Colour via black and white

hiya oldchem now this is a subject that is really up my alley.. black & white photography greatly differs from color photography due to the, well, color dyes that are used. black & white photography (since photography first started) uses Silver Halide, which is one of the factors for those nice long lasting prints that you have (and your photos do look great , the black tones are a little bit off due to the scanning that was done...). black & white photography is the basic processes and chemicals used for black & white have changed very little since those first days. and quality is as good as ever. also, black & white photographs are usually hand-printed. machine-printed black & white photographs are seldom as good as the hand-printed ones.. color on the other hand, is made from a combination of the dyes within the film used and the photo paper that is used...the usage of chemicals when processing all that can be considered an art for some photographers.. a dash of this, a splash of that, get the measurements just right and the photograph will really last. but then, this is not always commercially possible to do at the stores. so there has to be some kind of compromise on quality versus cost for those kind of businesses.. and that is the main difference in the quality of those prints (other than one is Black & White while the other one is in Color) as for me, i'm very much into Black & White Fine Art Photography when i have the time...so i do prefer Black & White photography

I love black and white pictures. You can't see the colored spots on peoples faces and you look far much better on those pics :D Most of the skin defects can't be seen on the black and white photos ;)

I prefer color. I am picky on how it is done and I will only do Kodak film and developing and sadly neither exist here where we live anymore. I have my old color pictures but they are all Kodak so I have not noticed the fades that you are talking about. I do see them in ones that were not done by Kodak. For my parents 50th anniversary, (1978) my sister n law had their pictures taken and they were all done in black and white, I swear that picture has darkend over the years. I absolutely hate it!!!! I am so thankful that the ones done at their party, even if they are only snapshots are all in color and look so nice. Sorry for the contridiction, but you did ask what do you prefer. Maybe it is because I grew up with the black and white. All my senior pictures are black and white, to bad I don't look like that now!!!!! My kids love the black and white and think it is so cool!

If I were to have photos taken, I would ask them to be taken in color. I would scan them than open a color paint program to remove the color, turning them to grayscale (that's black and white). You can then add an antique cast if you'd like, or add a tint, or maybe add a single drop of color to maybe a child's eye or perhaps a flower. (I'm an artist.)

Colored photos are very popular nowadays but I find black and white pictures more elegant and catchy. I can't explain why. It's just that whenever me and my friends would take pictures specially if we want to add some drama and story to it we adjust our digital cameras to black and white. It looks classy and classical.

I must admit that I am very much used to colour now. Given to wonder whether the improved definition is due to the reduced range of colour/ pigment required. Most of my photos are stored on a hard drive rather than printed copy. Some of these I have copied into Picasa, and converted them to black and white. The results can be quite stunning.

I think I can safely say that color fades, and black and white lasts better...

I love what you can do with the black and white photos. I do think they look better than some of the colour ones, but I suppose what you are photoghraphing.My daughter often takes photos of herself in black and white and they turn out great and they look better for her audition photos.

I think there are lots of times when black and white is photogenically preferred. It speaks much louder than a color photo many times.

I really love black and white photos. In fact today when I take photos with my digital camera, I will take them in color and then convert them to black and white. For some reason they come out better when I convert them versus taking them in black and white in the first place. I think the color ones looked age because the colors then were were not as vibrant as they are today. They seem more muted to me.

since we have digital cameras to take both color and black and white photos,and we also have "photoshop" which can help us dealing with various kinds of photo issues,the difference between color and black&white seems not that obvious any more~ still,i like the color one,even its dated face~

Personally I think it depends on the subject, the background, and the mood of the picture. I am seeing a trend in favor of black and white simply because the photographer is hoping for a more formal feel to the picture. Some pictures work well in B&W. Yes, wedding pictures come to mind. There are some shots which should celebrate the wonderful color around us.

i so agree with you on this one. black and white photographs allow no colour distraction so the detail is far more specific in my opinion. i love looking at old black and white photographs of my past relatives or myself as a child.