Explain Yourself (Page 2): ...serious photography ... ... differing opinions that were more about personal taste ... Serious photography has been *always* about differing opinions! And...

TonyBot

[quote=katu41] [snip] ...serious photography ... [snip] ...
differing opinions that were more about personal taste [snipped] ...

Serious photography has been *always* about differing opinions! And you will always get, even within yourself, different opinions of the same photo. Not right away, but you will. (Don't forget, the revered Ansel had several different ideas - over the span of many years - of what his iconic "Moonrise, Hernandez" shot should look like".)

However, I agree with you about the B/W version being much better - in this case - than the color shot. The only distraction to me (again "personal taste") in the finished photo is that I think the perspective of the righthand most vertical has changed just a tad, and the building seems to be wider on the top than on the bottom. Again, personal taste has raised its ugly head, and differing opinions are showing!

But again, some folks like only black and white, some only like color, and some think that "it depends". So, who is right?

katu41

yorkiebyte wrote:

....Hmmm.. Looks to be Very squared up to me. side to side, all vertical with no keystoneing (sp?). At least to my eyes on my PC monitor.

Oops... I see this has been answered... I suffer from O.A.S. (Old And Slow)

Thanks for having my back.

katu41

[quote=TonyBot]

katu41 wrote:

snip ...serious photography ... snip ... br d... (show quote)

I used a minor amount of distortion correction on the right side because you could see the leaning vertical line. If the top is slightly larger than the bottom I'm not sure I have the skill to correct.

timcc Loc: Virginia

Although I like the processed color shot, the B&W conversion makes for a more dramatic image. I think eliminating the birds was a good move. The positions of the people are not the best, but I normally like to have one or two people in pictures like this to give a sense of scale. Nicely done.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Looks great in black and white!

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Wonderful capture to begin with and the B&W provides a dramatic impact by taking away all distractions. However, what I liked the most was your very interesting and informative explanation of your thought process.

jayluber Loc: Phoenix, AZ

Hmmm.. I kinda like the color version when edited a bit. The BW one has the halo around the building that I find distracting. I tried de-saturating original in PS and got similar without the halo. I was playing with a download and really like the photo. I love the hints of pink or brown and blue in the material. I think the BW looses a bit of the detail I find so attractive.
I also seem to think the different colored building in the back seems to bring the subject building forward a bit and almost frames it.

Just my HO. Great shot either way.

tommystrat Loc: Bigfork, Montana

The b&w is by far the most dramatic, but the color version with processing adds a dimension of "old and new" that I find appealing. My biggest issue with the b&w is the halo around the building - could be an interesting effect but I don't think it works here for me. Overall, I love images like this of buildings, patterns, age, etc. and your work is very well done. As far as your request for which image works best absent personal opinion, I'm afraid I can't make that distinction - that one is yours to make!

katu41

timcc wrote:

Although I like the processed color shot, the B&W conversion makes for a more dramatic image. I think eliminating the birds was a good move. The positions of the people are not the best, but I normally like to have one or two people in pictures like this to give a sense of scale. Nicely done.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

katu41

jayluber wrote:

Hmmm.. I kinda like the color version when edited... (show quote)

This is why I posted the question. I appreciate your well thought out analysis. There are always arguments to me made on both sides.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

It does make for a very nice B&W photo. But, I do think that you've overdone the processing as evidence of banding in the sky and halo around the building. This is just because of the way you've processed it and can be easily changed if you start over with the original and convert it to B&W first. It appears that you've used the second (processed) image and simply changed it to B&W. The second image has the same problem with banding (subtle) and halo around the building.

katu41

UTMike wrote:

Wonderful capture to begin with and the B&W provides a dramatic impact by taking away all distractions. However, what I liked the most was your very interesting and informative explanation of your thought process.

Mike, I'm kind of getting into explaining photos. I liken it to someone who describes what tasting wine is about. You can throw out a lot of exotic words in an attempt to make someone else buy into your vision. But in the end, everyone gets to pick what they like for their own reasons.

katu41

jeep_daddy wrote:

It does make for a very nice B&W photo. But, I do think that you've overdone the processing as evidence of banding in the sky and halo around the building. This is just because of the way you've processed it and can be easily changed if you start over with the original and convert it to B&W first. It appears that you've used the second (processed) image and simply changed it to B&W. The second image has the same problem with banding (subtle) and halo around the building.

You have exposed my laziness. I did this while watching football last night. I never found this shot to be particularly interesting so I was not inclined to put in the time for careful processing. After receiving a lot of positive comments, I am thinking it might be worth my time to go back and do a better job. Thanks for your inspiration.

duane klipping Loc: Bristow iowa

tommystrat wrote:

The b&w is by far the most dramatic, but the c... (show quote)

The color version has the halo also which was used to create the b and w.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Being in the minority here, I prefer the processed color version. The B&W seems to have more contrast, but the colored one looks better overall. Zooming in, the color also looks better.