In black and white there are more colours than colour photography because you are not blocked by any colours so you can use your experiences, your knowledge, and your fantasy, to put colours into black and white.
Anders Petersen
After any trip I like to explore how the photos I took might look in black and white. I never shoot in that medium, even on those occasions when I already feel it would be the best option, because it’s easy to transform from colour to monochrome but impossible to do the reverse in any realistic manner.
Perhaps because we were in Cologne with friends, perhaps because of the chilly December weather, I didn’t take as many photos as I might usually do on a trip. Certainly I took fewer street photos, which are often my preferred choice for black and white conversion. But I did find some, as I worked through my edits, that I felt would look as good, or occasionally better, in monochrome. Se here they are. A few you will already have seen in colour, and some you may well see in colour in the near future. All, I hope, will fit the bill for this week’s theme-free Monochrome Madness.
My feature photo uses a bit of fun selective colourisation, returning a spot of colour to an edit of an image that was, frankly, almost monotone apart from the red light even in the original!
Detail of west front, Cologne Cathedral
Detail of west front, Cologne Cathedral
Cologne Cathedral at night
Friends’ photoshoot outside the cathedral
A wedding shoot by the Hohenzollern Bridge
At Heinzels Wintermärchen (Christmas market) in the Altermarkt
Shola Ameobi, ex-Newcastle player, in a Brauhaus on match day (and happy to pose for fans like me!)
A sculpture above a camera shop
Building detail (I forget where!)
Somewhere on Hohe Strasse
Statue of Emperor Wilhelm I by the Hohenzollern Bridge
A cormorant by the Rhine
I visited Cologne in December 2025
44 Comments
equinoxio21
B&W works well with stone (and winter)
Love the statue above the photo shop.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – that photo shop sculpture was so realistic!
grandmisadventures
The picture of the facade of the cathedral at night is stunning!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Meg 😊 That was just a quick grab with my phone as I was passing so I was pleased it came out pretty well!
the eternal traveller
Cologne Cathedral is such a beautiful building and you captured it nicely.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Carol, I’m pleased you think so 😀
Annie Berger
You captured a magical shot of the cathedral at night, Sarah!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Annie 🙂 It’s so lovely at night!
ThingsHelenLoves
Finding Shola Ameobi on your travels, what are the odds?
Sarah Wilkie
When Newcastle are playing in that city, that evening? Pretty good 😀
SoyBend
The cathedral at night was a perfect subject to show in black and white. The sculpture above the camera shop cracked me up! 😀
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Siobhan 🙂 I loved seeing the cathedral at night!
Marie
You got great detail on your walkabout. I love the photographer!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Marie 🙂 Yes, that’s a great sculpture and a good marketing ploy by that camera shop!
Dawn M. Miller
Great variety!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Dawn 🙂
Klausbernd
Dear Sarah
I was born in Cologne, and I am happy with how well you documented downtown Cologne. Beautiful pictures 👍 👍
Thank you very much
Klausbernd 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much – it’s rewarding to hear that a Cologne native is happy with my record of the city 🙂
Monkey's Tale
For someone who didn’t take many pictures, you still have great ones! Love the little gargoyle ‘somewhere on Hohe Street.’Maggie
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Maggie 😊 Yes, that little cherub is rather cute!
Leanne Cole
So many different aspects around a similar theme, I like how you see things Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Leanne 😊 I could say the same about the way you see things!
Egídio
Architecture and portraits go very well in monochrome.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Egidio – I do particularly like street photography in monochrome 🙂
Teresa
Amazing shots with details caught perfectly in black and white. Love the Cologne cathedral at night and the facade details. And of course the street photography with you taking a shot of the person with the big camera lens.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Teresa 😊 But check the captions – that ‘person with the big camera lens’ is a sculpture advertising a camera shop!
Teresa
Looks so lifelike though. Love it!
Sue
Excellent images in B&W, Sarah, and some great light
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Sue 😊
Sue
pleasure!
Susanne Swanson
Gorgeous photos, Sarah! I love your shots of people, especially the friend’s photoshoot!
Sarah Wilkie
Many thanks Susanne 😊 I’d asked to take some photos of the girl that was posing and was quite happy with them, but in the end I preferred this candid shot of them checking the photos her friend had taken.
Anne Sandler
Sarah, the cathedral is beautiful in B&W. Also great street photography!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anne 🙂 As I said to Alli below, we were lucky to get some lovely winter sunshine on our last day to bring out those details on the cathedral, after the first couple of days had been rather dull. But it was December after all!
Alli Templeton
These have all worked really well as mono, Sarah. I’ve noticed that light seems to work particularly well, such as the way it plays off the trousers of the camera shop sculpture (I thought that was a real person!). The real winner, however, is the cathedral and all it’s beautiful stone carving. The detail on those shots is phenomenal and the light rather magical. Great stuff!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Alli 😊 I realised that camera shop sculpture looked like a real person (less so in the original colour however) so I made sure to caption it! We were lucky to get some lovely winter sunshine on our last day to bring out those details on the cathedral.
Alli Templeton
I had to do a double-take with the sculpture when I read the caption, and even then I thought ‘are you sure?’ 😉 Such a great photo.
Sarah Wilkie
Well, a great sculpture at least!
Alli Templeton
Absolutely! 🙂
margaret21
A nicely quirky City post. We went round an interesting and little-visited castle today, and I initially shot in colour. And then decided to go round again and do similar shots in b/w. I agree colour can be translated into b/w, but I don’t find such transformations to be as successful as shooting b/w in the first place. This may be because I don’t do post-processing?
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Margaret 🙂 Yes, you need to get involved in some post-processing for conversions to work as well as possible. I find I often fiddle with the contrast in particular, to boost it a bit, and sometimes the overall lighting. But I would do that even if I shot in B&W I suspect!
margaret21
One day I’ll have to get over myself and have a go at PP. It all seems a bit techie to me.
Sarah Wilkie
Simple tasks like contrast, exposure etc aren’t complicated, I promise! And there are free programs available to experiment with, e.g. https://www.adobe.com/express/feature/image/editor
margaret21
Thanks Sarah. I’ll have to have a play.