Hey Matt (and others) if it helps, on the SL2 you can do Menu > Image > jpg settings > saturation > Monochrome (Black & White viewfinder, even if you aren't recording jpg photos to your cards). Also, dude that photo of Elliott by the fridge in the background and Molly on the foreground is great! Like a friend of mine says regarding B&W photos vs. Color: - Imagine yourself retelling a story or describing an event to someone. How often do you mention color?
Thanks Matt. I love shooting in black and white. I still work with two film cameras that are compatible with my lens collection. Black and White lets the subject shine without distraction. It allows for minimalist compositions that provide graphic strength.
Thanks Matt. With all the light of summer sunrise and sunsets, it is great to have the reminder to go B&W on purpose. So instead of sitting in front of the computer during the hot afternoon, I played around with light, shadow, and patterns. Sitting at my west facing desk window for very bright, harsh, 4 pm sun on a cloudless 100+ degree day was fun making a still life with the patterns and reflections. Thanks for your pictures, insight, and motivation.
I've been shooting primarily b&w for some years now, even when I shoot digital/mobile, shooting with black and white in your mind definitely makes you think a little bit different when composing and in my case has been helping a lot with my style in general. That shot at 3:57 it's amazing and your t-shirt it's awesome are these little things besides photography that really makes a difference Matt. Keep up man your work it's amazing.
Matt, thanks for discussing this topic. I really liked the images and your thoughts. One thing I realized very recently is that if you put a red filter on an SLR camera, thereby removing every color except red and black, it feels like a good proxy for what the b&w image might look like when looking through the viewfinder. Of course then there’s the caveat of the effects of the red filter on the image. But I thought it helped me find better black and white compositions when I did this recently.
I need one of those shirts! Those were literally all my heroes growing up as a black skater. Really appreciate the video also I recently stocked up and bw film and after I finish off my color rolls am only shooting bw so this was good food for thought. Thanks Matt
As a teacher, trying to get my high school students to "think in B&W" is VERY challenging. They see color, they play with color (think video games and all things electronic) and that is all they know. Getting them in a darkroom and trying to make a print, they finally are able to see something they shot in B&W....but they still have issues seeing an image in B&W and what contrast looks like, what the tones will be, how the shadows play with the highlights. Great video...something I may actually use in my classroom to help inspire these rascals!
When shooting digital, I always tended to think "I can always convert to black and white..." When I went back to film, I still left a little of that attitude on the table. You've made me rethink this. Also a nice tip about sliding the contrast in post to its limit to help with composition and vision. I've been shooting for more than fifty years and I still find new things in your videos. Thanks! Andy
Clearly (to me) one of your most useful videos. The message is one that needs to be said and spread. I get annoyed when someone suggests to me that a particular color photo should be seen as a B&W. Thank you!
A good friend of mine who works in the VFX cinema industry and who is also a professional landscape photographer told me this about shooting B&W: light is colour and therefore, when you shoot in B&W not knowing what colours react to a particular lighting condition could make or break the shot. And his advice to me was in order to get better at taking photos in B&W, I should also take the time to explore colour photography. I am still digesting this information and although I see where he is coming from, I also now can start to appreciate more how light affects colour and how it renders in B&W.... I hope that makes sense. It's passed my bedtime here in Germany. Thanks, Matt for this video :)
I have two 35 mm, one loaded with colours film and the second with black and white film because like you say black and white needs to be shot with intent. Even when I used my digital camera, my best black and white were shot with the intent of a black and white final product
I have a project in mind for this coming winter, to force me to shoot more black and white! I am excited to encourage that switch in my brain to see things differently! Love this one!
Nice video. You hit the main points when working in B&W...composition is critical, you must have the ability to pre-visualize what the final image will look like and a person cannot simply take a color photograph and convert it to B&W and think it will stand up as a B&W image.
Cindy Dang - That’s a fantastic choice. I have been getting into film photography recently and used Ilford HP5 plus 400 as a gateway drug. It’s addictive. I have found film photography to be so much more rewarding than digital photography
Thank you for the great video Matt, it is very true that you have to learn to see differently when shooting in monochrome, certain colours turn out to be the same tone of gray; and you need to be mindful of that at time of shooting, because on film or in that M246, there is no correcting that in post, if you want one of those colours of gray to be different than the other, you need to use a coloured filter.
