Tried something different last weekend at Manchester Chinese New Year.
Shot everything on the X-T5 with the 16-55mm, straight out of camera JPEG using a black and white film sim.
I don’t usually shoot black and white. Especially at something like CNY where you expect loads of colour. But the light was pretty flat, grey skies, not much punch. So I figured I’d lean into it instead of fighting it.
Honestly… it worked way better than I expected.
All the steam from the food stalls and the smoke in the air just pops in mono. The chefs half hidden in it, the layers of people walking past, the contrast between the white shirts and the dark background. It felt way more about mood and texture than colour.
Kind of forced me to think more about light and timing too.
Anyone else default to black and white when the light’s dull? Or do you still try and make colour work?
