{"id":2195,"date":"2013-10-14T02:06:40","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T01:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=2195"},"modified":"2025-10-16T18:06:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:06:37","slug":"street-photography-is-black-and-white-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=2195","title":{"rendered":"Street Photography: Is Black and White Best?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A few days ago, I came home from work and sat down at the computer to see what folks were up to on Facebook, and I saw the “Photographic Society of Madras” was hosting a talk by an American street photographer, to start in 15 minutes – and it was only a mile away!  So off I went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I enjoyed a three-hour presentation by Craig Semetko<\/a>, who shared some of the photographs from his first book, “Unposed”<\/a>, as well as some of the stories behind the picture – what was going on, how he spotted it, and how he got the shot.  He also shared some of the photos from his upcoming book, “America” – which  are the ones you see when you first go to his website, above.  I thought the roller coaster in the ocean was especially good – but unfortunately out of my price range for the time being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Semetko’s earlier work is in black and white, while later photos are more and more in color.  He shared a few recent photos from India that would have been a shame to take in black and white, given the bright colors here.  But personally I thought the black and white work, as a whole, was much more striking than the color photos.  I asked him how he decides whether to use black and white or color.  As a part of his answer, he offered an interesting quote by Ted Grant<\/a>: \u201cWhen you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to explain that color can be trickier because invariably there will be a color in the scene that takes away from the scene by distracting the viewer from the subject they ought to be focusing on.  Which is an interesting point that says a whole lot about photography in general.  Too often, a photo misses the mark because there is simply too much going on, and the viewer doesn’t know quite where to focus or what is the photographer’s message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why Ted Grant’s quote, while it may seem hyperbolic, makes sense.  In a black and white photo of a single person, you automatically go to the face – especially the eyes, first.  And if the person you’re photographing is the main subject you’re trying to capture, the lack of color makes it easier for the viewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few photo pairs are interesting to consider in light of these statements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is better, the color, or the black and white? I deliberately selected photos I think illustrate Semetko’s\/Grant’s point – of course there are plenty of times the color version will be superior. But I suspect in all three pairs, the first place your attention went was to the eyes of the subject.  Something to think about the next time you’re out snapping photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I came home from work and sat down at the computer to see what folks were up to on Facebook, and I saw the “Photographic Society of Madras” was hosting a talk by an American street photographer, to start in 15 minutes – and it was only a mile away!  So […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1303],"tags":[625,1051,1050,1791,1048,1049],"class_list":["post-2195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genphotography","tag-black-and-white","tag-eyes","tag-focus","tag-photography","tag-semetko","tag-ted-grant"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2195"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7781,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195\/revisions\/7781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}