Black and white or color?

SamoBiker · December 31, 2011

I'm normally a B&W guy but I'm not sure about this shot. Do you guys think it's better in color or B&W? Also any comments on the shot?

DSCF0120%252520color.jpg

lensmole · December 31, 2011

Nice image the B/W stands out well !

seastack · December 31, 2011

Man, you gotta love it when you find juxtapositions like that! Like it. The choosing the phone over the book is a subtle plus.

Forgive me if you have already thought about this but it might have been a bit better without the car in the background, and/or a person at the corner ... but you can get just so many blessings in a day. In addition to looking for juxtapositions like this, I also think layers, then layers of action. Another alternative would be a straight on shot without the street in the background, just the flat wall of the building. But these are small quibbles in an otherwise nice bit of seeing.

Personally, if I were to stay with color, I'd ease up on the contrast just a little bit to bring her out. I know the general tendency is for boosting contrast in curves but I think it can often be a mistake. I've gained a respect for the Portra look. You've got a perfect cloudy day to even out the tonal range so you can take advantage of that and show more detail in the photo. Personal choice.

If I was converting to black and white, I'd play a little with the channel mixer to increase the contrast in the hats sign. Yellow filter, green maybe?

Tough call between the two. I think it's often a sign of a good photo if it can go either way. If it was mine, I'd probably go with black and white. I know I would also keep coming back to it for a year or two second guessing myself. If you have a similar body of work that is consistently good in color (and it's often the case that some of these just won't work in black and white) then I'd say keep this in color. If you have a similar set in black and white, then go with that. If this is the best street photo you have, then this is a nice new bar to have set and you have choices going forward as you build a body of street work.

torags · December 31, 2011

+1 on cropping the pole. The B&W works for me

Nice grab

RSL · December 31, 2011

I agree with Mole and Rags that the B&W is the better of the two, and I also agree with Stack that some work on the hats sign would be in order. As far as the car is concerned, it might have been better without the car, but as long as the dog's looking in that direction, you need the right extension of that picture.

Quincy T · December 31, 2011

Definitely stick with the B&W, and while there are minor things that could be fixed this is really a great shot. Well captured, friend!

SamoBiker · December 31, 2011

Thanks for the feedback. I need to learn a little more about Elements before I can adjust colors in the black and white conversion like you mentioned. I definitely like the idea though. Seastack, you mentioned someone else in the picture. There was but I cropped them out before uploading. How did you see that, are you physic?

SamoBiker · December 31, 2011

Ok, I think I figured out the color thing. Here is another try with a slightly different crop to keep the table top from floating and making the sigh pop.

DSCF0120%252520silverfx1%252520copy.jpg

Richard · December 31, 2011

Better. The sign stands out more and the table base balances the light pole. I don't see that color adds anything to this shot, which I like.

rainbow · January 1, 2012

You are on the right track. Issue with later version is that the face is almost lost to shadow/darkness completely. So maybe need to darken the red a little less or bring up the shadows or add "fill" lighting some. Very nice shot.

torags · January 1, 2012

Better in the crop; I still vote for the removal of the car, to increase the impact of the supporting data points (hats & books); both of which supports the subject.

SamoBiker · January 3, 2012

Thanks for all the feedback. I still need to work on my photoshop skills a lot. I'm happy that I actually saw the scene. Now I just need to pause and think about composition before taking the shot.

Black and white or color?

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