Can't Decide - B&W or Color?

[NateS]

I am really having a hard time deciding which version I like better on this photo so thought I'd see what the forums think. I have a way that I am leaning but I won't say just yet.

Feel free to vote or just leave a comment saying. I would like to know why you like one version over another if there is something specific.

 

[Make7upyours728]

i like the b&w version better, has a little of an eerie feeling

 

[Derrel]

B&W is preferred by me. In the color one, the lower parts of the sky have an odd magenta-infused look that looks "off". ANd I'd agree with the poster above who says the B&W version has an eerie feeling--it does a little bit. And I like that.

 

[RobinAK]

I'm going to go against the grain and say I like the color version better. When I looked at the BW I said 'if the color version has a cool colored sky or the gate that stands out that would be cool' and low and behold it has both!

Maybe you could photoshop it and get those colors to contrast a little more.

Good pic!!

 

[NateS]

Thanks for all the comments/votes so far. RobinAK - If I add any more contrast into the photo I start losing detail in parts of the image. This image had a fine line between decent contrast and losing detail and it is teetering on that line right now.

Per suggestion from another forum, here is the B&W without the tall poles and guide wire.

 

[MDWine]

Yep, for me, that's it. without the poles/rods it is a much more pleasing look...
Nice for me

I was originally thinking of using a graduated filter on the sky, but now I think not.
Perhaps just a tad bit of sharpening?

(but what the heck do I know? I know what I like!)

 

[Josh66]

Color for me.

 

[Kethaneni]

B&W for me.

 

[Derrel]

Well, Nate, removing the poles and wires removes one key bit of what's going on there, and that is the electric fencing. ON the left-most fence pole is a small, red electric fence insulator, and on the main pole, the round one made out of an old telephone pole, are three white, enameled glass insulators. The red insulator is "new"; the old, white glass electric fence insulators have long lost favor...what the original scene showed was a hayfield, with an electric fence strung inside of one fence line, designed to keep the cattle reaching through the barbed wire fence, or from literally "busting down" the barbed wire fence to raid the hayfield...

Imagine the metal pipe gates swung closed....this is where four,separate hay fields join. The electric fencing conveys "working cattle country", with cattle around.

I know that cloning out the two poles and the electric wire that went over the gate-way makes sense from a photographic sense, but what your photograph is about is the junction of four,separate hayfield or pasture areas...I know because my grandfather had a cattle ranch,and I am familiar with electric fence, cattle, pastures, etc....removing the poles and the electric wire changes this photo's meaning quite a bit. In its original incarnation, it looks like an active, working farm that has cattle on the property. With those items removed, the message is different.

The original photo could be an image that might be sold to American Stockman magazine, while the photoshopped image would be more of a simple rural scene without the cattleman's connotation. Not that this is a big deal, but there was a reason the original photo had some meaning that probably wasn't visible to those who are not familiar with cattle ranching.

 

[NateS]

Well, Nate, removing the poles and wires removes one key bit of what's going on there, and that is the electric fencing. ON the left-most fence pole is a small, red electric fence insulator, and on the main pole, the round one made out of an old telephone pole, are three white, enameled glass insulators. The red insulator is "new"; the old, white glass electric fence insulators have long lost favor...what the original scene showed was a hayfield, with an electric fence strung inside of one fence line, designed to keep the cattle reaching through the barbed wire fence, or from literally "busting down" the barbed wire fence to raid the hayfield...

Imagine the metal pipe gates swung closed....this is where four,separate hay fields join. The electric fencing conveys "working cattle country", with cattle around.

I know that cloning out the two poles and the electric wire that went over the gate-way makes sense from a photographic sense, but what your photograph is about is the junction of four,separate hayfield or pasture areas...I know because my grandfather had a cattle ranch,and I am familiar with electric fence, cattle, pastures, etc....removing the poles and the electric wire changes this photo's meaning quite a bit. In its original incarnation, it looks like an active, working farm that has cattle on the property. With those items removed, the message is different.

The original photo could be an image that might be sold to American Stockman magazine, while the photoshopped image would be more of a simple rural scene without the cattleman's connotation. Not that this is a big deal, but there was a reason the original photo had some meaning that probably wasn't visible to those who are not familiar with cattle ranching.

Very interesting points you make and something that never even crossed my mind. This is a working farm with a few dozen cattle (my father-in-law's) and I sure don't want to take that away. I was thinking about getting this printed and framed for my in-law's and in that sense, it would probably be better to have it in it's actual state...the way my father-in-law knows it.

