Black and White v. Color...the compositional fight.

BW v. Color...

After teaching at The Catholic University of America for going on 20 years now, I continue to have this talk (discussion, fight, agreement to disagree, etc.) with my students. Black and white v. color and the photo of the sunset. I was once told by one of my mentors to view sunsets for what they were, pretty colors. Not to put into one's portfolio. I still advise my students the same way after all these years. Sunsets are very pretty. Pretty to view. Pretty to experience and even pretty to photograph. But when it is all said and done, in true compositional edification, the sunset photo is just a collection of pretty colors. Now with that said, it can have compositional merit as well. Not often, but it can. So in order to find out if your pretty color sunset has what it takes to make the cut, turn it into BW and see if it holds up to proper compositional criticism. If made into BW, does the image still have merit based upon it's compositional elements in order to make a good, solid image.

So, with that said, my daughter wanted me to come outside in our back yard on Friday evening to photograph what she saw as a beautiful sunset. Indeed it was! She wanted me to get my camera and make an image. So I did. Afterward, I asked her to come into my office where we would edit the image. I told her that we would only incorporate proper edits of the image (no enhancements using Photoshop, etc.) So I told her that she was only allowed to brighten, darken, crop, dodge, burn, vignette and/or turn the image into BW. No colors were enhanced or altered, etc.

My daughter liked the final result. I, on the other hand... I still hold to my "change it to BW and see if it holds up" rule. I still don't care a great deal for it. Anyhow, it was a beautiful sunset. One which I enjoyed. I would still prefer to watch sunsets rather than photograph them. However, I still bring out the camera whenever I see a beautiful sunset. Who can help themselves.

Here is the image that we chose and edited. You be the judge...