The longer the hair gets, the more wizardly your wisdom...🧙♂️😁 Nice video man! I played when a friend's monochrom for a bit, it's amazing. Great philosophy on the topic of B&W 👌🏼
Matt, you should go into more detail about how to see the tonality of light. I am easily thrown off by the colors in a scene and don't "see" very readily in pure light. I'd love for you to a video where you compare the strengths of identical color and B&W images -- what happens to the viewer's perception of shape, composition, texture, etc., when color is added or removed from an image.
My day job is shooting digital color but there is still nothing like the mindset of going out with just black & white(film in my case). I see everything completely differently and take different shots. Intention is very important! Great vid.
Thanks for this video, just what I needed to see. I’m about halfway through my first B&W roll of film (Kentmere Pan 400!) and am really trying to approach each photo op consciously and purposefully. Sometimes I find myself trying to “stage” a potential comp using my iPhone (setting the filter to monochrome) to see if it could translate well in B&W. Will def be adding to my personal criteria/“checklist” after watching this.
I made a ground glass protector from deep red plexiglass for my 4x5 camera . When I holding to my eye and look true it's help me to see in the b&w image. Actually if you're holding 1 or 2 minutes or repeated - your eye is start to get used to and and the red color almost like disappears . ( Sorry - English is not my native language ) Peter
I found it good practice to use a B&W profile on my Sony a6300 to compose my shots in real time monochrome. It really helped me understand the very things you talked about in this video which then enabled me to make a smooth transition to black & white film! Great advice as always and that is really awesome you got to try such a niche camera!
Spot on. Anders Petersen and Jacob Aue Sobol are masters with BW high contrast images. Although Sobol shot a series for Leica using a Monochrom, most of his work is done w T-Max 3200.
Really interesting video. I have started shooting a lot more black and white purely because i can develop it at home and document daily life. I find it a lot more forgiving, sometimes colour can be just a distraction rather than an enhancement to the image.
Wanted to shoot more black and white since color film was expensive in my area but the camera shop where I get film closed down during the pandemic, but I found out my dslr could shoot in black and white so to scratch that itch I've had for a few months I've been shooting digital but only black and white to try it out more. I've always relied on color and worried about missing the reality of the moment by not having color but theres just this atmosphere you get with black and white that makes it so cool and enjoyable to shoot and look at as a beginner. How nice for this video to come out at this time lol
I’ve fell in love with Polaroid Black and White film recently, it’s gotten so much better; and especially when combined with the SX-70. I’ve also tried out some Kentmere 400. Black and White is such an interesting way to shoot, even if family call me “old-fashioned” for shooting in it...
When shooting black and white, other than tonality, I look for shapes, patterns and texture. When I’m out shooting I will always have and extra film back and roll of Ilford when color won’t work or won’t be as powerful.
I shoot everything in the monochrome setting and usually when Lightroom converts it to color they look terrible. They really are such different animals. I love contrast and I prefer seeing the world in that way. Even portraits can be seen in the same way as architecture looking at shadows and angles and when mixed with facial expression and personality something kind of amazing happens. Anyway good show man.
I literally just walked in the door from photographing some work colleagues, at work with a Pentax K1000 camera and Tmax 3200 film. I agree the files that come out of a monochrom are the best B+W digital files Ive seen. Now if only the price came down a few trillion dollars!
As i can't trust my eyes with evaluating color, i chose to shoot only bw. Apart from being somewhat simpler and less dependant on the time of the day, it is also not how photographs are presented in our daily life by commercials etc. I think, that this is the biggest advantage, it. As for gear, i do not see any advantage in a monochrome camera, silver efex is just too good of a tool and you also can apply a color filter in processing.
Opposite approach which I am using: I try to avoid too contrasty looking B&W photos. I purposely select films which provide less contrast but more grey tonality. This might also depend on the shooting style itself.
I bought my M3 from KEH. I sent it back twice while it was under their 6 months warranty to fix issues it had. Around the end of the warranty period, I developed my first black and white roll (all the rest was shot in colour and developed by a lab), and I realized that it had uneven frame spacing. I only have one lens, so it has nothing to do with using different focal lengths. I contacted them through different ways (e.g. their website or the person that handled the previous issues) and they never replied back. I am rather disappointed and upset by their service. After having serviced and repaired the camera twice it still had an issue, and they ghosted me. Edit: I forgot to mention that the camera was rated as excellent...
