B&W Photography VS Color, Which one is better?

People have been trying to add color to photos even before the advent of modern photographic film in the 1880s. With the passage of time, photography has become a respected art form. People have become accustomed to black and white photography and have developed and mastered what we now consider to be basic techniques. However, the advancement of technology and the popularity of color photography unintentionally caused a split in the art world.

Today, many photographers choose to use only black and white or color instead of the other. But the truth is that each technique provides a unique opportunity for artists to evoke different emotions in the viewer.

In this article, I will list the benefits of each type of photos and how to convert them.

Is black and white photo better?

There has always been a debate between black and white photos and colored photos. Many fine art photographers prefer black and white images. Because according to them, black and white images can reflect the natural beauty of a picture in a raw and unrefined way.

As per these fine art photographers, colored images have extra layers of vivid colors that sometimes hampers this raw look. Plus, b&w images also distance the overview and outlook the image from the hard-core reality. The black and white color effects make the picture more artistic and aesthetic which is always preferred by the fine art photographers. The old ‘Masters’ of photography shot in black and white initially, because they had no choice. Even though Kodachrome introduced the world of color photography to the world, it still pursues black and white. This is because black and white (and still by some people) is regarded as the purest form of photography.

Considering the above benefits, if you are now eager to create a stunning black and white picture, then Photoshop can be a good recommendation for you. As you probably know, Photoshop is a fully-featured tool. It comes with loads of photo editing effects. One of its photo editing effects includes the feature to convert colored photo to black and white version. For detailed steps on how to use Photoshop for converting black and white photos, please refer to the steps below.

How to convert a colored photo to a black and white version using Photoshop?

Install Photoshop and launch the tool

If you already have Photoshop installed, please launch the tool. If not, then please download and install the application first. Next, please upload the photo for which you want to change the color of the image.

Manage Layers & adding effects

Now, go to the Layers Panel; New Adjustment Layer option; click on Black White. This option will allow you to bring b&w color effects to your image. In addition to it, you can even play around with six color sliders, such as red, yellow, cyan, blue, green, and magenta. You can further use the On-image Adjustment Tool to adjust the specific color of your photo.

Save Changes

Now, save your changes! Your colored photo is now already converted to black and white.

Apart from using the Black/White Adjustment Layer, you can even use the Filter, Camera Raw Filter option to change the color of the image.

Why colored photo?

In the previous sections, you have already revealed that black and white photos are better and more artistic. However, these images often lack realistic effects. That’s why many people feel these images to be unreal and these b&w images can’t be related to the actual reality. That’s why these people prefer the colored photos more than the b&w versions.

Psychologists have discovered that colors can enhance personal visual memory. Through a series of experiments, the researchers found that compared with the black and white scenes of the same scene, the subjects recalled the color version of the image more easily. For example, a landscape photo with a green sky will not be as effective in the brain as a landscape with a blue sky.

So, if you are also one of them who believes that black and white photos can’t match the reality and colored version photos are better, then you have got an excellent recommendation here i.e. Picture Colorizer.

It’s a one-stop application using which you can create colored images from any b&w photos. The tool will apply realistic color effects to your black and white images based on its unique machine learning and pattern recognition technology.

How to convert a black and white photo to colored version – Picture Colorizer

The pattern recognition technology is indeed one of the greatest inventions of this era. Picture Colorizer tool uses the same technology in order to create a large pool of database. Once you upload a b&w image and wish to colorize it, the tool will go through its database and attempts to pick out a pattern that matches your image layouts and its objects. Based on that, the tool will apply the most appropriate color so that it does not look too harsh. The output definitely ensures high-quality outcomes.

  1. To use this tool, please download and install the application via the official website of Picture Colorizer.
  2. Please use the Add Images option to upload the photo that you want to colorize.
Image Colorizer

3.Click on the Colorize! option now and the tool will now start colorizinog your photo.

image colorizer

4.Play around with various other parameters of the image.

image colorizer

5.Save the final outcome by clicking on the Save As button. Here is the result:

image colorizer

The Final Verdict

So, there is no clear-cut winner! Both black and white photos and colored photos have their own benefits and importance. Plus, it depends on your individual choice option who prefers which photo the most.

About which effect is best for each picture or each work. Every photographer’s decision-making process is different, because each artist’s criteria and preferences are unique, and not all photographers agree with each other’s final decision every time. That’s just part of the fun!

If you prefer colored photos the most, then you can use the Picture Colorizer tool (the best software to colorize black and white photos). Alternatively, if you like b&w images more, then you can use Photoshop to turn the colored photo into black and white.

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