When you are looking at wedding photographers one of the things you might think about asking them is if you can see a full gallery. This is always a great idea and personally we are always happy to share a gallery or two with potential couples...and when looking through you'll likely see a good amount of black and white images scattered throughout the gallery.
We LOVE black and white images. As storytelling photographers sometimes an image just screams to be processed in black and white, and sometimes we will even know while we are shooting it that it will look gorgeous in monochrome!
Here are our top reasons we love to include black and white images in wedding galleries...
A snapshot in time
Wedding photography is about capturing little moments, memories, and preserving them forever. When we put an image in black and white, for us it gives a feeling of timelessness. It visually feels like a memory, something to be kept preserved.
It might be that black and white photography has that feeling because it was the origin of imagery both moving and photography, it gives us a feeling of vintage photographs and old movies. Whatever the reason, some moments really do seem more beautiful in black and white.
Showing the emotion
Raw emotion is something we see a lot of on a wedding day, whether it be tears or laughter, and emotion is often really brought to the forefront in a black and white image. You aren't distracted by the colour or patterns or the background, the focus is solely on the humanity in the image.
Enhancing the lighting
Something about certain lights, textures and contrasts just work so much better in black and white than colour. A photographer will often be heard saying that black and white can cover a multitude of sins...and this is true to an extent. So sometimes if the lighting wasn't quite right in a certain spot, or the shadows are a bit harsh, black and white can breath life into an image that would have otherwise been left out of the gallery.
The drama of it all
Honestly nothing shows off a dramatic sky or a silhouette style portrait like black and white processing does. Being able to pump up the contrast and embrace the shadows means that you get to really feel the drama in an image. Sometimes a location just feels so cinematic it needs a few black and white shots thrown in there.
Variety is the spice of life and all that
It is true though isn't it! A full day wedding gallery typically includes anywhere in the region of 500+ images and within that, having some black and white shots to break up the colour, add some emotion and spice up the gallery a little bit makes the visual of looking through the gallery so much more exciting!
Monochrome goes with everything
So not only do black and white images always look GORGEOUS printed, but think about it...black and white goes with everything! So when you are choosing some images to go up on your wall, honestly those black and white shots are a really great shout...because they will always match your home decor! Of course colour images look great too, but there is something so chic about a gallery wall of black and white photographs!
But what about that colour scheme I've worked so hard on we hear you cry!
Don't sweat it! Your full gallery won't be in black and white. Unless you would be up for that in which case we would LOVE to shoot a whole wedding in black and white!
Usually there will be more than enough shots (the majority of the gallery) to show all of the gorgeous colours in the wedding day. Where the colours are clearly the focus of the shot, they will stay in full colour, but where emotion or a cinematic feel is shown, we let black and white do the talking.
Sometimes we will include shots that are a little similar to one and other, but one will be in colour and one in black and white, like the confetti images below...Other times when we feel strongly that the black and white is the best way to display a moment there will just be the monochrome shot in the gallery.
So there you have it, our top reasons to love having black and white photographs in your wedding gallery! Keep scrolling down to see a few more of our favourite black and white images from past wedding galleries...
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