Old Barn - Color or B&W?

[Destin]

I've been wanting to photograph this barn with a nice sunrise for a few weeks now. Went out today and the sunrise didn't pan out as planned so I threw on my 6 stop ND filter to get some movement in the otherwise boring sky. Photo was taken with my D810, 24-70 G2 @24mm, iso 200, f/8, 121 seconds.

I'm not super happy with the composition, but I couldn't find a good way to include the fence and it looked boring with just the barn.

Planned to make it B&W from the start, but sort of liked the color version as well. Which do you prefer? Other C&C is also very welcome. Thanks for taking the time to look!

1.)

2.)

 

[zulu42]

Very nice. I voted color because I think it brings out more detail in the grass and barn.

 

[kalgra]

I definitely prefer the BW.

 

[ceemac]

I'm going with colour, probably because the blue fence wire really makes the picture stronger.

 

[Cortian]

Well, the sky's more interesting in colour and the rest is pretty much a toss up between the two, so I'm going to go with colour.

Also: Part of what makes old barns interesting, at least to me, is the the patina they gain over time, and this shot's too long to take full advantage of that. What you can see of it is more evident in the colour version.

 

[Designer]

color

 

[WesternGuy]

Black and white for me, but then I am slightly biased. I would, however, probably increase the contrast/Clarity just a bit in the B&W one.

WesternGuy

 

[vintagesnaps]

I think the blue is too vibrant and overpowers the scene (because there's not much other color there, just tan and brown). Actually, looking again, the barn looks bluish, especially the roof.

I'd go with B&W but try to adjust the contrast some. It just basically is a lot of browns, but there is some contrast there, mostly in the fence being darker near the center of the image, along the horizon line, and the small square of black interior of the barn. That's about all the dark there is, mostly once you remove color there's going to be a long strip of black/dark gray horizontally across the composition, and a whole lot of grays. Rather challenging this time of year I think.

edit - I almost think I might reshoot it sometime, and try framing differently to keep that post close to the camera at the bottom of the frame out of the photo. I'd probably walk around and see what other ways I could frame the scene.

 

[smoke665]

Don't get me wrong the B&W is good, but the color wins hands down, because without color, you leave out that last element of the composition - the Blue.

 

[vintagesnaps]

True, but I think that blue is too much of a good thing! With some adjustment maybe, or if the grass was green, it wouldn't be so overpowering. And the roof needs to not be bluish.

I think the original plan for a nice sunrise was a good idea, mother nature just doesn't always cooperate.

 

[smoke665]

True, but I think that blue is too much of a good thing! With some adjustment maybe, or if the grass was green, it wouldn't be so overpowering. And the roof needs to not be bluish.

Normally I'd agree with you, but as I said earlier, the blue is an additional element, every bit as important as the other elements. In color theory, cool colors ( like Blues) recede, and warm colors (like reds) advance. The Blue of the sky adds depth, while the reds (in the brown grass and building) advance. But there's more, normally a strong highly saturated blue will advance even if it's cool, but in this case the mix of earth tones forces it to recedes again. I say this is one of the better examples of color theory in action that I've seen in awhile. Great job @Destin. An interesting read on color theory How Colors Advance and Recede in Art - science of colour

 

[Peeb]

I much prefer the b/w, personally. I find the sky more interesting that way.

 

[Peeb]

I'm not super happy with the composition, but I couldn't find a good way to include the fence and it looked boring with just the barn.

Planned to make it B&W from the start, but sort of liked the color version as well. Which do you prefer? Other C&C is also very welcome.

I'd say it's because you're too far away from the barn, and including the fence doesn't compensate for much. Wide angles are for using close. A similar 'oblique' framing of the barn from closer in would be better. The perspective distortion of the barn leaning slightly away from the eye doesn't look good. I think to have that 'true' and the perspective of the fence slightly off instead. IMO the colour doesn't look nice at all. Oversharp, synthetic digital picture with a weird, blue cast and OTT sky effect.

Colors seem too hot, but I like the fence, and what is OTT about the sky?

 

[Destin]

I'm not super happy with the composition, but I couldn't find a good way to include the fence and it looked boring with just the barn.

Planned to make it B&W from the start, but sort of liked the color version as well. Which do you prefer? Other C&C is also very welcome.

I'd say it's because you're too far away from the barn, and including the fence doesn't compensate for much. Wide angles are for using close. A similar 'oblique' framing of the barn from closer in would be better. The perspective distortion of the barn leaning slightly away from the eye doesn't look good. I think to have that 'true' and the perspective of the fence slightly off instead. IMO the colour doesn't look nice at all. Oversharp, synthetic digital picture with a weird, blue cast and OTT sky effect.

Colors seem too hot, but I like the fence, and what is OTT about the sky?

No sharpening was applied; that’s just how sharp the lens/camera combo is.

I don’t know what OTT stands for.

The blue case is the color everything actually was. The gloomy sky with blue coming through put an eerie blue cast on everything. People seldom account for the fact that in certain weather conditions or scenes the blue of the sky casts blue onto the landscape. This is one of those times because the flat colors of the landscape are easily overpowered by the strong blue of the sky.

I could remove that cast; but it wouldn’t be an accurate representation of what was there at the time I took the photo.

 

[Derrel]

OTT = Over The Top.

I slightly prefer the color rendering of this scene.