Monochrome

The Importance of Black & White in Wedding Photography

Color is everything. Black & white is more
Dominic Rouse

Looking at the images on my website I realised that they’re all color photographs. I’ve chosen to do that because that’s how we are used to see the world.

Nevertheless, black & white photos are a big part of my job as a wedding photographer.

Here’s why.

Whenever I tell my clients that I will send them photos in both color and black & white, they always react with a shrug. It’s like I can see them thinking that they don’t need black & white wedding photographs but yeah whatever. 

Then they see the photos in monochrome and guess what? Those are the ones they decide to print out.

My point is that in this digital era we’re no longer used to imagine the world in black & white, and therefore we underestimate its power.
But removing color adds something greater to photographs, forcing you to look at images in a very different way: since visually you can’t rely on color anymore, your eyes will grab on to new elements such as light, contrast and composition. 

Or emotions.

Stripping away all the “unnecessary” information will bring your wedding photographs on another emotional level. Smiles and tears will be the focus of attention, not the clothes or whatever colourful element is around.

You see, color can be distracting.

Not only that: color photographs tend to feel dated, whereas black & white images have that classic look that will give your wedding photographs a timeless touch.

And ultimately that’s what makes for greater memories, isn’t it?