Color or black & white? When the medium becomes the message.

Does your publication print pictures in either color or black and white because of a production, rather than an editorial, decision? If so, you may be losing an opportunity to use either medium as part of your message.

How does color affect the point you are trying to make with a picture? How does black and white alter the message? Effective editors and designers ask and answer such questions at every stage of the planning and production process.

If most of your pictures are initially shot in color, it is always a good idea to see how they also might work in black and white. This is very easy to do -- all computerized photo-editing programs offer a "change to black and white" feature, which allows you to study both versions on your monitor, as well as print out examples for comparison.

For this column, I've printed out three sets of such comparisons from pictures I recently made in Southeast Asia with my digital camera. I'll evaluate both the color and black and white versions of each picture, pointing out the differences for communication.

We first look at a color picture of a Thai soldier inspecting his colleague as part of the Changing of the Guard ceremony outside the Royal Palace in Bangkok. I moved in with a telephoto lens to stress the circular flow of hands, arms and hats. Does the color version add more meaning to this picture? It is certainly more attractive. It jumps out at you. It makes the faces stand out as vividly as the body language. I like the shot. But that's not why I took this picture.

Black and white photography is a medium of abstraction, rather than description. It is less "real," taking things away from the picture so that the remaining elements can express meaning more effectively. In the black-and-white version of this picture, the emphasis shifts from the identity of the soldiers to their body language. It becomes more of a photojournalistic image. The colors are secondary to the inspection process itself: The interaction of these soldiers, not their identity, becomes the point of the picture in black and white.

Our next examples compare two versions of a portrait I made of a policeman in Hanoi, Vietnam. He wears an ornate, formal uniform, yet sits on his motorbike in a very informal manner. Which version best contrasts these incongruous elements? I think this portrait works best in color because of the vivid red and gold decoration on his uniform -- the essence of both authority and formality. The brilliant yellow wall makes his relaxed body language stand out all the more, as well.

The black-and-white version adequately documents his appearance, but does not equal the color print in communicating the point I was trying to emphasize.

Finally, let's compare the two versions of a seascape I shot in the harbor at Nha Trang, Vietnam. I happen to like both of the versions a great deal, yet each conveys a different mood and message.

I was able to shoot down on this scene from a high vantage point -- an upper deck of a cruise ship. I used a lens attachment to double the length of my telephoto zoom lens to make the boats in the foreground large enough to dominate the picture. The focal point of the picture becomes the boat closest to us, the one with a small figure sitting on its bow.

The dawn light contrasts the misty hills in distance to the richly colored harbor in the foreground. The color version emphasizes this contrast, the black-and-white picture does not. The color picture best defines the actual scene itself, with its green hills, brown earth, and fluttering red flags. The more abstract black and white version, on the other hand, changes the scene profoundly. The image becomes less specific and more universal. It is now a view of another time or place. Which version do I prefer? It would depend on the particular point I want to make, and the context in which I would use the picture.

Both black-and-white and color photographs offer their own advantages. Color can masterfully describe a scene. It is often more attention grabbing and realistic. On the other hand, color is easily prone to complexity and clutter. Black and white, if properly used, can hone down a picture to its essence by abstracting reality, often relying on the imagination of the viewer to fill in the details.

Which medium you choose depends on the particular message you want the picture to carry to the viewer. The medium you select can, in itself, often become an important part of that message.

Philip N. Douglis, ABC, is director of The Douglis Visual Workshops, now in its 30th year of training communicators in visual literacy, Douglis, an IABC Fellow, is the most widely known consultant on editorial photography for organizations. He otters a comprehensive six-person Communicating with Pictures workshop every May and October in Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona, Arizona.