[Leica] B&W or Color

[jbm at jbm.org (Jeff Moore)]

2007-05-24-18:22:11 Harrison McClary:
> Thanks everyone for your comments.

I looked, but got distracted before commenting the last time.  Like a
cat.  Ooh, yarn!

> I think there is no real winner, I will leave both up.

No reason not to -- both work, in different ways.  The color one looks a
little like a cool snapshot you forgot was in the box you're looking
through... and I don't mean that as a putdown, that's a kind of magical
quality.  I also like the glow of the sunlight hotspots on the grass.

I still marginally prefer the original B&W to the color, though -- I'm
probably just an old B&W-loving fogie, but I like the more abstract,
more classic-photojournalistic look it has.  Maybe I also find it more
comfortable because its abstraction makes the sensuality of the
presumably-quite-young girl more remote.  But the brighter (in the color
picture, lighter green) areas of grass seen through the spray behind the
girl's upper body all falls into the same tone in the B&W, which I think
is a lost bit of eye-pleasing texture.

> I did take the advice on the B&W to burn and dodge 
> it so that it works a little better.  I left the original up and the new 
> one is at:
> 
> http://www.pbase.com/2plus2/image/79334452
> 
> Personally I think this one works the best of all of them.  What do 
> y'all think?

I'm afraid I think you went a little overboard on that one.  It's nice
to have the girl's face brought up a bit so it reads better, but I think
it's brought up too much -- something doesn't look quite right to me
about the distinct bright patch from face to belly, and I think the
slightly shadowed face imparted a mood which I miss in this version.  I
also find the really dark right side/rear fence both overdramatic and a
little claustrophobic -- the other versions seem to have a better sense
of the space of the yard.  In the plus column, I think you've recaptured
the varied tonalities in the area of spray beautifully.

 -Jeff M