2x2 - Colour or B&W

michswiss

This is a two in one question. Two shots (C&C please) that I like from today. B&W and Colour conversions for both. Help me understand if or how they work better in either format. Are the colours washed out in these too?

1) Hands

2) Supine

WhatSheSaw

I don't have a strong preference for either color or B&W in either one.

#1 doesn't have strong color in it except the blue shape in the upper right corner, so it doesn't really make a lot of difference. Except that the blue shape pulls the eye away from the hands. So maybe B&W is better.

In #2, there is blue coming from somewhere onto his skin and parts of the background. B&W drops this out.

craig_d

"Hands" works either way. The low color saturation in the color version is nice.

"Prone" I prefer in B&W only because I find the light coming through the blue-green canopy distracting.

Btw, the word "prone" means face down. This guy is supine. (The only way I can keep those words straight is to remember that if you're "supine" you're on your spine.)

seastack

Black and white all the way ) The first one is very nice.

michswiss

Thanks for the comments guys. It's very easy for me to fall into just shooting at night, high ISO and in B&W, so this is as much about practice as it is about choices between colour or B&W. As I look at these two in particular, I realised they aren't the best cases for a comparison. The colour isn't part of either story.

craig_d, I am now supine. Thanks for the catch.

bdcolen

michswiss wrote:

Thanks for the comments guys. It's very easy for me to fall into just shooting at night, high ISO and in B&W, so this is as much about practice as it is about choices between colour or B&W. As I look at these two in particular, I realised they aren't the best cases for a comparison. The colour isn't part of either story.

craig_d, I am now supine. Thanks for the catch.

Jen - The first is one of your all time best - and it works either way. It's a very strong, traditional kind of image in BW - but the color is not distracting in the color version because the hands are still the dominant feature.

Number 2 I have mixed feelings about. A darker, more contrasty bw version might be better than either of these. But it's an intriguing image. I'd play with it a bit.

cletus

Lovely shots

#1 color
#2 B&W

michswiss

B. D., cletus, appreciate the extra comments. I've gone back and done a higher contrast B&W of the supine man and opted for the colour on the hands. I thought the pink skin tone worked against the darker clothes, and you can see the ring better as well. But I've still got the B&W and might still change my mind. Prerogative and all that! :giggle

The updated version, as well as my other recent images are all posted in this gallery. A walk back to my flat, across Shanghai from the Moganshan Road art galleries to XinTianDi in Luwan last Sunday. About 4 1/2 hours shooting in broad daylight.

tortillatorture

i really like your "Walking-back-from-Moganshan"-serie.
nr2 and nr15 from the serie along with the color hand-shot you show here are my favourites,
truly nice shots, authentic.