When you are choosing a photographer for your wedding, be sure to find out if they are equally skilled at black and white photography, as well as color. While it is true that color images are perfect for recording all the gorgeous colors of the bridesmaid dresses, the flowers, and the wedding cake, nothing is quite like black and white for capturing the moments of a wedding. Read more about how to utilize black and white photos to truly tell the story of your wedding day.
If you are a sentimental bride, having some black and white or sepia toned images in your wedding album will give you that timeless connection to the past that makes weddings so special. You might even have fun with replicating a few similar poses to the wedding pictures of your parents and grandparents. They would make a fantastic display all together on one wall in your new home.
But don't think that black and white photographs are always going to look old-fashioned. In fact, contemporary brides can get just as much out of them as traditionalists. They are one of the best ways to capture close-up detail shots, such as the lace on the bridal gown or the feminine pearl tin cup necklace at her throat. The higher contrast that is typical of black and white images can really catch texture and light in a way that is diffused by the brightness of color images. When you want to get a great overall shot of the dcor of the reception room, turn to color, but for the smaller shots that help to pull the whole story together, black and white is unparalleled. Nothing else can do the same justice to the luminosity of the individual pearls in that tin cup necklace or to the artful frosting on the wedding cake.
Something else that black and white photography is wonderful for is getting all those special moments that make a wedding unique. Images of the bridesmaids laughing on the dance floor, the groom with a tear glistening in his eye during the vows, or a flower girl sleeping in a corner at the end of a long day, are all best captured in black and white. When pictures are in color, the play of hues is what really draws the eye, but when that element is stripped away, the emotion of a moment becomes much more clear. This is why no wedding album is complete without at least a few black and white images.
Not every photographer has a knack for black and white, so be sure to discuss it with any potential photographers you are interviewing. There is something about getting the perfect angle and the right lighting that can really make an image powerful, but it takes a trained artistic eye to see it as the moment is unfolding. In these days of digital photography, it is a snap for a good photographer to switch back and forth between color and black and white, so be sure to have some of your priceless wedding memories preserved in the powerful voice of black and white pictures.