Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: AJMorris on November 10, 2012, 01:19:45 am

Title: Color or Mono?
Post by: AJMorris on November 10, 2012, 01:19:45 am
I captured this one last winter and am having a hard time deciding between color or B&W... im leaning toward B&W but thought id ask for opinions. thanks in advance!
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: wolfnowl on November 10, 2012, 01:27:16 am
If I had to choose between the two I'd go with the B&W.

Mike.
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: shaunw on November 10, 2012, 03:39:02 am
It's a tight call...but for me the the essentially cloudless sky can be handled/processed better in mono and the foreground you have looks very nice in mono as well.

Shaun
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: Walt Roycraft on November 10, 2012, 08:11:16 am
I like the B&W better.
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: mac_paolo on November 10, 2012, 08:33:52 am
Color if you ad a little saturation to the greens while tinting them towards the blue, just a touch.
B&W otherwise :)
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: Chris Calohan on November 10, 2012, 08:35:06 am
I too like the B&W version better but wonder if you could go back into your channels and reowrk some of the greens and yellows to make them snap a bit more against the backdrop and in the log, against the darker parts. Just a thought.
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: ognita on November 10, 2012, 09:15:44 am
I'd take the Black and White :)
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: alanb on November 10, 2012, 11:47:58 am
A Magnificent shot in B/W.  Congratulations!

Alan
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: Larry Heath on November 10, 2012, 01:46:12 pm
I really like them both, I love B&W photos, but, this time I think as is, the color photo seems to me to have a very slightly better apparent separation between the top of the mountain and the sky than the B&W version. I kind of like the top half in color and the bottom half in monochrome. How about processing the files as a cyanotype?

Later Larry
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: Chris Calohan on November 10, 2012, 01:55:48 pm
With AJ's Permission:

(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8486/8171957745_26d0212060_o.jpg)

On this edit, I played a bit with the yellow and red sliders and did a selection on the bottom half of the image and gave it a bit of a punch.
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: AlexanderB on November 10, 2012, 02:29:15 pm
If I had to choose between the two I'd go with the B&W.

Mike.

I don't understand guys why choose the B&W?
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: Larry Heath on November 10, 2012, 02:42:40 pm
Chrisc's version seems to give a good bit more presents to the stump and helps with the river ice leading the eye into the scene. Very good. This version wins.

Later Larry
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: rgs on November 10, 2012, 04:57:21 pm
As a long time 4x5 zone system photographer, I grew up on B&W and love the almost tactile sense of a finely printed image that seems to want to draw you deep into the paper. Unfortunately, I have rarely seen that from digital B&W. While I know good digital B&W is possible and completely understand the artistic value of B&W, most of the digital B&W I've seen just looks like a color photograph with the color removed. This photograph looks pretty good in B&W but I would work with the color version a good deal more first.

I used to hate printing color in my darkroom but I really enjoy printing digital color. On the other hand I much prefer printing B&W in the darkroom. It's just fun. Maybe it's the smell of acetic acid and the faint orange glow. 
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: kencameron on November 10, 2012, 05:32:48 pm
I like both, but incline towards the color. My only (and small) problem with the B&W is that it wasn't immediately clear to me what the thing at the front is. I wondered for a microsecond if it was a crocodile (far from home). The edited version improves this.
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: AJMorris on November 10, 2012, 06:10:55 pm
Thanks for all the input. When i processed this image for B&W I was focused on bringing out the texture of the stump, snow and ice in the foreground. To me it appeared a bit muddy and was in need of some attention. Maybe its personal preference but the thing I like most about the B&W version is the textures that are amplified compared to the color version. otherwise the image seems to be lacking contrast.
Title: Re: Color or Mono?
Post by: stamper on November 11, 2012, 05:47:58 am
Why make a decision as to what is "best"? Enjoy both of them. One doesn't have to be better than the other.  :)