Black and White Wedding Photography

I often get the question “Can I see the color version of this photo?” Most of the time we do not provide the color version of a black and white photo.  The reason is MOST of the time there is a very good reason why the image has been converted to black and white.  As you can see from my work I LOVE vivid color in my imagery! After all my favorite color is RED! I like the excitement and drama that it provides! Bold and beautiful color works really well in certain images.  However, I also have a huge love affair with the story-telling nature of  beautiful black and white imagery. My goal as a wedding photographer is to capture and preserve the beautiful emotions and story of your day.  With that, the goal of a portrait (being wedding or otherwise), is to tell the story behind the person though their eyes and/or in their body language, and preserve the essence of their character at this brief moment in their lives. I think that often times color in an image can distract from the story or personality behind the person(s) in a photograph. There are times when I am creating a portrait that I am lighting it and posing in a way that I know before hand that the image will later be converted to black and white to complete my vision. Take a look at the example images below of a couple who’s wedding I photographed this past weekend. For the purpose of demonstration I have provided both a color and black and white version of the photos. I think you will agree that in first two examples black and white is clearly the best choice.  What do you think?

In this first image I think that the color just gets in the way of the love and emotion this couple is sharing with each other. As you can see I added a bit of grain to the black and white photo as well to give it a bit more of a romantic feel.

Being that a wedding is not just a mobile portrait session wedding photographers don’t always get to choose the circumstances that they are given to shoot in. Creating or modifying our own light source is not always an option when time is of the essence. Grabbing a quick portrait of the groom next to a window provides a easy, yet beautiful quality of light.  However, when shooting indoors balancing the color of window light with the ambient light in the room can be a challenge. Although I think this portrait is beautiful as a color image, I have decided to convert it to black and white because of the red lighting spilling on to the left side of the groom. This is a case where color has become more of a distraction than a compelling feature in the portrait. When color places a bigger role than that of the subject, in this case the personality found in the eyes of the groom, we remove it.

Photo below taken by my second shooter Scott Mosher

In this next example I think you will agree that the harmony of the COLOR version of this portrait is much better at telling the story about where the couple might have been married, and what the environment looked like at their garden wedding reception. So in this case, we will deliver the color version.

Often times I can go either way in terms of color or black and white for an image, as in this portrait of Kathryn below. Both to me are compelling images that draw me to the story-telling nature of her eyes. I guess if I were forced to chose, I would remove the color and go with the classic black and white.  But in this particular case I will provide the bride with both versions and then let her choose.

The truth is there is a variety of reasons an image may be converted to black and white. Some photos, although beautiful as a color version, may simply be converted to black and white so as to be paired with other black and white images on a spread in the couples wedding album. Rest assured, if the color version of a photo is beautiful, we will provide it for you! 🙂

To me there is a certain timeless quality to black and white imagery. Removing the color from a photo can often times remove anything that might be distracting from the story, the emotion, the personality and the romantic nature of a photograph. The beauty of today’s digital camera’s is that in the end we have a choice; color, black and white, or both!

Brian serves the greater San Francisco Bay Area, the Monterey and Carmel Peninsula, Wine Country including Sonoma County and the Napa Valley, the East Bay,  San Jose, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe and wedding destinations worldwide.

We also frequent weddings in the Denver, Colorado area.