Another BW or Color Question - repost

OK. Guys/Gals. Here is a shot I took recently in HuangYao, China. This is thousand year old town about 3 hours drive from Yangshou. I really preferred the BW shot until I showed Veronica and she preferred the Color one.

Please let me know your opinion? Color or BW?

Rich

Here is the BW one?

Here is Color.

BTW - Sorry I havent been around much lately. I have been on the road quite a bit lately.

Both are beautiful images!
I prefer the color.

Sweet shot, Rich. I prefer the color version. The B&W seems to be a bit busy in the foreground and it takes me a while to make my way back to the bridge. Also, I'd maybe crop down from the top to eliminate that big area of dead sky but that's just me.

I'm a fan of the b&w, and agree w/ David's crop suggestion; maybe bring it down to a square format which yields a nice, intimate comp. Nice work!

Count me in as far as the white sky crop goes. It's acceptable, yet not ideal, on the b&w, and a non-starter on the color. As for which? Definitely b&w!!!

Here's another vote for the crop, on both, and for the B&W overall. This image is all about the tones and textures and the B&W really brings those out. I do like the color image, but that blue object, center right, and the shrub at the bottom really distract me.

Crop it and B & W. I agree with the shrub and blue object being distracting. The b & W image take your eye right under the bridge. Good work.

Thanks for the comments folks. I was leaning BW.

I am still confused about the crop. Since i only have a tiny amount of space above the top of the tree and really dont want to crop any of the tree out? Tell me exactly what you are thinking crop wise?

I am attaching it with a border this time. Let me know what you are thinking.

(PS - Feel free to download it and crop to show me.)

Thanks.

RichieV

I'm on board with the color version, but I see your attraction to the B&W also. I think the B&W would work better for me if the bridge were darker. That is one of the primary elements that makes this image special, but it is tonally equivalent to the rocks/water. I think burning it down may help it stand on it's own under that awesome tree. It will also help link it to the banks, both of which are darker. In the color version the bridge is attached by the color so the tones do not carry as much weight.
This really looks like a magical place and both images bring that emotion to me as a viewer!

For me, this image works well as a square. In my mind, the bright sky detracts more from the image than keeping the top of the tree adds. And while I like both versions, I agree with Anne. The tonality of the whole area around the bridge is so similar that tends to fade out for me. I gotta go with color because it seperates the bridge.

I prefer the color but am not a fan of the sky even it it's cropped a little. If you crop it out entirely it sort of squashes the tree too much. Dude, just go back and re-shoot this with a better sky

I agree with Pam. Time for a reshoot.

I'm with Pam... color or B&W will work, but you should crop the sky completely. You can afford to lose a bit from the right and even a little from the left hand of the frame.

I like the B&W but there isn't enough color contrast in the foreground to differentiate it from the bridge, which I think is more interesting. I think this might work with a little selective color brought back in. I think I'd bring in some of the green of the tree leaves, and the red of the foreground rock. This might keep the old-world feeling of the B&W with some color to break up the scene a little.

I envy you being able to spend some time in China!

I prefer the muted color myself. However, the most interesting part of this image is the view under the bridge.
I hope you were able to get a much tighter view of that scene. The view and the bridge itself, along with the graceful tree branches framing the entirety would be an exceptional image! In this particular case, the foreground is actually a distraction rather than a complement, IMO.
Would love to see your images from this trip congregated when you're finished 'developing' them!

I am going to take the advice of 'stepping away from the picture' and will come back to it in a couple weeks and see what I think.

I just returned from about 5 weeks of being on the road and am slowly starting to get through a few images in-between doing my 'day job'.

@John -Here is a 5 image Pano of the same scene.

Wow!! That's really sweet, Rich!
Hopefully you can get the exposure to more closely match the original.

Any photograph that creates this kind of discussion is a really good one. I personally prefer the color version but the B/W is nice too. The B/W lacks the definition of the color, in my mind, and it takes me a bit to find the central focus of the image, that gorgeous bridge. I don't know squat about color to B/W conversion so I'll leave it at that. Beautiful work.

Rich, I absolutely LOVE this shot and completely prefer the B&W. I don't personally like the new crop cutting into that tree. That tree has to stay IMO...it's too cool and a main focal point of the image.

I'd say B&W, and I actually prefer the square crop Bill posted.