The Importance of Online Video Marketing

Posted on by SP Commercial

Designing marketing strategies is one of the most important ways of penetrating a product into a market wisely and effectively. Demand of a product depends on the willingness of an individual and the ability to buy the particular product. Todays’ market has very high competition. Same product is being manufactured under different brand tags. The company which has gained customer satisfaction is the leader of the emerging market. A company has to look into various factors for making its position secure in the economic sector. Advertisements and promotional videos play a very important role in making the consumer aware of a particular product. Online Video Marketing strategies are therefore very effective in building a consumer base.

Services like Google’s YouTube are one of the most efficient services of online video marketing. Following points will show how Online Video Marketing can build up your consumer base –

Videos can be more interactive

A Video is surely more interactive than a photo ad or a banner. Moving animated objects with sound definitely attracts a larger crowd of interest. Using these tools, people can get to know more about a particular product of their interests and compare with other firms manufacturing the same product.

For e.g. – Nokia launches a new phone into the market. Extensive banner and ad posters can never do the same effect when compared to a video posted in YouTube or an advertisement in T.V. People can graphically analyze the pros and cons of the product and take decisions accordingly.

High Portability and Cross Platform performance

Billions of computer users across the world can get access to the video anytime or anywhere without any performance issue. The invent of High-Definition Videos and advanced animations have added a treat to the eyes. Eye candy graphics on large LCD and LED T.V.’s surely attract people. Ability of the marketing video to run anywhere makes it highly portable.

For e.g. – The video made can run in both T.V. as well as the computer. A larger crowd is thus approached and thus people get aware of the particular product.

Startup of a small business

Many small companies need some startup endorsements and advertisements. Uploading a video giving a quick peek into all the products and services provided by the company into YouTube can give a kick start to the firms’ economy. Initial startup is required by all small firms in order to compete in the market dominated by the larger ones.

Google Search Page integration

Many companies have started providing services of making online marketing videos and integrating them into search engines’ pages. They guarantee optimized search engine results page one rankings. With reasonable pricing, these firms have really boosted up the economy of major firms in the marketing field.

Online Marketing Videos is really a nice strategy to build up economic and marketing strategies. Combined with quality service provision, a company can gain very high customer satisfaction and hence build up a respectable position and emerge as the market leader.

The Importance Of Video In Digital Marketing

Posted on by SP Commercial

Video marketing techniques are flooding today’s social media outlets and websites. These days almost any type of business would benefit from the production of a short video to introduce their products and services. Studies have shown that consumers are at least 64% more likely to purchase a product or service that has video representation. This makes establishing a personal connection with buyers through the means of video marketing a key element in the future of online marketing.

Impressions

There was once a time that attaching a picture of one’s products or services was enough to entice buyers. While images can most certainly enhance your business and communicate with a consumer, videos have a much further reaching effect on today’s media driven culture. People are presented with so much information that they have to make a decision about what they take the time to read and view. Video promotions will bring a clearer understanding of the benefits of a product or service. Consumers also find it more convenient to watch a video while trying to accomplish other tasks. Providing this convenience to the consumer has proven to be a highly effective marketing technique.

It has been estimated that somewhere close to 75% of business professionals watch promotional videos at least once a week for relevant products and services. At least half of the content is watched straight from YouTube.com. Of those that watch these online ads, half of them will end up visiting the promoted company’s website.

Live action ads are also more likely to be shared through social media outlets versus text based information. It’s been recently rumoured that Facebook has updated its algorithm to favour video posts above all other types of content. A business now has the ability to reach a larger viewing audience by creating or sharing memorable or funny videos. Video ads and promotions will entice a person to an emotional response. Most often, a person will share information they identify with the most, allowing your business free exposure to a potential clients friends, family, and followers.

Confidence

The rapid growth of e-commerce has resulted in more consumers becoming comfortable with the idea of making their purchases online. This makes it increasingly important for companies to establish an engaging and personal connection. Videos that welcome a consumer to the website (such as this one) gives an immediate association to the product or services. Naturally, movement catches a person’s eye and compels the viewer to pay closer attention. Websites that utilise videos to draw the attention of the viewer have an immense advantage over those that rely on simple text and images.

While techniques used for promotions are constantly evolving, consumer behavior still suggests that purchases are made when personal connection has been established. It is normal for a person to feel a greater connection to another person when they have the ability to read body language. Videos bring that association to a consumers mind and allows for greater trust and confidence in a business.

