The following appeared as part of an article in a photography magazine.
When choosing whether to work in color or in black-and-white, the photographer who wishes to be successful should keep in mind that because color photographs are more true-to-life, magazines use more color photographs than black-and-white ones, and many newspapers are also starting to use color photographs. The realism of color also accounts for the fact that most portrait studios use more color film than black-and-white film. Furthermore, there are more types of color film than black-and-white film available today. Clearly, photographers who work in color have an advantage over those who work in black-and-white.
Discuss how well reasoned... etc.
The author concludes that photographers who work in color hold a competitive advantage over those who work in black-and-white. To support this conclusion, the author claims that the greater realism of color accounts for its predominant use in magazines and portraits. The author also points out that newspapers now use color photographs, and that there are more types of color film than black-and-white film available today. This argument is problematic in several important respects.
First, the argument unfairly assumes that working in color is necessary in order to gain an advantage. The author identifies only two areasmagazine and portrait photographywhere color predominates. It is possible that the overall demand for black-and-white photography remains high. Moreover, the author provides no evidence that the realism of color photography is the reason for its predominance. The predominant use of color may be due to other factorssuch as consumer preferences or relative costs of filmwhich might change at any time.
