B&W vs Colour in Wedding Photography

[Raymond Lin]

What are people's preferences as both photographers and Brides and Grooms when you look at photos at weddings. Lets say in a photojournalism style, do you prefer them in B&W or Colour. I like B&W in most cases personally but in some instances, colour does work better.

The reason I ask is that I've shot a wedding 2 days ago (link in the general photo sharing forum), and just processed them, and done most of them in B&W. And at the end it was about 80% B&W and 20% colour, I am wondering if that's too much, may be more like 70/30 or even 60/40 would be better.

 

[cjnicolai]

Raymond, that's one of those things you should always talk with your clients about ahead of time, to avoid having to redo your work later -- or in my case, being in serious trouble because I shoot B&W film.

Personally, I fall at about 85/15. You're right that some images very much require color, and that's how I base my decision. As long as your clients know how you'll be working in advance, you should be fine.

- CJ

 

[Raymond Lin]

Because I shot in RAW, even when it was B&W in picture styles it can still be in Colour comes post production. I found that in a lot of the situations, B&W works better. Mainly because of less distraction of "colour clutter", it forces (or leads) the eye to focus on the action and emotion of people rather than let some stray light or object in the background pulling the attention away, and sometimes people's outfits are just hideous.

The B&G saw some of my shots on another wedding 2 weeks ago and they like it, so I would expect them to like theirs too (famous last words).

 

[J Gordon]

I use both, b+w for the photo journalism shots, colour for the ceremony and back to black and white for the bride and groom shots. Generally speaking, black and white imo is far more flattering on peoples skin than colour which reveals every last blemish, not what the bride wants on her wedding day needless to say. Both have their merits in different circumstances, and you still cannot beat film!