Where's the beef, where's the color???

[Seb]

After having processed it in colors, I felt like trying it in b&w...

Seb

[Anbesol]

your initial instinct was correct - color

[ube]

your initial instinct was correct - color

I agree. The color version is breathtaking

[Devin MacShawn]

OK, I haven't seen the color one yet but this one is beautiful. Love the exposure!

[Coastal Flyer]

Seb,

there is no doubt b/w serves a powerful purpose in photography but in this instance there is too much to be gained by the color. I prefer the color version.

CF

[Seb]

Thanks guys!

I fully agree with you. Coming back at them few hours later, the b&w now seems so wrong.

Seb

[photophorous]

Hi Seb,

This is a great shot! The only thing that bugs me about the B&W version is how the tone of the grass blends in with the ocean below. If you could do something in the conversion to lighten the grass or darken the water, that might help. If it weren't for that, I don't think I'd have a strong opinion one way or the other. (Probably because I'm a little biased towards B&W.) Your color version does have some very nice colors! The only other thing that bugs me is that the cow is looking out of the frame. It's a matter of personal preference, I guess, but I think it would be a better composition if the cow was looking the other way, or even looking out into the ocean. Very minor thing though. Great job!

Paul

[Devin MacShawn]

Ok, I'm jumping on the band wagon and I'll say the color one is better. I do like the sky better in this one though. If you get bored one day, bringing back the color of the grass while keeping everything else b&w.

[Broncosaurus]

In the original, the broad areas of basic colours is (to me) what made it a pleasant picture. Changing simple colours to b&w often just turns out kinda bland.
I hope you don't mind, I did some quick figiting with your original to add some contrast as a suggestion.

ps. I'm new to this site and not sure if this is considered rude or not. I'll delete it if you like.

[Seb]

Paul: Thanks for commenting. I agree that the grass tonality isn't ideal.

Devin: Thank you for the suggestion.

Broncosaurus: Welcome aboard! I really don't mind people editing my shots (quite contrarily). Some people here do but they usually specify it in their signature.
About your edit, I see where you are going and I like it although I feel that the effect is too much. I guess I'd like something betwen my rendition and yours. May I ask what you have done here exactly?

regards

Seb

[Broncosaurus]

Hi Seb,
When shooting b&w on film, you use colored filters to change the brightness of those colors in comparison to the other colors in the scene. It's been a long time since I actually used to do it so I don't remember the rules of thumb, but an example would be shooting white clouds against a blue sky. If you were to use a blue filter, it wouldn't affect the blue of the sky but it would turn the clouds blue. So when rendered into b&w all the contrast would be gone. So you would want to use a color (yellow, i think) that would make the blue darker without making the white darker in order to increase contrast. That's the principle anyway.
I don't recall exactly what colors I used with your shot, but in Photoshop I've been using Image-> Adjustment->Channel Mixer.

[Seb]

Hi Seb,
When shooting b&w on film, you use colored filters to change the brightness of those colors in comparison to the other colors in the scene. It's been a long time since I actually used to do it so I don't remember the rules of thumb, but an example would be shooting white clouds against a blue sky. If you were to use a blue filter, it wouldn't affect the blue of the sky but it would turn the clouds blue. So when rendered into b&w all the contrast would be gone. So you would want to use a color (yellow, i think) that would make the blue darker without making the white darker in order to increase contrast. That's the principle anyway.
I don't recall exactly what colors I used with your shot, but in Photoshop I've been using Image-> Adjustment->Channel Mixer.

Thanks a lot. I am starting to learn about filters. I still have a long way to go...

Seb