Oh, and I'll be honest, I had no clue (until your explanation) what the long poles and wire were even for. Thanks for clarifying...for some reason it never even crossed my mind to ask my father-in-law.

 

[NateS]

Thanks for your comments Derrel. They really did change how I felt. I liked the versions without the poles/wire better photographically (though not by a ton), but emotionally I much prefer the version with the poles and wire. My father-in-law put those up to work his cattle so it all has a lot of emotional meaning. I'm sure he will appreciate the original state of the photo when we print it for him to have as a memory. I forgot to mention that their farm is up for sale and they are planning to move into town.....so having accurate memories means much more on this image and future images of his farm.

Edit: If you noticed, I put the versions with the poles and wire back up as those are the ones I plan to keep on my site and have printed.

 

[the Virginian]

B&W. The clouds are much more dramatic and the fence posts are more rugged than the color version.

 

[Derrel]

Whoa-----now you've gone back and re-posted the original shots, in both B&W and RGB color...and added more comments following up to my post.

I only raised the issue of the electric fence insulators and the "hot wire" because in landscape photography there has been this ongoing debate about cloning out distracting things, like a paper cup in a city landscape, or a barn or silo in a farm landscape. Now that the "original originals" are back up, my comments might seem odd, becasue the cloning out and restoring job you did was virtually perfect.

But, to a former farm kid...that electric wire is there for a reason--to keep those cattle away from the hayfield fences. In a herd, there is often one cow who is a fence jumper--always willing to break through barbed wire to get into a field of hay and pig out. However, one wet nose touched to a hot electric fence line will teach a cow through operant conditioning that it's just not worth it. Until one has touched a "hot" electric fence, it is difficult to describe the level of "persuasion" 110 volt AC creates. So, for a guy who runs cattle on that land, the area where the hayfields join, and the glass insulators, the hot wire, and the barbed wires and the pipe gates all has pretty significant meaning, and I'm sure to him it'll look better with the wire and the poles.

Thanks for taking my comments in the spirit in which they were truly intended. I think we all might have learned something about cloning things out of landscapes; even something simple being removed can really alter the true meaning of a landscape. Like jet trails in the sky... leave them in, or clone them out? Big topic among the landscape hard-cores...

 

[matfoster]

in landscapes, i think i generally only clone out things such as the tips of branches creeping into the frame, a plastic bag blown into a field, maybe a glimpse of a distant person walking somewhere in shot (bushes/woodlands or a castle ruin situation).

 

[NateS]

Whoa-----now you've gone back and re-posted the original shots, in both B&W and RGB color...and added more comments following up to my post.

I only raised the issue of the electric fence insulators and the "hot wire" because in landscape photography there has been this ongoing debate about cloning out distracting things, like a paper cup in a city landscape, or a barn or silo in a farm landscape. Now that the "original originals" are back up, my comments might seem odd, becasue the cloning out and restoring job you did was virtually perfect.

But, to a former farm kid...that electric wire is there for a reason--to keep those cattle away from the hayfield fences. In a herd, there is often one cow who is a fence jumper--always willing to break through barbed wire to get into a field of hay and pig out. However, one wet nose touched to a hot electric fence line will teach a cow through operant conditioning that it's just not worth it. Until one has touched a "hot" electric fence, it is difficult to describe the level of "persuasion" 110 volt AC creates. So, for a guy who runs cattle on that land, the area where the hayfields join, and the glass insulators, the hot wire, and the barbed wires and the pipe gates all has pretty significant meaning, and I'm sure to him it'll look better with the wire and the poles.

Thanks for taking my comments in the spirit in which they were truly intended. I think we all might have learned something about cloning things out of landscapes; even something simple being removed can really alter the true meaning of a landscape. Like jet trails in the sky... leave them in, or clone them out? Big topic among the landscape hard-cores...

Yeah, I really do appreciate your comments. I left the edited version about half way down the page so people can see the altered version...this should keep your comments to "make sense" since people can see both versions.

In all honesty, if this had been just some random farm shot, I would have left it cloned out as the particular farm would have no personal meaning to me. But with it being a relative's working farm, the more I think about it, I want it to look and feel the way he remembered. If he looks at the photo hanging on his wall 20 years from now, I want it to remind him of the way his farm was....not just a picture of his farm.

Not only that, but I never found the poles/wire to be all that distracting. It almost seems as though it draws my eye up toward the incredible sky in a sense.....so I could almost argue that it's a stronger picture as originally shot.