Using Black & White Photos in Scrapbooks

I think about scrapbooking a lot. (Many of you know that I was a devoted scrapbooker long before I ever considered making a hand-stamped card.) This morning I was surfing, looking for trends in this art form. According to Creative Market, and what I’ve observed elsewhere, there is a trend to using more black on our pages. That made me think about when I like to use black and white photos in my scrapbooks.

My first major project (in 2001) was a set of scrapbooks for my daughters. They were memory keepsakes of their first 13 years. Now and then, I inserted childhood photos of my husband or me, like this one:

Why would I use a black and white photo? The first (and obvious) reason is that it is all I have. My parents didn’t have color photos of me. (I know, I’m dating myself!) While I was happy to scan the original photo, I didn’t want to colorize it.

Because of the times, this black and white photo also supports a story. (My daughter used to refer to photos from my childhood as “the gray pictures”.) I believe that a color version of this photo would not have had the same impact on the scrapbook page. The black and white photo documents the date.

A third reason I use black and white photos is to correct bad lighting. I’m not a professional photographer. There are photos of people that I love, except that they are all yellow or red. Even using the Auto Correct feature on photo-editing software can’t fix these images enough. But if I save them as black and white, the problems magically go away. At least most of the time.

I’m not sure why, but using black and white photos adds an artistic flair to my designs! I have never completed a scrapbook page with black and white photos that I didn’t love.

So, the next time you’re up for trying something new, consider working with black and white photos. Let me know how you make out by leaving a comment below. I think you’ll love using black and white photos in scrapbooks!