When people ask whether I prefer to shoot color or black and white, my response is usually "both!" Over the years I've gone back and forth a few times on which I prefer....but now that I've been doing this for many decades I realize that I need both, depending on the situation.
I see very little black and white photography these days. Perhaps it's because it's so easy to get eye-popping color using digital cameras and software. But my rule of thumb is that unless color is a major part of the image, it probably should be in black and white. Of course with modern digital photography one can simply shoot now and worry about the color/bw choice later on a computer. But perhaps because I shot film for 30+ years, I prefer to 'know' before I press the button whether this is going to be color or BW. In fact one of the reasons I love my Fuji mirrorless digitals is that I can choose from a handful of color or black and white 'film' simulations....and this is how I compose in the electronic viewfinder.
Over my years of film shooting I tended to shoot color slide film during the golden hours around sunrise and sunset and black and white negative film during the harsher daylight hours. On my recent photo raft trip through the Grand Canyon, I chose a black and white simulation for my daytime 'boat camera'....and color for the morning and evening side trips with the 'hiking camera'. Sometimes I get it wrong! A couple of my 'color' shots turned out to be stronger in black and white....and at least one of my 'black and white' shots turned out to be spectacular in color. The image below offered no second chances, however. This was shot on Kodak black and white negative film in a nameless slot canyon somewhere in southern Utah. I used a yellow filter and intentionally overexposed a little to bring out the texture of the bark on the cottonwood trees.
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