Fstoppers street critique

[RSL]

My opinion as a lowly newbie is that there is not such a thing like B&W being better than in colour or vice versa.

It is as the artist felt and presented it.

No van Gogh changed to B&W or Gustave Dore drawings changed to colour for me.
They are how they are.

BTW, the expressive power of some opinions here impresses me much more than the pictures themselves (!)

Hi Rab, When it comes to paintings and drawings I agree with you 100%. As Keith certainly knows, when you have a paintbrush in your hand you have complete control over the colors -- the colors that advance and the colors that recede, the colors that clash and the colors that blend. But the camera doesn't know the difference, so, many times color in a photograph can subdue the graphics. With a drawing, graphics are everything. Sometimes color in a picture can obscure the power of the graphics. I actually agree that in this case the B&W version doesn't top the color version. Then there's Ivo's opinion that the B&W version is "crippled." Interesting that most of his "street" shots are "crippled" B&W.

[Ivophoto]

Then there's Ivo's opinion that the B&W version is "crippled." Interesting that most of his "street" shots are "crippled" B&W.

In this case, the B+W version is crippled.
In other cases, B+W is the better choice.

I live in Western Europe, in this time of the year, the short days are mostly heavily overcast and the light is very flat. This is the moment I prefer B+W, it is a way to overcome dull light, certainly in combination with clever user of pre or post process filters.

B+W tools are sometimes a good choice, color tools are that as well.

Sticking to B+W sometimes results in boring images, same can be said to color images as well.

For me it is not a matter of ‘or’ it’s a matter of ‘and’