Jeson Clarke

The Debate Over Colorizing Black and White Photos

Black and white photos hold a special place in the history of photography. They were primarily taken during a time when color film development wasn't viable for consumers, and these pictures' lack of color hearkens back to a different era. Many people feel a sense of nostalgia when looking at black and white imagery, and even today, some photographers still prefer to shoot using black and white film to get that vintage feel.

In fact, black and white is so popular among photographers that clients of photographers often request special session work to be done using black and white film. Additionally, having photos transferred to canvas as a made to order black and white painting can be a cool way to share a moving and important image with the ones you love.

Colorizing Black and White

Even though black and white photography is popular, some people feel that colorizing old and historic black and white photos is a good idea. Today's digital image editing tools make it easy to add color to these types of photos, but not all photography enthusiasts agree that this is a good idea.

The Argument for Colorizing

People who are for colorization often cite that the process breathes new life into old photos and allows them to be understood more personally by a modern audience. Additionally, they argue that colorizing photos doesn't have to be a permanent process as it is handled digitally, leaving the original photo intact.

The Argument Against Colorizing

On the other side of the debate, some photographers believe that colorizing ruins the historic feel and taints the authenticity of the moment captured in a photo. They also point out that normalizing colorization could lead people to eventually forget about black and white altogether.

The Solution?

While there isn't a clear-cut solution to end this debate, one idea may be to create things like the aforementioned made to order black and white painting. Using photos to make a painting can shift the medium, and therefore the debate, away from photography and the question of whether original photos need to be altered.

Likewise, it may be advantageous to have a classification system for notating black and white photos that have been colorized, providing access to the original alongside the colorized version.

Author Resource:-

Jeson Clarke writes about art, painting and culture. You can find his thoughts at portrait painter online blog.