SIX SUBJECTS THAT FARE LESS WELL IN MONOCHROME

Black & white doesn’t work for everything, but it’s always worth trying and it has more creative potential than many people assume. Here are a few subjects that are perhaps less successful in shades of grey

Sunrises and sunsets

Every day, nature provides two spectacularly colourful events (unless it’s cloudy!) just aching to be photographed. All those intense shades of yellow, orange and red look wonderful in colour, and rather less interesting in shades of grey. That said, with nice clouds or a bold foreground, black & white sunsets can look good.

Butterflies

Many nature subjects work in black & white, but butterflies don’t. A painted lady, swallowtail or a marbled white as in this shot don’t look great in shades of grey. They are such beautiful insects that they deserve the full colour treatment. However, the combination of a clean background, good lighting and a nice pose can succeed.

Twilight

That brief period before sunrise and after sunset when the sky can be a palette of beautiful colour is a must for the camera, but perhaps not in mono. While those gorgeous, vibrant hues or a mackerel sky can look absolutely stunning in colour, they are much less effective in black & white. A bold foreground in silhouette might work, though.

Light trails

A popular and fun technique especially at this time of year. A long exposure using a tripod-mounted camera of a busy road or traffic junction can give awesome results – in colour! Red tail lights, blinking orange turn indicators and the warmth of artificial light, often combine to give magical and very vibrant results.

Flowers

Colourful blooms photographed in monochrome might seem a wasted opportunity, and often it is, but check out Robert Mapplethorpe’s images of irises and see how it can be done. His fine art images were created in the studio and that’s probably why they work. Pictures taken in the back garden might not have the same resonance.

Autumn colour

There are some subjects that simply cry out for colour and the monochrome route is almost inevitably less captivating. Garden scenes, fireworks and autumn, to name but three. If you want to make the most of vibrant acers this autumn, colour is the way to go, but if you have the raws there’s time to explore the creative options retrospectively.