly-established rules or canons.
First of all, it should be mentioned first-hand that it is equally difficult to achieve perfect colors and perfect gray-scale image. Should you consider either of them a no-brainer, you will suffer a heavy disappointment after some time.
Light is crucial in both color and old school black and white photography. Unless you spend necessary time and effort to arrange good light for your work, photographs will keep being flat and uninteresting. There is no way around it. Regardless of your preferences, both color and black and white cannot do without proper lighting, that’s why it is so important to always hold this in mind.
What is really different though, is the impression those two different photographic dimensions make upon the viewer. These are sometimes too important to ignore:
- Color proves a great tool when you need to place emphasis upon something. People are attracted to brightly looking pictures; it is considerably simpler to compose the elements withing the frame by tones and shades; various colors unveil different mood to them, creating atmosphere your viewers can perceive.
- Monochrome is more about textures and shapes, so less attention is paid to the nuances of shades. Additionally, monochrome reveals the subtlety of light and shadow so that viewers could perceive it directly. If you want to produce a subtle, artistic and powerful photo, black and white is invaluable. Besides, it helps to conceal unnatural colors and shades, so if your model ended up somewhat yellowish on the photo, you can always turn to gray-scale.
- Different types of monochrome can also help you make an artistic picture. Some glamour artists find sepia a very suitable way to traduce their artistic manner to the viewer. You might also try other techniques: duotone, infrared, high-key etc. With all those how-to’s on the Internet, you can learn theory fast and then get down to practice.
- Colors also can supplement the gray-scale image to emphasize some elements of its composition, it may be a cliche, but why should someone’s superstition forbid you from using it? Even the most trivial technique can be used in an unusual way, so it really is entirely up to you. Bright fragments within monochrome immediately draw attention and can prove invaluable for creating great atmosphere; monochromatic spots on otherwise a colorful photo can serve the same purpose of drawing attention and creating atmosphere.
You must have realized by now that there is no right or wrong choice on this particular subject, as long as color and gray-scale co-exist, so long glamour photographers will enjoy their holy wars about what is best to use. In fact, you don’t need to choose, if something serves your purpose best of all, corresponds to the mood of your photo and delivers your message efficiently, you should have no doubts about what you do. It isn’t methods and schools that create masterpieces, it’s people, their vision and their talents.