Great video, haven’t shot B&W film in years. I have started to used the Fuji acros film simulation and tying to practice what you described in your video. Have you used Fujifilm simulation for b&w, and if so did you use a recipe you liked?
I always tell people that b&w should be intentional and not trying to fix a photo you don’t like in color lol. Also the same way people don’t watch movies in black and white as once did, I think that same way a lot of people think b&w is outdated 🤷🏻♂️
I feel seen! Haha...I was talking to someone recently about my work and they suggested I chill with all the black and white. Hahaha. Good video as always
I tried KEH and I now stayed away from them because of a previous lens purchase with faulty claims that it is in excellent condition. I am with usedphotopro.com as their customer.
I was once taught by Godwin. I retread her steps every chance I get. I did a video on Avebury where my shots were inspired by her work (but not nearly as good).
Great video! As far as the Leica Monochrom is concerned, it is a great camera, but far out of the reach of most photographers. The next best thing is shooting on black and white film.
To shoot in color and capture the essence of the subject can be done just like in black and white. But it is much harder - because of the presence of color. You need to be an expert photographer to do this. Steve McCurry did just this. Look at his color photos and you will know what I am talking about. You will not notice the color. He is as good as Dorothea Lange, Cartier Bresson, Delgado or Robert Capa in my humble opinion. His "Afghan Girl" can only be compared to "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange.
As a great fan of B/W IMO you should do another 1000 video's of B/W ;-) And your next problem is, YOU WANT TO BUY THAT CAMERA, just wait for a couple of weeks and get back to us hehehe
lots of people shoot B&W or convert their color shots in B&W because it looks better, cooler, more artistic... Yeah, sometimes it helps but they don't understand the purpose of B&W. You don't shoot the same subject, the same things. Color and B&W are two different things (imho). Most of the time, I use B&W films. It's funny when i'm outside with family or friends because, they always tell me, "look at that, take a picture, it's pretty", and I am "yeah, well, no, thank you" because I know it won't work in B&W. A beautiful scene won't always work in B&W.
The photo of Molly with her eyes closed, and your son in the refrigerator is the perfect representation of quarantine. :D
Using mirrorless camera with B&W profile on, visible in the EVF / LCD, can greatly help to visualise B&W picture, especially for beginners.
Hey Matt (and others) if it helps, on the SL2 you can do Menu > Image > jpg settings > saturation > Monochrome (Black & White viewfinder, even if you aren't recording jpg photos to your cards). Also, dude that photo of Elliott by the fridge in the background and Molly on the foreground is great! Like a friend of mine says regarding B&W photos vs. Color: - Imagine yourself retelling a story or describing an event to someone. How often do you mention color?
„Call it a Day“, haha perfect pun - loved it and the whole video, great work as always. Thank you.
so many good shots in here
Thanks Matt. I love shooting in black and white. I still work with two film cameras that are compatible with my lens collection. Black and White lets the subject shine without distraction. It allows for minimalist compositions that provide graphic strength.
Thanks Matt. With all the light of summer sunrise and sunsets, it is great to have the reminder to go B&W on purpose. So instead of sitting in front of the computer during the hot afternoon, I played around with light, shadow, and patterns. Sitting at my west facing desk window for very bright, harsh, 4 pm sun on a cloudless 100+ degree day was fun making a still life with the patterns and reflections. Thanks for your pictures, insight, and motivation.
I've been shooting primarily b&w for some years now, even when I shoot digital/mobile, shooting with black and white in your mind definitely makes you think a little bit different when composing and in my case has been helping a lot with my style in general. That shot at 3:57 it's amazing and your t-shirt it's awesome are these little things besides photography that really makes a difference Matt. Keep up man your work it's amazing.
Matt, thanks for discussing this topic. I really liked the images and your thoughts. One thing I realized very recently is that if you put a red filter on an SLR camera, thereby removing every color except red and black, it feels like a good proxy for what the b&w image might look like when looking through the viewfinder. Of course then there’s the caveat of the effects of the red filter on the image. But I thought it helped me find better black and white compositions when I did this recently.
Banger of a T-Shirt. Ray Barbee at the top of course!
Really love those videos centered around the craft and the intention more than the technicalities of photography. Thanks a lot!
