See, a lot of people think black and white (or other duotone) can make a bland image more interesting, whereas I think it can make an interesting image more bland. A LOT of entries that have been entered as B&W make me want to see them in colour instead, though in some cases I agree it's a good choice for the photo.
I'm not a huge fan of B&W-for-the-sake-of-it; I tend to like it only when there's a noticeably high byplay of light and shadow or a fairly simple scene. B&W landscape photos, for instance, do very little for me but make me wish they were in colour, with rare exceptions.
This is just personal taste, though. I don't object to the notion of people entering duotones, they just won't grab me as well on average. |
