Vote: Color or B&W? (w/repost)

Hey everyone. I shot this photo during the last week of September along Last Dollar Road near Telluride. I like the scene, but the light was starting to get a little harsh. I converted this to B&W, but I'm not sure if I like it better than the color version. Which one do you like better?

Color version above.

Black and white version above.

I like both but since you're after one answer : if Wilson Peak had sunlight on its face I would vote for the color version, but because of the shade factor I cast my vote for the B&W. The trees and sky look great in both versions.

Josh,

As it stands I think you've cooked the color version. It looks too warm and the clouds have taken a yellow cast. Based on that, I'd choose the B&W and push the contrast a bit further.

I like the fg aspens in the colour version, but I think overall considering the light conditions the B&W works the best. Perhaps play a little more with contrast in the B&W as Mel suggested.

The color one needs a little help, but I still prefer it.

Both are nice, but I'm going to go with the B&W with more contrast added. I like the pseudo IR look!!!

John

The B&W version with a little more contrast would be nice, but I prefer the color version. The impact of the foreground aspens, to me, is much greater in color and is what really makes this picture.

Color. The upper 1/3 seems a bit flat, so I agree with Todd.

i vote for the color version. it looks great on my monitor- clouds don't look at all yellow.

Nor do I see a yellow cast in the clouds. Processing looks good, not 'cooked' at all.

Anyway, I also prefer the color version. I don't find the light harsh at all. In fact, I think you need direct light like this for successful autumn images.

Color version gets my vote. The trees are the star of the shot so I don't think the BG is an issue and it harmonizes well within the frame. The blue color of the sky looks off though. The B and W is not bad, but what's the point of capturing fall color if you're not gonna show it? Nice capture.

Pam

The B and W is not bad, but what's the point of capturing fall color if you're not gonna show it?

Well, a couple of aspen shots in B/W by Ansel Adams come to mind...

That being said, I've got to go with the color version above. It looks great on my screen and would look great on my wall.

I'd be curious to see how the B/W version would look with the mountain and the area just above the foreground aspens darkened. I think what bothers me about it is that the foreground aspens kind of blend in with the background.

Erik

Another vote for the color version. The color in the Aspens is fantastic and I'm guessing that's what caught your attention to begin with. I also think the top 1/3 needs a bit of work, but not much. This is a really nice shot.

Color but I'd boost the contrast on the mountains and warm them a little, reduce the sat in the aspens, and lighten the polarized sky upper right. Great comp by the way, I have yet to get this view with good conditions.

I'm with the color group...work the mountains a little more and you've got a winner!

Jack

I like the color version as well. The trees really get my attention.

How about a sepia tone as a compromise?

Josh, Here's two more pennies of nonsense.

Had you considered desaturating the foreground trees in the color version or perhaps doing some layers and contrasts in the B/W version. I think both have potential and it looks like a little more work is needed in the darkroom.



Carol

Thanks for the votes and suggestions everyone. So far it is about a 2-1 preference for the color version.

The clouds looked red to me on my monitor so I had added a bit of cyan to them, I can understand why they might still appear a bit warm to some. I also had darkened the blues in the photo to add more contrast to the mountain on the top third of the photo, but perhaps it is too dark and the blues have lost some of their punch. I've corrected that somewhat in the repost above. Hadn't thought of sepia or desaturated versions. I'll be giving those a try.

...and here's a sepia version.

I think the color of your sky in the repost is perfect. The sky still seems a bit flat, at least in a small JPEG. I might suggest boosting the blue luminosity, if you're using Lightroom (or recent ACR). If you're using LR 2, a graduated filter adjustment over the sky, with bit of a contrast and brightness boost, might also help.

Very nice Josh. The color repost is very nice, but the mountains and sky seem to need a little more punch as mentioned. I struggle with this on some of my images from the fall, but sounds like Jesse has some good advice to help out here.

I like the sepia version too!

Great suggestions. Added a Nik ND filter I have for photoshop to this one. Cooled the color balance too. I think it's getting much closer to what I'm looking for.

So do I.

Definitely color! The last version is looking sweet.

COLOR!

Ill be different--i prefer the B&W, its tougher to get a good B&W shot of that sort of scenery and youve succeeded i think. The last repost on the color is quite nice too.