I need one of those shirts! Those were literally all my heroes growing up as a black skater. Really appreciate the video also I recently stocked up and bw film and after I finish off my color rolls am only shooting bw so this was good food for thought. Thanks Matt
As a teacher, trying to get my high school students to "think in B&W" is VERY challenging. They see color, they play with color (think video games and all things electronic) and that is all they know. Getting them in a darkroom and trying to make a print, they finally are able to see something they shot in B&W....but they still have issues seeing an image in B&W and what contrast looks like, what the tones will be, how the shadows play with the highlights. Great video...something I may actually use in my classroom to help inspire these rascals!
When shooting digital, I always tended to think "I can always convert to black and white..." When I went back to film, I still left a little of that attitude on the table. You've made me rethink this. Also a nice tip about sliding the contrast in post to its limit to help with composition and vision. I've been shooting for more than fifty years and I still find new things in your videos. Thanks! Andy
Clearly (to me) one of your most useful videos. The message is one that needs to be said and spread. I get annoyed when someone suggests to me that a particular color photo should be seen as a B&W. Thank you!
A good friend of mine who works in the VFX cinema industry and who is also a professional landscape photographer told me this about shooting B&W: light is colour and therefore, when you shoot in B&W not knowing what colours react to a particular lighting condition could make or break the shot. And his advice to me was in order to get better at taking photos in B&W, I should also take the time to explore colour photography. I am still digesting this information and although I see where he is coming from, I also now can start to appreciate more how light affects colour and how it renders in B&W.... I hope that makes sense. It's passed my bedtime here in Germany. Thanks, Matt for this video :)
I shoot a lot in B&W, but it doesn’t seem to be everyone’s jam. Great content as always!
I have two 35 mm, one loaded with colours film and the second with black and white film because like you say black and white needs to be shot with intent. Even when I used my digital camera, my best black and white were shot with the intent of a black and white final product
I have a project in mind for this coming winter, to force me to shoot more black and white! I am excited to encourage that switch in my brain to see things differently! Love this one!
Matt, your videos are like my daily zen meditation for photography. Always gets me inspired to go take some photos.
Nice video. You hit the main points when working in B&W...composition is critical, you must have the ability to pre-visualize what the final image will look like and a person cannot simply take a color photograph and convert it to B&W and think it will stand up as a B&W image.
Great info. I’m a little obsessed with B&W and appreciate the perspective. I shoot with a vintage ‘82 Pentax K1000
Getting my first roll of bw film this weekend to practice, learning a lot from you! Thanks !
You’re going to fall in love!!
One type of film?
@@dflf I got the ilford hp5 !
Cindy Dang - That’s a fantastic choice. I have been getting into film photography recently and used Ilford HP5 plus 400 as a gateway drug. It’s addictive. I have found film photography to be so much more rewarding than digital photography
This is so odd I was just looking up BW photography for a few days so I can do it and now you upload a BW video, I love this 😍🙌💯
Looking healthy Matt! Nice do! Good to see you are looking so much better now.
Thank you for the great video Matt, it is very true that you have to learn to see differently when shooting in monochrome, certain colours turn out to be the same tone of gray; and you need to be mindful of that at time of shooting, because on film or in that M246, there is no correcting that in post, if you want one of those colours of gray to be different than the other, you need to use a coloured filter.
The longer the hair gets, the more wizardly your wisdom...🧙♂️😁 Nice video man! I played when a friend's monochrom for a bit, it's amazing. Great philosophy on the topic of B&W 👌🏼
Matt, you should go into more detail about how to see the tonality of light. I am easily thrown off by the colors in a scene and don't "see" very readily in pure light. I'd love for you to a video where you compare the strengths of identical color and B&W images -- what happens to the viewer's perception of shape, composition, texture, etc., when color is added or removed from an image.
My day job is shooting digital color but there is still nothing like the mindset of going out with just black & white(film in my case). I see everything completely differently and take different shots. Intention is very important! Great vid.
Excellent photos. Good session. Thank you.
Thanks for this video, just what I needed to see. I’m about halfway through my first B&W roll of film (Kentmere Pan 400!) and am really trying to approach each photo op consciously and purposefully. Sometimes I find myself trying to “stage” a potential comp using my iPhone (setting the filter to monochrome) to see if it could translate well in B&W. Will def be adding to my personal criteria/“checklist” after watching this.