Not only is personal connection established through the use of this form of media, but seeing a product in action will produce a greater faith in its capabilities. The use of eye catching visual media will help a buyer feel more confident in their purchase. This brings trust and credibility to a company’s website and products.

Cautions

It has been proven that video content has increased conversion rates in sales. However, poor production quality may have the reverse effect on a consumer. Products and services that are not presented well can drive away prospective business. As with all marketing techniques, quality should always be of the highest concern. When creating video ads and promotions for your website, be sure to carefully consider your ad campaign. If you aren’t skilled or knowledgeable in video creation, contact a professional digital agency (such as CBO) who are video experts. When you have high quality media with appealing concepts, you can be confident that your business will achieve greater success.

Why Online Video is The Future of Content Marketing?

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Video is taking content marketing by storm, but you’ll have to do more than just make one to realise its full potential.

If it were five years in the future, would you be reading this article or would you be watching it? As online video continues its inimitable rise, it’s an interesting question to ponder.

 

By 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic, according to Cisco. Video-on-demand traffic alone will have almost trebled. Leafing through a swathe of statistics on the subject, I’m hard pressed to find any indicator that doesn’t suggest rapid growth.

With online video quickly becoming a key means for people to satisfy their information and entertainment needs, small businesses that fail to include it in their internet marketing strategies will do so at their peril.

Video is the future of content marketing. That is, if it’s not the here and now.Various studies show more than half of companies are already making use of the medium – a figure that’s predicted to rise as more and more realise the possibilities. Nielsen claims 64% of marketers expect video to dominate their strategies in the near future. It’s not difficult to see why.

When it comes to potential reach, video is peerless. YouTube receives more than one billion unique visitors every month – that’s more than any other channel, apart from Facebook. One in three Britons view at least one online video a week – that’s a weekly audience of more than 20 million people in the UK alone. Video can give you access to all this. Video done well can give you a slice of it. What other form of content can do the same?

The success stories of videos that have gone viral are legend. A recent campaign from Volkswagen, for example, saw a trio of its videos viewed a combined 155 million times. If such numbers seem out of reach for companies without 12-figure revenue streams, they at least demonstrate video’s inherent shareability. Engage viewers and they will share the video with others. They will spend longer on your website and more time interacting with your brand. For any social media campaign, any SEO exercise, video is without doubt one of the best tools in the kit.

It is naturally engaging and, in an age of information overload, it’s vital for small businesses to offer content that is easy to digest; if not, consumers will simply move on. Video does this very well. If a picture paints 1,000 words then one minute of video is worth 1.8 million, so say Forrester’s researchers. Little wonder then that Axonn Research found seven in 10 people view brands in a more positive light after watching interesting video content from them.

But is video really possible for small businesses? Absolutely. Production costs have fallen significantly in recent years and you no longer need to be a technical whiz to work out how to use it. Apps such as Twitter’s Vine, with its six-second maximum clip length, have dramatically increased the opportunity for businesses on a limited budget to get stuck in. Nevertheless, if you’re to realise a decent return on your investment, you will need to bear the following in mind.

Always consider the audience you are trying to reach and ensure the video is relevant to them. If it’s not the most appropriate means of getting your message across, you are probably wasting your time.

Do not neglect social media and be sure to promote across multiple channels. If you want to fully realise video’s potential, you must make it easy for users to find and share it. Don’t neglect mobile either. Ooyala has claimed a tenth of all video plays happen on mobiles and tablets, and it’s an increasingly important segment, with mobile phones holding 41% more share of video consumption at the end of June 2013 than at the start of that year.

Finally, be creative, not only with the videos themselves but in the campaign strategy you build around them. As my head of marketing likes to say, creativity wins over the cost of production every time. Get that bit right and video won’t just be the future of content marketing, it’ll be the future of content marketing for you.

It’s Auto Generators, It’s Very Easy!

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These days everything can be done online from buying movie tickets to buying furniture for home.Internet has brought tremendous changes in our life style. Every business should recognise this and establish their presence on the internet. Internet marketing is beneficial for all the types of businesses.

The Single Most Important Reason You Need to Be Online 

Consumers have too many choices these days and they have to be constantly reminded that you exist. The best way to reach them is where they spend a good bit of time… which is online,” Servis, a VP of Marketing with SnapRetail, firmly states.

