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Author Topic: Color or Mono?  (Read 3897 times)

AJMorris

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Color or Mono?
« 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!
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wolfnowl

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2012, 01:27:16 am »

If I had to choose between the two I'd go with the B&W.

Mike.
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shaunw

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #2 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
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Walt Roycraft

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2012, 08:11:16 am »

I like the B&W better.
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mac_paolo

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #4 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 :)
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Chris Calohan

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #5 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.
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ognita

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2012, 09:15:44 am »

I'd take the Black and White :)

alanb

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #7 on: November 10, 2012, 11:47:58 am »

A Magnificent shot in B/W.  Congratulations!

Alan
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Larry Heath

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #8 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
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Chris Calohan

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #9 on: November 10, 2012, 01:55:48 pm »

With AJ's Permission:



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.
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AlexanderB

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #10 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?
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Larry Heath

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #11 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
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rgs

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #12 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. 
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kencameron

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #13 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.
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AJMorris

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #14 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.
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stamper

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Re: Color or Mono?
« Reply #15 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.  :)
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