I made a ground glass protector from deep red plexiglass for my 4x5 camera . When I holding to my eye and look true it's help me to see in the b&w image. Actually if you're holding 1 or 2 minutes or repeated - your eye is start to get used to and and the red color almost like disappears . ( Sorry - English is not my native language ) Peter
I found it good practice to use a B&W profile on my Sony a6300 to compose my shots in real time monochrome.
It really helped me understand the very things you talked about in this video which then enabled me to make a smooth transition to black & white film!
Great advice as always and that is really awesome you got to try such a niche camera!
Spot on. Anders Petersen and Jacob Aue Sobol are masters with BW high contrast images. Although Sobol shot a series for Leica using a Monochrom, most of his work is done w T-Max 3200.
Really interesting video. I have started shooting a lot more black and white purely because i can develop it at home and document daily life. I find it a lot more forgiving, sometimes colour can be just a distraction rather than an enhancement to the image.
Wanted to shoot more black and white since color film was expensive in my area but the camera shop where I get film closed down during the pandemic, but I found out my dslr could shoot in black and white so to scratch that itch I've had for a few months I've been shooting digital but only black and white to try it out more. I've always relied on color and worried about missing the reality of the moment by not having color but theres just this atmosphere you get with black and white that makes it so cool and enjoyable to shoot and look at as a beginner. How nice for this video to come out at this time lol
That Michael Meyers photo is so sick!!
I’ve fell in love with Polaroid Black and White film recently, it’s gotten so much better; and especially when combined with the SX-70. I’ve also tried out some Kentmere 400. Black and White is such an interesting way to shoot, even if family call me “old-fashioned” for shooting in it...
When shooting black and white, other than tonality, I look for shapes, patterns and texture. When I’m out shooting I will always have and extra film back and roll of Ilford when color won’t work or won’t be as powerful.
the shirt... so so good. love it mat.
Couldn’t agree more 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Wisdom. Less is more. Great insight man.
And yeah... Like everyone else I have hair envy. But then again I probably have less hair than everyone else too...
I shoot everything in the monochrome setting and usually when Lightroom converts it to color they look terrible. They really are such different animals. I love contrast and I prefer seeing the world in that way. Even portraits can be seen in the same way as architecture looking at shadows and angles and when mixed with facial expression and personality something kind of amazing happens. Anyway good show man.
Watch the movie “Roma” on Netflix, it’s a B&W movie set in the lates 70’s in Mexico , you’ll be inspired to shot B&W
Also, Manhattan by Woody Allen and a more recent Polish film called Cold War. Both are beautifully shot in BW.
Love the hair man
Great explanation!
Nice insight 👍
Know the feeling 'black and white can get messy real quick' 😂
The look on @mattday daughters face is priceless
Felt understood with this one
I literally just walked in the door from photographing some work colleagues, at work with a Pentax K1000 camera and Tmax 3200 film. I agree the files that come out of a monochrom are the best B+W digital files Ive seen. Now if only the price came down a few trillion dollars!
For me the biggest thing with b/w film is.. super high contrast shots exposed for the highlights
Swooning over the hair. Didn’t hear a word you said. Have to watch again.
Me too!
if you want to be more impressed, watch this th-cam.com/video/HrvstvaPc3k/w-d-xo.html from his archives
Best looking Dad i know ; )
Kinda crazy he wears a hat so often with hair like that.
that was his plan all along
more watch time and more views all while showing off his awesome hair
Great video and great T-shirt!
You had me at 5 and 3 y/o. Mine are the same age, shoutout to the photographer fathers.
As i can't trust my eyes with evaluating color, i chose to shoot only bw. Apart from being somewhat simpler and less dependant on the time of the day, it is also not how photographs are presented in our daily life by commercials etc. I think, that this is the biggest advantage, it. As for gear, i do not see any advantage in a monochrome camera, silver efex is just too good of a tool and you also can apply a color filter in processing.
Love the perspective!!
I have a Panasonic LX100, and I set it on square format and B&W setting.
Matt you're the man. Nice shirt. Great content. Great moves. Keep it up.
Opposite approach which I am using: I try to avoid too contrasty looking B&W photos. I purposely select films which provide less contrast but more grey tonality. This might also depend on the shooting style itself.
Your video on the Ilford Delta 3200 made me see b&w film grain in another way.
I bought my M3 from KEH. I sent it back twice while it was under their 6 months warranty to fix issues it had. Around the end of the warranty period, I developed my first black and white roll (all the rest was shot in colour and developed by a lab), and I realized that it had uneven frame spacing. I only have one lens, so it has nothing to do with using different focal lengths. I contacted them through different ways (e.g. their website or the person that handled the previous issues) and they never replied back.