And that, friends, leads us to the single most important reason you need to be consistently and efficiently using online marketing as part of your sales strategy… customers. Customers are online, which mean you need to be, too.

Build a better website and they will come? Not a chance. The value of your website will depend on traffic, and traffic depends on marketing. A website without a marketing plan is as useful as a toll free telephone number that nobody knows about. If you have an online store, or simply use your site as an information tool to communicate with existing and prospective customers or clients, you want to optimize the power of your website wherever you can.

 

Marketing Strategy in 2017: 7 Obvious Yet Important Considerations

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Digital transformation — it’s what’s on the minds of all forward-thinking marketers when it comes to the new year. What does this mean for you and your marketing team, though?

We’ve got some concrete tips that you can implement tomorrow, but will still prepare you for the coming digital transformation. In fact, these 7 trends will give you the focus you need to identify how to spend your precious time and resources in the ever-evolving world of marketing. Check out our video below to get the opinions of Fathom experts Jeff Leo Herrmann, Chief Strategy Officer, and Matt Brown, Director of Paid Search.

7 Marketing Trends to Prepare for in 2017

  1. Opinions and Original Research Matter – Don’t be afraid to break through clutter with room splitting statements.
  2. If You’re Not Doing Mobile, You’re Way Behind – Get the mobile help you need, because it’s no longer a question of if you’re doing mobile, but how well you’re doing it.
  3. Live Video is Critical – Facebook is prioritizing video in its feed and users are 10x more likely to comment on a video than other forms of content…need I say more?
  4. Make Sure Your Data is Precise – Data isn’t just the end product, on the contrary, it needs to be carefully built from the beginning to result in robust insights.
  5. Strategy is Essential, But It Doesn’t Have to be Complicated – Follow Matt Brown’s straightforward advice to ‘Have a plan, know the plan, do the plan’.
  6. Win the War for Talent – The key to success is people, not technology or strategies. Attract the best people by helping them grow and emphasizing purpose over profits.
  7. Social Media Continues to Drive Awareness and Engagement – Though you should never build on rented land, a strong social strategy of teaching and selling will result in engaged audiences.

What marketing trends are you preparing for in 2017? Let us know in the comments below!

Commercial Advertising Production Company Kuala Lumpur | TVC & Video

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Commercial Advertising & Video Production Agency Kuala Lumpur

High-impact advertising production for brands that want visibility, authority, and sales.

SP Models Commercial is a commercial advertising and video production agency in Kuala Lumpur, specializing in TV commercials, digital advertising videos, casting, and brand campaign production for high-growth brands across Malaysia and the Klang Valley.

We focus on what drives revenue today — premium video content, scalable advertising assets, and campaigns designed to perform across TV, digital, and social platforms.

High-Demand Advertising Services We Focus On

1. TV Commercial & Digital Advertising Video Production

Video remains the most powerful advertising format. We produce TV commercials and digital advertising videos designed to capture attention, communicate brand value, and convert audiences.

  • TV Commercial (TVC) Production
  • Brand & Advertising Videos
  • Digital and Social Media Ad Videos
  • Corporate & Company Profile Videos
  • Campaign & Product Launch Videos

Our production covers concept, filming, crew, equipment, and post-production — delivered with speed and commercial focus.

2. Commercial Casting & Talent Management

The right talent drives credibility and conversion. We provide professional commercial casting services in Kuala Lumpur for advertising campaigns and branded content.

  • Commercial Models & Actors
  • Brand Ambassadors & Spokespersons
  • Influencers for Advertising Campaigns
  • Kids, Seniors & Character Casting
  • Full Casting & On-Set Coordination

3. Advertising Photography & Campaign Visuals

High-quality visuals are essential for advertising, billboards, and digital campaigns. We deliver commercial photography that supports brand positioning and marketing objectives.

  • Advertising & Campaign Photography
  • Product & FMCG Photography
  • Corporate & Brand Visuals
  • Fashion & Lifestyle Shoots

Why Brands Choose Us

  • Based in Kuala Lumpur, serving Malaysia & Klang Valley
  • Focused on high-impact advertising production
  • Scalable solutions for brands and agencies
  • Strong network of talents, crews, and creatives
  • Commercial mindset focused on results

Start Your Advertising Campaign

If you are planning a TV commercial, digital advertising video, or brand campaign, our team is ready to support your production with clarity, speed, and professional execution.

Contact us today to discuss your commercial advertising production needs in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia.

Why is Online Video Marketing So Important?

