Give me Black and White Wedding Photos any day!

I absolutely love black and white wedding photos!

They just look so good! And they're a perfect accompaniment to a black and white wedding theme.

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For more black and white photos, visit the gallery

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When photos are in black and white they're often moodier, have more feeling and provoke an element of nostalgia. Is this purely because it is in black and white? I'm afraid not!

The skill in taking black and white wedding photos used to be visualising how a scene would look with no colour (in the days of film).

With digital wedding photography the skill is judging which photos would look good in mono, and knowing how to achieve the best results in post-production.

The main thing I look for when converting a colour photo to B&W is the light. Photography is all about light, even more so when there's no colour.

In my opinion the most successful B&W photos need strong directional light i.e. you need to be able to see where the light is coming from. This will then create shadows, which also look gorgeous in mono.

A lot of B&W photos are dull, lifeless and flat. This is because of the lack of contrast, caused by lack of directional light. (I like to think of contrast as being the seasoning you add when cooking - it gives flavour and spice to photos!)

For example, photos taken under the shade of a tree probably wouldn't look great when turned to B&W.

Some photographers make B&W copies of all their photos, so the customer has a choice of every image in colour or B&W.

Others will use their judgment and expertise to decide which images will actually look better in B&W than colour, and not offer a choice.

(If your photographer is using B&W film you won't have a choice anyway!)

Another reason why a photo looks better in black and white is if there is lots of clutter and things going on in a background.

I think there were about 5 guys staying in this room on the night before the wedding - you couldn't see the floor for all their stuff! In colour this photo was messy, with lots of different colours drawing your attention, but you can see how B&W has calmed down this image and made the scene look almost peaceful.

(The directional lighting through the window provides some nice contrast).

Now you know what to look for in judging the quality of black and white pictures!

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