It’s a discussion I have with a lot of other photographers and cinematographers—color or black and white?
What are the merits of each? Is one superior to the other in terms of mood, tone, mis-en-scene, or their inherent ability to tell a story visually? The short answer: of course not. The long answer: color complicates all matters dramatically.
When you think of the color blue (in its vaguest definition), what comes to mind? How about green? Red? What about burgundy or Prussian blue? What about all over the variations in hue across your exposure range? What do each of these colors signify in your scene, and how do they enhance your intentions as a filmmaker or photographer?
Sometimes you just get a gut feeling about an image and know that it should be captured in black and white; sometimes you get a strong feeling about a color and you cannot possibly let it go unseen that way. When it comes to some of my haiku, I do feel that some are better suited to one format or the other, but I also enjoy mixing them as seen in my test of the Panasonic GH5s. With this one, An Old Friend, my intention was black and white, but I couldn’t help processing a color version. The warm tones of the dormant foliage felt like a dynamic contrast to the season in which it was shot. What this means, I suppose, is up to the viewer.
Enjoy some more abstract oddities!