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video-marketingaaa

  • Rising User Statistics: 93 percent of the 600 marketing professionals surveyed said they had used video content in 2013 and 82 percent of them said they found it effective, according to ReelSEO. Forty-one percent of adults in the US watch online videos. Just imagine how intense the online video usage for digital marketing will be in 2014!
  •  More Content In Less Time: The attention span of internet users is diminishing every year with the changes in the type of content shared online. Video is the type of digital content that is seeing an increase in its usage, while the length of each piece continues to decrease. People are also watching videos on the go and don’t want to strain their eyes reading text, especially when on a tablet or mobile phone. (NOTE: If your customer base is located in a place with slow internet/wi-fi connectivity, the scenario would be different and you must optimize your digital marketing strategy accordingly.)
  • Mobile Apps That help Share and Play Videos Are On the Rise: In 2012 and 2013 the average time spent watching videos doubled on mobile phones and tripled on tablets. Mobile phone chat apps, such as Facebook messenger and WhatsApp continue to captivate people and increase their worldwide user bases. Fifty billion messages will be sent in 2014 through these apps, according to ibitimes.co.uk. And most of these messages will be in a video format.
  • Storytelling Through Explainer Videos is a Rising Trend: The new trend of explainer videos that use either animation or actual people to do the storytelling has risen exponentially in recent times. Check out these 10 explainer videos from startups, listed out by Ben Davis. This type of video is perfect for promoting products and services because they are short, entertaining and convey your marketing message in a unique way.
  • Videos In Emails Improve Click Through Rates: By simply mentioning the word ‘video’ in an email subject line, click-through rates were increased by seven (numbers under 10 should be written out, and so should the word percent -AP style) to 13 percent, according to the 2012 Experian Digital Marketing Trend Report. You can find more statistics on email marketing via video content in this SmartInsights post.

Popular Video Formats

Some of the most popular video formats that generate user engagement or increase brand visibility are:

  • Video testimonials
  • Product demos
  • About us videos
  • Instructional videos
  • Video tutorials
  • Interviews
  • Animated videos
  • Creative videos with elements of humor
  • Celebrities endorsing the brand

9 Benefits of Video Marketing

Posted on by SP Commercial

Content, graphics, and customer testimonials are all important elements to getting your message across. However, to hold the user in place, you need additional reinforcements. Online video marketing, with its cost-effectiveness and inherent emotional connectivity, is the best way to engage your customers.

Samsung, with its careful and strategically designed video campaigns, managed to attract 200 million viewers in 2012. Similarly, YouTube recently released 40 video campaigns, attracting an increase of 136 million views. Finally, Mars’ videos of dancing chocolates, beat their competitors with their effectively designed campaign, “Just My Shell”.

If you are still uncertain about putting resources into video marketing here are the nine benefits of video marketing.

video-marketing

Cost-Effectiveness – A Key Factor

Good videos don’t necessarily require an extensive budget, as you can shoot with just your cellphone. Thus, you are able to display your products or company in the most cost-effective manner. And more importantly, websites such as YouTube facilitate video distribution and measurement in an easily, giving you an insight on behavioural analytics.

Additional Punch with Voice and Face

Written words and images carry value, but video captures and holds the reader’s attention. A face looking at you, a human voice conveying information, and the body language all added together make the campaign more personal and believable. A movement or a motion captures more attention than a static image. With video marketing, the concept advertised remains in the viewers’ memories for a long period of time.

Hit the Right Target

With the help of the right distribution channels and social media, video marketing reaches the targeted viewers in a short span of time. Viewers who are attracted by your message share your video by re-posting, re-tweeting, reblogging and tagging, thus helping you gain more customers.

Your Customers’ Time

Your customers spend most of their time watching videos. It is estimated that You Tube boasts more than 4 billion views a day. Also, 81 per cent of senior marketing executives promote their programs via online video campaigns. Therefore, if you want to at least stay on par with competitors, one of the best ways is through video marketing.

Showcase Your Brand

Customers are impressed by textual advertisements, but video give you recognizability. With video, viewers are both educated and entertained. Those who do not seek your product knowledge get entertained, thus increasing brand recall. This leads to greater interest, trust and the desire to learn more.

Viewed Anytime, Anywhere

Viewers watch videos at their convenience and place of preference. Online videos are easily viewable on smartphones and tablets. Thus, accessibility is a big advantage and videos are also environment-friendly (not wasting any paper).

