Color Or Black & White?

I recently had the opportunity to return to the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning to do some photography. At times, deciding on color vs black and white processing (with or without toning) can be a difficult decision after photographing at this location. One of the benefits of black and white is that the Gothic architecture seems to fit with a black and white presentation very well. Another factor in favor of black and white is that the main indoor lighting is provided by powerful high pressure sodium bulbs, which give a strong yellow/orange cast to the image. To make matters worse, there are other types of lighting mixed in with the sodium lights, which often gives mixed color casts that can be difficult to correct, and which don’t necessarily look good in the image. A black and white presentation removes this difficulty.

But I was able to process the color version of today’s image in a way that removed a good deal of the color cast imparted by the mixed lighting and achieved a result I like. However, when putting together an entire project one wonders whether the overall presentation would best be in color or black and white. What do you think?

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© Howard Grill

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© Howard Grill

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