Why Black and White Photographs Are (Sometimes) Better

If you look at Google's home page it's very simple: really just a blank page with a search box in the middle.

The reason for this is that Google understands exactly what service it's providing, namely the best search engine, and anything that's superfluous to that mission has been cut away so only the essentials remain.

The same principle can be applied to a photographic portrait: what's essential is the expression of the human face, a look in the eye, a pose, the line, the light. And all of these essentials are shown in a black and white image, with extraneous information like the colour of a the sky or a shirt cut away.

Of course, when it comes to something like photography no rule is writ in stone, and lots of time colour is not just appropriate but fantastic. So while many people do like the 'classic' black and white or sepia look I always provide a choice so you can decide what suits best.

Children and Families

Like with most kinds of portraits, I always feel it's better to use a real setting even if it's just a backyard or the park. This allows for a more 'photojournalistic' type of style, and because the location is real everything just feels more...um, real. And none of those stiff poses or funky photographic backgrounds with the swirly stuff on them.

What's An Environmental Portrait?

When you hear that a photographer offers or specializes in 'environmental portraits' you might understandably think of something like what you see below:


But that's not what an environmental portrait is! It really just means the portrait's done in a real location or with realistic surroundings like what you see here:

A 'studio portrait' on the other hand is more like what you used to get each year at school: a shot of you just sitting there in front of a simple background. There's nothing wrong with this sort of approach but environmental portraits provide an opportunity to capture an aspect of a person's character that you wouldn't see with a plain old studio background.

Also: most people aren't models or actors, they aren't always at ease in front of a camera. Taking a portrait in a real setting while the subject is actually doing something let's them be more relaxed and natural, and that can make all the difference in the world between a dull portrait and a great one.