In this first pair, a quick portrait snapshot of Sue, I have no trouble locking my eyes on Sue in the b&w, but I find them pulled/distracted a bit by the surrounding colour in the colour version. Do you get the same result?
I also get a similar effect with the next pair. My eyes pull away from the central humans and dog in the colour version, but I find them wandering much less in the b&w version.
In both cases, I don't think it's a huge deal, but I do find it interesting to note.
------------------- a note in passing ------------------
I have removed both Moderation and Captcha on my blog. If you recall, I added them recently to try to stop some spam. I haven't had to resort to this in over 10 years of blogging, but a couple of spammers were becoming annoying.
Moderation didn't work. Well, it did in the sense that I could delete their comments before they appeared, but it's not hard to delete comments after they appear. The point is that the spammers were still trying.
My next steps were to (1) shut down comments on the posts they seemed to be targetting, and (2) enable Captcha.
Something worked, and I am testing removing both Moderation and Captchas.
Interesting indeed, John. Sue is a great subject for your experiment. I noted the reflection in her sunglasses.
ReplyDeleteI've never noticed this before, but I think you're right. Color does distract a bit from the person or object of the photo. I'm fascinated with black and white right now. I think it is a wonderful perspective. I guess both have their pluses.
ReplyDeleteYes B&W does work but usually needs a filter to kill the green in this case. A green filter applied digitally will lighten the greens. Yellow or orange darken skies and blue I have never found a use for.
ReplyDeletei really like the soft nuances of greens and browns in the shots, so it's hard to say i prefer the b&w, but i see what you mean, too.
ReplyDeletei've had a few 'creative' spammers using various names to leave stupid links as comments. ah, well...
Wonderful photos . I to like B&W but sometimes I find that it can look to dramatic or too edgy when it really doesn't need to be and so the B&W needs to be softened up a bit or at least around the subjects hence the eye will go to the subject more that can be done in both B&W or colour ! Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !
ReplyDeleteI am attracted to the B&W in the first. The second I am drawn to the yellow coat.
ReplyDeleteGreat and lovely photos!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that can detract me from Sue's face is Sue's neck with the sparkling, scented cream.
ReplyDeleteI found my eyes drawn to the reflection in Sue's glasses in the black and white photo, more than to Sue herself. However, in the colour version I was drawn more to her than the glasses and the background. Strange how eyes go wandering!
ReplyDeleteI like the warmth of color especially for people...
ReplyDeleteI very much like the B&W version of Sue as I agree that the colour in the background is distracting. She's very attractive in both versions, but you already knew that. ;)
ReplyDeleteI like the B&W portrait, but The color landscape. Perhaps I would have cropped the portrait tighter.
ReplyDeleteIf you darkened the cream in the rocks in the colour Sue portrait, I think you would have much the same effect. And, like one of your other commenters, I like the colour woods shot more. It. Is a lot of fun flipping colour shots to grey tones and seeing the difference in how they present.
ReplyDeleteBlack and white does seem to cause the viewer to focus more on the subject at hand, but color is of course more vibrant. That said, I like both and the choice would depend on both the subject matter and the photographer's personal preferences.
ReplyDeleteSpam is annoying in any form and always makes me wonder why these annoying folks don't have better things to do. i know where the DEL keybis and how to use it as you do as well. But, it's still annoying!