15 Before & After Images That Will Show You the Magic of B&W Photography

Black and white photography lets you see the world in a totally unique light. Bereft of any color, black and white images are abstract but mysteriously real at the same time. Photography began in black and white and progressed towards color but black and white photography has continued to charm photographers old and new alike.

Converting a photo to black and white could be as simple as removing saturation of all colors but that’s usually just a starting point. Tonal and contrast adjustments during post-processing play a huge role in determining the outcome of the conversion process. It’s equally important to understand which scene would work better in black and white than color.

Landscapes, portraits, abstracts, and street photography are some of the genres where black and white conversion can work really well by emphasizing the subject better and removing any distraction caused by colors. This post contains examples that show how a conversion to black and white can result in amazing photographs- placed alongside their original, colored versions. We hope that this will help you appreciate the black and white photos better.

If you’d like to learn how to create black and white images that stand out, do take a look at Kent DuFault’s bestselling guide on creating better black and white images. But for now, let’s dive into those before & after images that demonstrate the charm of black and white over color!