There is a persistent question in photography that never quite goes away:

Should this image be black‑and‑white or colour?

At the end of the article I added a video just launched on YouTube, with more examples and explanation.

Here I go through what I think is the fundamental understanding of this question. There’s also a video at the end explaining this with more examples.
Try comparing it with one of the fundamental parts of photography. What we deliberately include or exclude. It’s the same decision-making behind monochrome or colour photography. 

It’s often treated as a stylistic decision. A personal signature. Sometimes, even a declaration of seriousness.

The longer I photograph, the more convinced I am that this framing misses the point entirely.

Black‑and‑white and colour are not only styles. They are choices.

And every choice carries consequences.

The image is about colours. The story is colours. It’s a story about humanity and how we dress, but without colours this image would lose it`s story.
Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH

When the Question Is Asked Too Late

Most photographers encounter the black‑and‑white versus colour question at the end of the process. The photograph already exists. The moment has passed. The image is on a screen.

Then comes the toggle. Colour or monochrome?
When not shooting on film or having a monochrome camera, forcing the photographer to go in one or the other style, it can lead to a kind of laziness because the decision can be made later. Which leads to a closer look on what we may miss when not making up our mind before we shoot.

When the decision is made afterwards, it often becomes cosmetic rather than intentional. Maybe the black‑and‑white is used to rescue a weak colour palette. Maybe colour is kept because that’s how it more or less ended up.
The photograph hasn’t asked for either; the photographer imposes a preference after the photograph was taken and not up front.

The strongest photographs rarely work this way. They begin with a decision—sometimes conscious, sometimes intuitive—about what matters most in the frame.

What Colour Does (and Demands)

Colour is information.

It carries emotional temperature, cultural reference, and psychological weight. It introduces hierarchy automatically—some colours shout, like red and yellow. Others are more silent, like brown and downtoned colours.
Certain combinations attract and repel the eye regardless of subject.

This photo is all about colours. Red repeated in the car and the shoes. The story is colours.
Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH

When you choose colour, you accept responsibility for all of this.

Colour insists on order. It asks you to decide what deserves attention and what must be calmed. It rarely forgives indecision. A strong colour photograph is not one where colour simply exists, but one where colour is doing the work. 

Think of photographs where removing the colour collapses the image entirely. Not because black‑and‑white is inferior, but because colour is the subject. Without it, the photograph has no strength.

In these cases, black‑and‑white doesn’t simplify—it is just dull.

What Black‑and‑White Removes (and Reveals)

Black‑and‑white removes a layer.

That removal can be powerful, but it is never neutral. Try comparing it with one of the fundamental parts of photography. What we deliberately include or exclude.

Rome. The image is cleaned for colours and what is left back adds a simplicity and strong presentation of a situation.
Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH

By stripping colour, the photograph shifts attention to structure: light, shadow, gesture, rhythm, contrast. It can heighten emotion, not because it is nostalgic or “artistic,” but because it reduces the number of things competing for attention.

Black‑and‑white photographs tend to ask quieter, more distilled questions. They often feel less descriptive and more interpretive.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: black‑and‑white does not automatically make a photograph stronger. It only reveals what was already there.

A weak photograph does not become strong by losing or adding colour. It just becomes quieter in its weakness.

The False Comfort of Aesthetic Identity

Some photographers resolve the question by choosing allegiance: 

I’m a black‑and‑white photographer, or I work in colour.

This can feel reassuring. It simplifies decisions. It creates coherence in a body of work. But it also replaces intention with habit.

The risk isn’t working consistently; it’s outsourcing decision‑making to an identity. When style replaces choice, photography becomes predictable—not just to viewers, but to the photographer.

Copenhagen. Black-and-white let they focus on the white dressed couple, and add a certain feeling when stripped from colours.
Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH

The most compelling work often comes from photographers who allow the subject, the light, and the emotional weight of the moment to dictate the medium—not the other way around. Of course, this can be a difficult decision if you aren’t very experienced. And then, even photographers with a lot of images in the rucksack can be in doubt. 

Asking Better Questions

Instead of asking Should this be black‑and‑white or colour?, I’ve found it more useful to ask three quieter questions:

What carries the meaning in this image?
If it’s colour, black‑and‑white will weaken the photograph. If it’s form, gesture, or light, colour may be unnecessary—or even distracting.

What disappears if colour is removed?
If nothing essential is lost, that’s a clue. If the image collapses, colour was doing important work.

What becomes clearer when colour is gone?
Not more dramatic. Not more “artistic.” Clearer.

These questions slow the process down. They resist autopilot. They bring the decision back to intention.

This photo from Rome lives in black-and-white, and would be less impressive with colours.
The strength of black-and-white is that its simplifies and make the image stand out.
Leica M9, Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH

Choice being deliberate

Calling black‑and‑white or colour a “style” suggests taste. 

Calling it a choice implies a deliberate choice and security in that decision.
We can say it is made with responsibility.

Responsibility for where the viewer looks.
Responsibility for what is emphasised or muted.
Responsibility for what the photograph ultimately says.

The photograph doesn’t care which side of the debate you fall on. It only responds to clarity.

Deliberately simplify

The “One Lens For All” approach is about keeping something simple for a period until it gets into the bones and brain. Until one stops thinking about it, and just do kit.

Then you can take the next step. That’s why the “One Lens For All” approach is a metaphor and can be used as a reminder to keep things simple, and learn from it.

Using the ame lens for a period will help you learn that lens in and out, and how it frames in certain distances.
The same approach can be applied to colour vs monochrome photography.
Keep your eyes on monochrome for a while, even when you want to shoot colour. That forces you to understand the black-and-white expression. When you feel you master it, then you can move on.

Switching all the time; lenses, cameras, colour vs monochrome, only disturbs and confuses. 

Ending Where Photography Begins

There is no correct answer to the black‑and‑white versus colour question. And there doesn’t need to be.

What matters is that the decision is made with the photograph, not imposed upon it later. 

The choice serves the image, not the photographer’s identity. In that sense, black‑and‑white and colour are not endpoints. They are tools of seeing.

And every time we use them, we reveal not just how the world looked—but how we chose to understand it.
Does that exclude the possibility of ending up with an image that actually turns out great in the opposite version it was intended? No. 

Sometimes a black-and-white image can have the same impact as a colour photo. But in the case you end up with that, try saving one on your desktop for a week or so, and then swap for another week. Giving yourself time to reflect and notice if one of them comes deeper under your skin. It might help you make a clearer choice in future. 

At the workshops I arrange, we seek both colour and black-and-white images. You can decide to go just one way or mix it but I always recommend to stay at one choice, and go for it. Keep it simple. 

I will love to help you understand the differences and add more confidence in you on how to approach this and overall simplifying photography. I believe that everyone who approach photography without distractions will take better photos, and shoot more. 
There’s a list of workshops available here: https://www.mortenalbek.com/photo-workshops-with-morten-albek/ 

Watch the video too with more images and examples.