Make it Exciting

An exciting video with a new theme keeps the viewer glued to the screen. Normal regular advertisements can easily distract the customer, so ensure that the videos challenge your viewers, making them sit up and take notice.

The Red Bull advertisement, wherein a skydiver plunged from the heavens with minimal protection propelled an already iconic brand into the stratosphere, drawing more than 192 million views in 2012.

No More Complexities

Videos explain complex information clearly and precisely when compared to textual ads. As a matter of fact, customers prefer demonstrations and story-telling trough videos rather than going through user manuals and lengthy documentations.

Your Place in the Traffic

Search engines such as Google and Yahoo among others have designed a search formula in which videos play a crucial role. With the right type of keyword selection, tags and descriptions, you get a higher ranking in search engines, thus increasing your chances of visibility. Remember that videos enable you to include lengthy keywords, which is not possible otherwise.

Audio combined with visual images ensure emotional affinity and has a compelling effect on the customer. These powerful images and messages make customers inclined towards the product or service, thus increasing brand loyalty and boosting sales.

Our Services

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Advertising & Branding

No matter how strong is your business, the quality and the efficiency of each advertising you did is very important to maintain your brand, and even gain more profits in the future.

Video Production

Not just TV Commercial video, each of your promotional proposes video must always reach the standard, to gain the trust from your clients to admit the quality of your Brand!

Professional Photography

Professional photography services and team is very important to empower your branding, and be outstanding among the billion photos that peoples see everyday.

SEO Website Design

It’s not just beautiful, but very efficient and save cost A LOT. NO need to spend more to ensure that your business is always in Top #10 in Google Search, even for a new keyword that just enter your mind.

3 Essential Ways to Sharpen Your eCommerce Product Photography

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The old phrase goes, “You should never judge a book by its cover,” but when it comes to shopping online, customers ARE going to judge your product based on its appearance. When customers visit your eCommerce site, make sure you display your products in the best possible light (pun intended) to delight your viewers, not repel them.

You want customers to trust your product, and how you portray your products on your eCommerce site directly influences whether or not they’ll buy from you.

One of the secrets to our success with eCommerce product photography is remembering some key factors that go into the specific photographs being taken. Here are 3 tips and tricks to help develop a product photography strategy that converts:

1) STICK WITH A CLEAN, CONSISTENT BACKGROUND

At Groove, we’re big fans of using Ortery equipment for small to medium-sized products that need to be photographed.

No matter what technology you use, we recommend using a clean, solid white wall or background. White is a classic background color for shooting product photography, but be aware of how it will contrast with the product and how it will display on your website.

If your product or your website color palette is predominately white, use a darker or textured background, or monochromatic fabric to add some contrast and make the product really come to life instead of blend into the background.

3 Essential Ways to Sharpen Your eCommerce Product Photography

If you’re shooting the same products in different colors, flavors, etc., make sure there is a consistency in how the images are shot. This means making sure products are against the same background, at an equal distance away from the camera and filling the same position and space within the frame. A uniform series of images gives an aesthetically pleasing appearance and adds a level of professionalism across your eCommerce site.

2) DON’T FORGET THE DETAILS

When customers shop around your site, they try to gather as much information about your products as possible. Since most online shopping limits your visitors to one of the five senses — sight — you have to make sure they can clearly see every aspect of your product.

Utilize a series of angles when it comes to taking pictures of your products — especially when it comes to products in the fashion industry. Think about how you look at shoes when you’re shopping online: You want to see the designs in detail, how the shoes look from all angles and the variety of colors.

Create a virtual experience for the user to explore all the options you have to offer by taking 360° imagery (an awesome feature of the Ortery Photosimile 200). 360° images allow the user to explore your product from various angles and help answer any questions they may have that couldn’t be answered if they were faced with only a single, static shot of your product.

Zappos does a great job of showing a wide variety of high-quality, dynamic shots of their shoes in the color options they offer, and they even allow the customer to zoom in to see the details of the design.

3 Essential Ways to Sharpen Your eCommerce Product Photography

3) SHOW THE PRODUCT IN USE AND GET CREATIVE WITH IT!

Does your product have any key features that set it apart from your competitors’ products? If your handbags are known for their adjustable straps and that’s something featured in the product description, show it off by taking a few lifestyle shots of your product in use!

A key skill in taking photography of any kind is being able to properly work with and manipulate the space around your subject matter, so get inside the mind of the user and get creative with it!

