Winter Winds

Here's something a little different from an outing yesterday up to Lake Haiyaha via the unimproved trail. The winds were howling so badly that it hid much of the detail on Longs and there wasn't much color so I thought I'd try my hand at a BW. What are your thoughts on this?

Here's a color version

I like both of them Erik with an edge to the color version. I love how the warm color on the boulder contrasts nicely with all that wind chill blue! Also, I see some graininess in the sky of the B and W that I don't see in the colored one. Also, I think the midground in the B and W could use more contrast.

I agree both work on different levels, Erik. The color is beautiful, but the b&w has more impact for me. I do agree with Pam about a small boost in contrast in the mid-ground to balance the tones. Having said that, this is an excellent comp imo. Reminds me of how David Meunch puts together an image that has a foreground that could be an image to itself and the same with the background. The square format accentuates that well.

I'm not usually a big fan of square framing, but the comp on this one works extremely well. I don't think it would work any other way. Awesome job. At the moment, I prefer the color image. There's a certain pastel softness in the foreground shades of snow and the blowing clouds over Longs Peak that's appealing to me. The B&W is the more dramatic choice. The graininess in the sky is a bit of a detriment, maybe it could be reduced with some manual blur tool work, but otherwise the contrast that has been added to this image is interesting in a different, but also good, way.

Erik I won't repeat what the others have said but I do agree with them about both the good and the bad. I do like them both though. Did you take the BW photo in camera or process after? I like the clouds and sky better in the BW photo but of course without the grain. Great compositions! You must have been one cold chap, but worth your efforts. Nice job!

I much prefer the B&W as the texture in the snow, the bowl around the rock, and the detail in the trees are much more evident. The grainy sky, as has been mentioned, is the negative.

Very creative composition! I'm not usually a fan of large imposing objects in the foreground, but this is an exception. That boulder is in complete harmony with the beautiful windswept mountain range. The baby pine tree in front is another fine element, too. I notice an intrusion of some sort in the center left edge of the b&w image that isn't present in the color.
I'm really on the fence about choosing between b&w and color, as each has equally good qualities.
This is a superb image, Erik!

I'm on the fence with this one too. First, the image is fantastic...all the elements work nicely. I love how the rock looks as though it's sitting in a bowl. I think I lean just a little toward the color because I like the lichen detail on the rock and I feel that adds to the anchor point. Nice job Erik!

I personally like the color version the best, although the B&W has a nice look to it. The color is 'harsher', while the color seems a bit less intense. To be real honest, the B&W doesn't have that clean look all your other shots have, because of the speckles in the sky, and almost HDR qualities (I shouldn't say too much, as I have extremely little knowledge of B&W processing!).
BTW, I really like the comp and subjects in this. I watched the video you had of the wind blowing up there in rmnp----definitely took a bit of courage to face that wind! Apparently, you kept that camera lens clean for this shot...

Interesting comp, i like it! I agree with Nathan--the B&WS has some potential/appeal, but the graininess and odd hdr look kind of bug me. I think what you need to do is play with the color sliders--look at the rock in the original color, the rhs is a brighter color (orange/red) than the lhs (blue). But the B&W looks the same both sides. So, in the conversion, try to differentiate those colors, that will translate to the B&W and give it more contrast and depth.

Enough said...I like both images, with the corrections as noted above.
One thing you might try is overlaying the B&W layer at 10-20% opacity and see what it does to the detail in the snow.
Having experienced the extreme wind at Sprague Lake several years ago, I really enjoyed your FB video posting. It was almost too real.
Beautiful work.

I love 'em both, but I find that there's certainly enough color to make the color version pop.

I like the B&W version, I think it has a very classic feel to it. I like the effect of having the sharp foreground and the painterly Long's in the background. I has a different look than a lot of your images, and is pretty cool.

+1 for the color version! It looks a lot more natural to my eye; the b/w looks a bit funky. It's amazing what a different feel those both have! The color one is much more mellow/calm, the b/w one is almost frantic!

Thanks everyone for your input. I guess I should have taken a bit more time with the BW conversion in SilverEffects. As Jack B noted, the BW conveys a sense of drama or intensity. This is actually more true to the scene as the winds were absolutely howling out there. Nonetheless, I see that most people prefer the color so I'll primarily use that one. Thanks again for all the great input and ideas!

All I can do is pick now so for me it's the B&W. Excellent either way.