Is Black and White Photography Still Relevant Today?

While colour has been the immediate norm since the arrival of digital, black and white never really went away — on the contrary, it remains one of the most sought-after aesthetic choices, in portraiture as much as in reportage. Far from being a mere nostalgic effect, it’s a genuine tool for visual storytelling.

What black and white takes away, and what it reveals

By removing colour, black and white forces the eye to concentrate on what remains: light, shapes, textures, expressions. A photo whose colour is bland or distracting — a wall of some nondescript shade, a garment whose colour adds nothing to the point — often gains strength once converted, precisely because what was getting in the way disappears.

Recognising a photo that suits it

Strong contrast between light and shadow, pronounced textures (skin, stone, wood, fabric), or a composition built on shapes rather than colours are good signs that an image will gain from black and white. Conversely, a scene whose whole interest rests on colour — a sunset, a colourful market — generally loses more than it gains from the conversion.

Convert afterwards, never at the moment of shooting

Shooting directly in black and white (via a camera setting) permanently throws away the colour information recorded in the RAW file — it’s always better to shoot in colour and convert later in post-processing, which lets you compare both versions and change your mind if the result doesn’t convince you.

An editorial choice, not a default filter

Black and white remains most effective when it’s chosen for a precise reason — to heighten an emotion, to unify a series that looks disparate in colour, to evoke an era — rather than applied systematically out of habit. Used with that intention, it has lost none of the power it has held since the very beginnings of photography.