I am rather disappointed and upset by their service. After having serviced and repaired the camera twice it still had an issue, and they ghosted me.
Edit: I forgot to mention that the camera was rated as excellent...
The colour rolls didn’t highlight the uneven spacing issue?
@@calvinchann1996 Yes but, because I also asked for prints, I did not look at the negative until I developed my B&W rolls.
DANG Matt I love that shirt bro!!
Thank you for this, I am about to shoot my first black and white roll after months of intimidation! Love your videos Matt
ur hair looks awesome
I’ve never had a good experience with KEH. Not horrible, but not great. Glad they’re helping out though
As always, very enlightening content ! (What a smart partnership) Thanks
Jason Lee (yeah, that Jason Lee) has a lot of great photos that aren't high contrast. His stuff is good to look into if that's more your thing.
phenomenal shirt, phenomenal video
No hat, really makes a difference.
I just bought some colour film after watching one of your older vids! Usually always HP5 .Not a criticism I love your channel. Thanks Matt
Great video, haven’t shot B&W film in years. I have started to used the Fuji acros film simulation and tying to practice what you described in your video. Have you used Fujifilm simulation for b&w, and if so did you use a recipe you liked?
I always tell people that b&w should be intentional and not trying to fix a photo you don’t like in color lol. Also the same way people don’t watch movies in black and white as once did, I think that same way a lot of people think b&w is outdated 🤷🏻♂️
I always told myself, if you have context you don’t need color
amazing video as always
I have a roll of Tri-X that I put through the Tiara in... February? and never developed. Maybe I should get around to that.
I had no idea Leica had a camera that only shot in black and white!
I feel seen! Haha...I was talking to someone recently about my work and they suggested I chill with all the black and white. Hahaha. Good video as always
Specs on that doo! You a pomaide or gel dude? Regardless great subject and insight.
I tried KEH and I now stayed away from them because of a previous lens purchase with faulty claims that it is in excellent condition. I am with usedphotopro.com as their customer.
Faye Godwin once said, "black and white is more about the bones, whereas color is more about the clothing of a scene"
I was once taught by Godwin. I retread her steps every chance I get. I did a video on Avebury where my shots were inspired by her work (but not nearly as good).
Bro, that hair though! great video as always, I really enjoyed your thoughts on B&W photography.
Great video! As far as the Leica Monochrom is concerned, it is a great camera, but far out of the reach of most photographers. The next best thing is shooting on black and white film.
Great word. Thanks for the vid
3:48 How I feel every time my 6 year old sneaks to the kitchen to raid the fridge for snacks. 😂😂😂
Love that shirt
That Michael Myers photograph! I need that printed for my wife!
Nice shirt man 👍
Just got my first b&w roll back from the darkroom. I'm not very happy with most of the results I got
THAT MICHAEL MYERS PHOTO! So sick
To shoot in color and capture the essence of the subject can be done just like in black and white. But it is much harder - because of the presence of color. You need to be an expert photographer to do this. Steve McCurry did just this. Look at his color photos and you will know what I am talking about. You will not notice the color. He is as good as Dorothea Lange, Cartier Bresson, Delgado or Robert Capa in my humble opinion. His "Afghan Girl" can only be compared to "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange.
I’m just here for the hair.
dope shirt!
Love that t-shit
nice to see your hair matt!! eheh
M6 and b&w Film is way better than the digital monochrom.
As a great fan of B/W IMO you should do another 1000 video's of B/W ;-)
And your next problem is, YOU WANT TO BUY THAT CAMERA, just wait for a couple of weeks and get back to us hehehe
That hair do looks like Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf.
lots of people shoot B&W or convert their color shots in B&W because it looks better, cooler, more artistic... Yeah, sometimes it helps but they don't understand the purpose of B&W. You don't shoot the same subject, the same things. Color and B&W are two different things (imho).
Most of the time, I use B&W films. It's funny when i'm outside with family or friends because, they always tell me, "look at that, take a picture, it's pretty", and I am "yeah, well, no, thank you" because I know it won't work in B&W. A beautiful scene won't always work in B&W.
To my eyes most subjects look better in b&w, unless the subject of the photo is colour itself.
5:15 perfect