The Romans said: De gustibus non est disputandum. And they were right, everyone has his own taste. As the tends towards black and white, another will feel attracted to colored pictures. I could never choose between a good black and white and a good color picture. Every picture has its own character, its own soul and its own personality.
Usually, the moment I press my shutter, I'll see which photo will get the black and white conversion and which will stay in color. But sometimes it's even more difficult. I'm sitting there at my desk, editing a photo, pulling and pushing on contrasts and brightnesses, to reach the conclusion that after wasting a lot of time I'm still left unsatisfied. The image has character, but the soul isn't completely exposed yet. At those moments I just know, it's time to convert to black and white. And usually my feeling is right. The picture really comes to life and the soul of the picture exposes itself.
This is the creative freedom a photographer enjoys. He puts his taste, his style and a soul into the picture, until the picture, in his opinion, is perfect. Someone else will say, this or that had been more beautiful ... as I started this blog, I'll finish that: There is no doubt about flavors.
Here you can see how a shot screams for the color and the other comes alive in black and white.
