Color And Monochrome: Dos And Don’ts Of Using It For Glamour Images
There comes a time when every beauty photographer faces a real dilemma. It sounds fairly simple, but evokes tremendous doubts. The issue is called “Color or Monochrome?”
Most of its history photography has been monochrome - and nobody really concerned about bright and vivid colors. beauty pictures were all black and white, still being distinguishable and artistic.
With colors becoming another vital factor of a picture’s aesthetic quality, beauty photography altered dramatically. With the help of digital photography anyone with little effort is able to reproduce all the abundance of colors, which seems a strong enough argument to stand by “colorful glamour”.
So, let us investigate this matter and find the solution to using colors and black and white efficiently and wisely. Just as almost any dilemma in Glamour Photography, this one is mostly about the artist’s purpose, not some firmly-established rules or canons.
Firstly, it should be clarified that shooting a good monochrome photo is just as challenging as if you aimed for depicting all the shades that exist. Should you consider either of them a no-brainer, you will suffer a heavy disappointment after some time.
No matter if you shoot in color or without it, light is still your everything. If you fail to make the right light, your image will be wasted, with no lighting accents and no emphasis of shapes, it loses the atmosphere. There is no way around it. No matter if you prefer to create colorful photos or position yourself as a conservative fan of black and white, you need to mind the lighting at all times.
The only distinctions are connected with the photograph’s impact upon the viewer, with each of the two approaches it is different. There are several issues you might consider on this matter:
- Color is very useful when it comes to emphasizing some details. A colorful image draws both glances and thoughts to it; you may find that composition can simply revolve around the colors of its primary objects; different shades create different mood and contribute to the impact a photo can have.
- Black and white puts more stock in texture and forms rather than different tones and shades. Additionally, monochrome reveals the subtlety of light and shadow so that viewers could perceive it directly. If you aim for a touch of subtlety and exquisiteness while wishing to retain and even enhance the artistic impact, monochrome is a precious technique. Besides, it helps to conceal unnatural colors and shades, so if your model ended up somewhat yellowish on the photo, you can always turn to gray-scale.
- Different types of monochrome can also help you make an artistic picture. Some glamour artists find sepia a very suitable way to traduce their artistic manner to the viewer. You might also try other techniques: duotone, infrared, high-key etc. There are countless tutorials online, so you can learn much if you want to.
- Another thing to do is combining monochrome and colors within one image, though this approach is considered unoriginal, it still can be used in a refreshing manner, can’t it? If you feel you can produce something fresh and original with the help of cliches, go for it. Viewers usually notice spots of color on monochromatic background at once, though unoriginal, they may look quite unusual, ergo attractive; gray-scale areas among the abundance of colors can also be useful for producing atmospheric work.
You must have realized by now that there is no right or wrong choice on this particular subject, as long as color and gray-scale co-exist, so long glamour photographers will enjoy their holy wars about what is best to use. Choice doesn’t even have to be made, as long as you can use those techniques efficiently to produce something of aesthetic and artistic value, you really shouldn’t bother. In order to produce a perfect picture, you should stop over-estimating gear, techniques and styles; they are not instrumental, it is only your vision and your skills that really matter.