It can be a bit of a dance and a definite learning curve, but once you learn to embrace the space instead of fear it, you’ll find that it’s much easier to work with.

If you’re working with multiple items in your photo, don’t just lay them out in a straight line and expect your customers to swoon. It’s about positioning, choice of colors to include and disregard, and what you want your audience to focus on when they look at the photo.

3 Essential Ways to Sharpen Your eCommerce Product Photography

The next time you’re getting ready to shoot your products, ask yourself these questions:

  • What’s the most visually engaging piece of product in this photo?
  • What will get lost in the background if I don’t make it pronounced?
  • Am I highlighting the product’s benefits in the best way possible?

Through all of Groove’s photography endeavors, we’ve learned that you can take almost any product — from the blandly mundane to the flamboyantly dynamic — and make it visually alluring through quality eCommerce product photography.

In regards to your eCommerce website, it’s about creating content that is so engaging that every person who sees it will want to click on it to know more and ultimately purchase your product.

Why It’s Still Important to Shoot In Black And White

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We Shoot Differently When Choosing Black And White

Most photographers ask when should a photograph be converted to black and white. Rarely is the discussion around why a photograph should be black and white from the outset, and that’s fascinating.

While the “when” and “why” are related, shooting in color and then wondering whether to convert the image employs a very different mindset from setting out and seeing the world in black and white, and then working within those confines. Parameters of a world without color forces you to see things differently, to stretch and work out your photographic eye muscles, and that in turn pushes you creatively (at least in my experience it has).

Shooting with black and white film predominantly for the last 6 months has been one of the single most important aspects of my photographic development this last year. It has helped push not only my digital stills work, but I’ve seen the video work I do be shaped by shooting black and white stills. If you look at myInstagram feed or work going onto my Facebook page, you’ll see most of it is in black and white nowadays, with commercial work or video work creeping in from time to time.

I almost guarantee that if you spend some time shooting in black and white, you’ll start to notice some changes in what and how you shoot too. These have been the key reasons I’ve seen the change in my own work:

 

1. Color No Longer Distracts

Clothing, color temperature differences in ambient light sources, cars and colorful background distractions have stopped being an issue. I still focus on my backgrounds, but I care more about the relationship between my subject and background, rather than a distracting color. It’s freed up that part of my brain. Black and white allows you to begin to think about these key elements (lighting, composition, elements in and out of the frame) that you might otherwise not focus on as much when you’re thinking about making colors work together, or pop.

The color temperatures here all over the place here from multiple sources. I focused more on using some negative space to separate her silhouette and play with leading lines from the wall mounted slats.

The color of everyone’s clothing here was super distracting. Black and white allowed me to just focus on the interplay with people and light on a busy commute in Manhattan and pick out this guy in his shades walking determinedly to work.

2. You’ll See Light Differently

What you lose from not being able to capture beautiful golden hour light, you’ll gain back in focusing more on the direction, quantity and quality of light around you. Learning how to read and play with different elements of light in this way is a fantastic skill that parlays directly into shooting video or studio strobes too, trust me.

Light and dark and the interplay between the two contrasting elements can be more interesting to focus on than color relationships

Light and the relationship with your subject (and the shadows that form) as well as other complementary elements (like the lined pattern of this woman’s skirt) become the focus, rather than the color of elements in the frame

I liked how the subject’s head was outlined by the stark light of his room here, as he looked out onto the street.

3. It Helps Emphasize Emotion

Looking at someone’s face, or into their eyes, without the distraction of color can provide a stronger emotional connection to your subject. It’s not necessarily always the case, but if like me, you often feel more connected to a person in a black and white image over a color image, this could be the reason why. With color gone, it’s purely about the connection you have with the subject.

The color of the trees and shrubs, buildings and lamp posts are all irrelevant as the focus becomes the emotional bond between the embracing couple

If this was in color, you’d have at least 4 colors in the background and middle ground elements alone, excluding the colors of their clothing and bags. Instead I just focused straight on the split second connection between them as they share a kiss

The love and security this child gets from her mother is palpable. She briefly looked up and I took the shot, her eyes and the tonality of the skin tones here is really interesting to me for some reason

4. The Timeless / Classic Quality From Black And White

One of the most common reasons people want to shoot in black and white today is because it lends a certain timeless quality to the images. This is because we still think of black and white as being a throwback to the photographic past. Of course, it is in terms of black and white was much more prevalent before color, but this is still a great reason to shoot black and white.

