I say why not both? In a previous article, I suggested an important question among a list of questions to ask your potential wedding photographer, “Do you shoot in black and white and/or color?” Another question related is “Do you shoot digital or film? If your potential wedding photographer only shoots film it is important to find out if the wedding photographer can shoot in both black and white and color. In digital land, you can shoot black and white on the fly which is convenient, but leads me to this point. There really is no point to shoot digital in black and white. As a professional orange county wedding photographer, I always shoot in digital color. The reason is that in post production, I edit the proofs and decide which photos to change to black and white and which to leave in color.
Within the editing of the black and white photos in photoshop, you can adjust the spectrums of the photos. You can play with the hue and saturation, and lightening and darkening. This will highlight certain colors from others, and bring out shadows.
From a photographer’s perspective, there is an artistic element that requires black and white photography and typically, this is left to the wedding photographer to decide themselves. Today, generally your portraits are in color and the photojournalistic and/or documentary style are in both black and white and color. B and W photos have the ability to create an added artistic feel. The bottom line is, unless you decide not to have black and white photos, your wedding photographer should have a good combination of both black and white, color, and maybe even some sepia tones to make up your photographs.
Until Again,
- Michelle Noel www.michellenoelphoto.com.
Michelle Noel Photography provides wedding photography in Orange County, wedding photography in Los Angeles, and throughout Southern California.
All images copyright protected by Michelle Noel Photography.
