Opinion: B/W or Color??

Hikin' Mike

HELP!! I'm trying to decide which one of these I like. I'm leading towards the B/W because of the artistic feel to it, but I do think the color has some merit as well.

Thanks in advance!

behr655

That's a tough one Mike. They're both nice but I lean to the color one.


Bear

grimace

Hard Choice!!
Both are great but I'm leaning toward the color shot. It really shows off the time of day and gives off a warm feeling which is missing in the black and white shot.

-Adam

www.adamstravelphotography.com

Francois

Yup, colour one for me too. Also because I feel the B/W one lacks enough contrast.... it is too 'even' for my taste. (But taste is 'personal' of course : ).

Kind regards,
Francois

elfving73

Great shot! Doubtlessly the color one!
The color one has more to "tell", so to speak.



Matty

Hikin' Mike wrote:

HELP!! I'm trying to decide which one of these I like. I'm leading towards the B/W because of the artistic feel to it, but I do think the color has some merit as well.

Thanks in advance!

ehughes

I'd have to go with the color..

Ed

Hikin' Mike

Thank you everyone for taking the time to make my decision even more difficult! Seriously, I really appreciate the feedback.

Techman1

Both Look Good, but...
Mike,

I like both of these a lot. Like others, the color looks the best right now. I believe the B&W would look better if you could pull out a little more detail in the darker areas. Have you tried to bring out more detail in it and add a little more contrast?

Either way, I'm sure they will both look excellent when printed! Good job.

Fred

Hikin' Mike

I'm going to work on the B/W processing a bit. B/W conversion is still kind of new to me.

Matthew Saville

Hikin' Mike wrote:

I'm going to work on the B/W processing a bit. B/W conversion is still kind of new to me.

Be sure you know about the Channel Mixer when you're converting to B&W.

http://matthewsaville.smugmug.com/gallery/407203

There's my best attempt at a tutorial on Channel Mixing, it's rather basic. But it should give you the general idea!


I recently read John Weller's article in OP and it REALLY helped me as far as composition, tone, and color capture go. He described a method in which you immiediately decide what you want to be the overpowering element in your photo: either color, texture, or shape. Of course these are just rough guidelines. If you want color to be prominent in your photo, then you need to expose exactly to do so. If you want shape to be prominent, then high contrast for example may be key, therefore out-ruling most color. If you want texture to stand out, then colors often end up subtle and smooth, and shapes only become distracting.

In your photo, the B&W version really really accentuates the sun shining on the bottom rock, which is vastly an element of shape, while in the color version it recieves much less attention and the eye wanders back into the shadows. Either route may be desirable to you, but you need to decide if you want to hit the viewer *pop!* with incredible shapes, and probably channel mix to B&W. Or, spike up the colors in the shadows a bit an really give it a rich, subtle feeling. Use "Selective Color", not "saturation". Try not to push saturation above 15% or so, in most cases. Usually selective color can really make a photo pop in ways you never thought imaginable.

Good luck!

Hikin' Mike

Thanks Matthew! I've got a friend who does graphic design and he's been helping me through CS2 processing. I'll check out your site too...doesn't hurt to get additional info.

This shot is actually a "portrait" crop of the original. I honestly shot this from a folding chair (I'm somewhat "handicapped" right now) from a larger distance while waiting for sunset at Tenaya Lake in Yosemite. I'm going to return in a few weeks I think to spend some time in this specific area.