This could be a look out of the 1950s. The color of the dress was more of a contemporary peach but without the color of the clothing or accessories, it’s more difficult to suggest the era

Here the bride has more of timeless look. In color, the tattoo and mix of natural and yellow chandelier light would have been jarring.

In New York, you’ll often see people dressed like they are from another era. Again, black and white provides a mystery for the era he could be from, especially as it has muted the colorful inside of the bus

Again this dapper fellow looks like he could easily have been out of the 1950s. Color in the subway, and the person in the background would have certainly not created as much ambiguity in the image

5. It Amplifies How You Use Negative Space

Negative space – the areas of the frame that have nothing in them, are easier to showcase and highlight when shooting black and white. This relates back to minimizing distractions from not shooting in color. You tend to focus on light and dark areas of the frame – and their inter-relationship. Playing with negative space is also useful in separating your subject nicely from the background and give added depth to the image.

Playing with negative space – and the elements in the frame – is much easier to visualize when you see things in black, white and greys

With a similar concept of reflection and negative space, a puddle can become a playground into seeing different spatial arrangements.

Fog atop Twin Peaks in San Francisco provides a great amount of negative space to juxtapose the two view seekers. Their clothing and other elements are muted as distractions because of the lack of color

6. It Highlights Shape, Form and Pattern In The Image

I tend to focus a lot more than I used to on the elements in the frame, both in terms of their shape and form, but also how they relate to one another. You feel like there is a world to explore when you see connecting elements in the foreground and background). Again, color would be distracting here – black and white simplifies the ability to see these elements and play with them.

Without the distraction of color, we see the interplay in lines and patterns between two museum visitors clothing and a background painting at the Met

A woman’s dark blue hat (here in dark black) becomes a key element in the interplay between her and the table at which she sits.

7. To Highlight Beauty and Skin Tones

It doesn’t matter what race, color or background you happen to be – black and white photography provides wonderful tonal range between the deepest blacks and the whitest whites. Garishly colorful makeup is no longer distracting.  Pigments, discoloration and distracting elements of the skin can become less obvious. It’s not hard to see why fashion photographers like Peter Lindbergh have built their entire careers shooting almost exclusively in black and white.

Simple natural window light bathe this young lady in soft light while a black board behind separates her from her environment and focuses our attention

Similarly, this darker skinned model has glowing skin really just from the natural window light and strobe camera right to provide some specular highlight to her skin

8. It Helps Focus On Composition

This reason (and focusing on lighting), are the two strongest reasons for me to shoot in black and white. Of course, composition is not color-dependent. A strong composition is a strong composition. The reason this is important is because – like the others points in this list – black and white compositional elements do away with the distraction of color. Suddenly elements within the frame can relate in a way that might otherwise have been throw off because of jarring color.

Without the background color to distract, here I simply focused on waiting patiently for someone to pass by the guy leaning on the railing to see if i could time a shot to get two elements in the fore and mid ground to match up at the right moment

The two men on Coney Island boardwalk balance one another without their colorful attire being distracting. The contrast between the dark lines in the wooden planks and railing also draw the eye through the image

Using negative fill and not having to worry about colorful clothing, this inverted reflection shot in the rain focuses our attention on the ghostly images walking in a strange, reflected upside down world

So What About Color?

The argument of not shooting black and white because it’s a thing of the past is a little odd to me, especially given that color photography is not necessarily a modern invention. Kodachrome for 35mm cameras has been around since the 1930s. The far more interesting (and possibly meaningful question) may be:“Why is black and white still so prevalent today, given we’ve been able to shoot color for so long?”.

I still shoot color and love playing with it, but I certainly enjoy the challenge and creative push from shooting in black and white.

Color has it’s place. Here, I shot an image with a Fujifilm 400 Superia. I just don’t think the reflection of the flag in the rainy table top would have worked if I’d shot this with the black and white Tri-X film i usually shoot

 

There are very good reasons black and white stills exists today. I challenge anyone not shooting much in black and white to at least shoot RAW and change the setting on your camera LCD to display those JPEGs in ‘monochrome’. See whether or not it yields any change in how – or why – you shoot what you do. The results might surprise you. And if you are shooting black and white, tag me and let me know so I can check out your work, and feel free to post up a link to something you’ve shot that worked in black and white in the comments below to share with the community.