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[yerlem]

Colour or B&W?

1.


2.



p.s I sincerely apologize if they are both horrible, I'm feeling very frustrated and need someone else's prespective...

 

[Jaemie]

I like the color version. The abstract composition is strong. Good color balance and contrast. My eye wanders a bit, but that doesn't feel annoying. The B&W version doesn't really move me, but that's mostly because I love colors in leaves. Good work!

 

[fjrabon]

I think the B&W is more abstract, as the lack of green makes it even less obvious what it exactly is in the picture, and thus the shape and form are more important, while the color is perhaps more 'pleasing'. So, I guess it depends on what you're going for.

I tend to dislike "half-way' abstract photos myself, and think if you're going to go abstract, you might as well go all the way, so I probably like the B&W version better. I'd probably clone out the spider webs to clean things up a bit.

 

[LizardKing]

I agree with both previous comments, but I still prefer the color version. It has a little more sense of depth in the leaves and the colour is too good to throw it away...

 

[KenC]

Color - there is a lot of gradation between green and yellow that just doesn't show up as tonal contrast in the BW. Did you try making the yellow lighter and the green darker during the conversion? This would be worth a try and might make the BW work, but as they are I have to go with the color.

 

[yerlem]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!!!

I find the colour version better myself (as I usually do), but as fjrabon stated, I felt the B&W made it stronger as an abstract. KenC, I'll work on the black and white conversion to see if I can obtein a more pleasing result.
And yes, I noticed the spider webs after I exported and didn't have ime to go back and fix it.
I'll work on it tomorrow but, again, thanks so much for your comments, I lose objectivity after staring at the same image for too long....

 

[fjrabon]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!!!

I find the colour version better myself (as I usually do), but as fjrabon stated, I felt the B&W made it stronger as an abstract. KenC, I'll work on the black and white conversion to see if I can obtein a more pleasing result.
And yes, I noticed the spider webs after I exported and didn't have ime to go back and fix it.
I'll work on it tomorrow but, again, thanks so much for your comments, I lose objectivity after staring at the same image for too long....

Yeah, the problem with abstract is that it takes a lot of practice to get good at it (I'm certainly not), and early on, every temptation will be to make all your abstract images less abstract, because they're more pleasing that way. However, that's a sure-fire recipe to never actually progress with abstract.

Really work on the combination of green, blue and red filters on the B&W conversion. I'd bet some ratio can really make it jump out more.

edit: and this would definitely be a good candidate to work/mess with curves to really get a striking image.

 

[fjrabon]

here was my take on the B&W conversion, to bring out the texture of the leaves, and the lines on them, which enhance the structure, which is the point of the image, to the extent it is abstract:


Screen Shot 2012-06-25 at 12.11.15 AM by franklinrabon, on Flickr

I did a screen grab so you could see the RGB settings I used and the curve I used.

 

[yerlem]

Fjrabon, thank you so much for taking the time to teach me!! That conversion looks much better, it really enhances the texture of the leaves!
I'll definitely keep working on it, but my intention was never really to go abstract...I just kind of always end up liking abstracts, but I'm still figuring our what it is that I like as I learn..I've only had the camera for a few months, so we'll see!
Again, THANK YOU!

 

[fjrabon]

Fjrabon, thank you so much for taking the time to teach me!! That conversion looks much better, it really enhances the texture of the leaves!
I'll definitely keep working on it, but my intention was never really to go abstract...I just kind of always end up liking abstracts, but I'm still figuring our what it is that I like as I learn..I've only had the camera for a few months, so we'll see!
Again, THANK YOU!

Yeah, curves and RBG sliders are really the key to learning how to bring out the best in your B&Ws.

You're making great progress, just keep it up. If you're drawn to and like abstract, definitely really pour some time into it. Take pictures you like.

 

[yerlem]

Yeah, curves and RBG sliders are really the key to learning how to bring out the best in your B&Ws.

You're making great progress, just keep it up. If you're drawn to and like abstract, definitely really pour some time into it. Take pictures you like.

Any links where I could read up on this? I don't seem to be getting anywhere near your edit, and I'm thinking I should probably read some theory rather than just play with RBG sliders...

 

[fjrabon]

Yeah, curves and RBG sliders are really the key to learning how to bring out the best in your B&Ws.

You're making great progress, just keep it up. If you're drawn to and like abstract, definitely really pour some time into it. Take pictures you like.

Any links where I could read up on this? I don't seem to be getting anywhere near your edit, and I'm thinking I should probably read some theory rather than just play with RBG sliders...

THE RBG sliders didn't make a huge difference, not nearly as much as the curves did. With RBG sliders, just think about what they do, they make those colors in the original brighter or darker in the converted image. That's essentially the beginning and the end of understanding RBG sliders on a theoretical level. Oh, also this image is useful for understanding how to get the 'composite colors' from RBG.

Honestly, curves and B&W conversions in general were one of those things where the available materials didn't really help a ton. I just played with them for hours until I started to gain an intuitive sense of how they worked.

This page kind of helped me get a basic idea of how to play with curves, but it's mostly trial and error to start with.

 

[yerlem]

Ok, then, I'm doing the right thing then. I just felt a bit like this:


Thanks again for your time!!

 

[fjrabon]

Ok, then, I'm doing the right thing then. I just felt a bit like this:
View attachment 12220

Thanks again for your time!!

Ha, it was probably at least partially my fault for not indicating that 95% of the image I got was from curves and 5% from the RBG sliders.

 

[yerlem]

Ohhhh curves workkk! yeeeay!
That's what happens when you teach yourself, you spend months not knowing basic awesome things! Not your fault I don't know things
yeeeay procrastination, I can't study if I'm playing with curves