Hi Todd, It's not just a question of what to include and what to leave out; it's a question of graphical balance, which in black and white includes tonal relationships. In color it includes the relationship between the colors, which is one reason B&W often outshines color unless you can carefully control how the colors interrelate. Warm colors advance, cool colors retreat. It's one of the things HCB talked about in his writings about photography, and one of the reasons he preferred B&W for street even when color was becoming available. If you're going to do B&W you can't do better than studying Cartier-Bresson's pictures which often are prime demonstrations of how B&W tones relate to create graphical balance. And in spite of the fact that there are people on LuLa convinced McCurry is involved in a "scandal," McCurry's color relationships are worth studying.
Then there's the approach that says "screw it," and produces wildly unbalanced compositions. That's okay too if it's effective. Usually it isn't, but sometimes it's worth a try.
