Evening reflections

[ucci]

Just a couple of wee beasties having a 'night cap' before settling down for the night. Their reflections in the dam caught my eye; sort of "synchronized sipping."
Thanks for viewing and for any comments posted

[MilT0s]

The BW works much better for me Ken.

[ucci]

The BW works much better for me Ken.

Thank you for feedback Miltos. It was most useful as I am currently working on comparing B&W with colour.
Cheers
Ken

[FrankMi]

Hi Ken, I like your colour version much better. The lack of colour is certainly an option but as a counter-point, I much more prefer to see most images in colour as that is the way I ‘see’ the world around me.

B&W tends to remind me of the 1950's TV of my childhood. To me, it seems to be drained of all the beautiful colours of life and as such works best with inanimate objects. Even there I usually prefer colour images.

However, there are a lot of folks that prefer B&W and I am not trying to start an argument but only mention this to note that both methods of displaying an image are appreciated and enjoyed.

[ucci]

However, there are a lot of folks that prefer B&W and I am not trying to start an argument .....

And why not? A good barney can be heaps of fun and often a lot of good comes out of it.
Thank you for helpful and interesting feedback Frank. At the moment I reckon there are times when B&W is better than colour for a dramatic effect. But for me by and large colour is better most times.
K

[Muriel]

When I first looked at the balck and white I thought it was a negative... I like the color... I grew up in the period of B&W.
It was like the world opened up when things became available in color.

[ucci]

When I first looked at the balck and white I thought it was a negative... I like the color... I grew up in the period of B&W.
It was like the world opened up when things became available in color.

We are of similar ilk and experience I reckon. However, there now seems to be a resurgence of interest in monochrome such that when one posts a picture it is not uncommon for a reply cc to suggest it would be better viewed in B&W rather than colour. And to be fair there are instances where this is perfectly true. So I have taken to checking and comparing before I post, if this seems appropriate. All part of the learning curve I guess.
Thanks for feedback comment Muriel
Ken

[MilT0s]

I also love color for the majority of pictures (lets say 80%). On the other hand I find BW very appealing for some cases. For me my childhood was in color photographs so BW was never a limitation, just another option.

For Ken's image I think BW works better for the following reason: it is a photograph of contrast. The forms of the black animals versus the white/gray grass and water, the dark gray shadows laying in between. By eliminating the variable of color this contrast is more obvious and the viewer's eye is driven immediately to that. The color (for me) is distracting and makes the form more complex and hard to read.

Now I see the color image again I think I have identified what I find distracting. It is the too saturated green on the grass. My eye is drawn to that, not the animals/water/shadows. The color version might (or not) be enhanced by reducing the saturation of the green.

[bambleweeney]

I'm a big fan of mono and I tend to shoot it unless the image is specifically about colour. Having said that I prefer the colour version here, somehow the mono version lacks ... sparkle. I might crop some off the right though as I think the compo is a little left heavy and it would give you a nice diagonal through the image, lose a little off of the top to rebalance it as well perhaps.

[ucci]

I I might crop some off the right though as I think the compo is a little left heavy and it would give you a nice diagonal through the image, lose a little off of the top to rebalance it as well perhaps.

Thank you for helpful comments. Actually I did try as you suggested before I posted and was not happy with the result which to me was too truncated and not the effect I was looking for. But that was only my opinion and others may have had an entirely different view of the result of such cropping. I have included with this a cropped version. Of course I may not have got this right and it could have been cropped more effectively.
Cheers
Ken

[ucci]

Now I see the color image again I think I have identified what I find distracting. It is the too saturated green on the grass. My eye is drawn to that, not the animals/water/shadows. The color version might (or not) be enhanced by reducing the saturation of the green.

Thanks for cc Miltos. Much appreciated. Your comments hit the nail on the head and underscore why I prefer the B&W image also. Just a small point. It was almost sunset and with the angle of the light down the slope the grass was actually that almost garish colour.

[terrib]

I like the color image better. As far as the composition, when I look at the picture, I'm not sure what I should be looking at with the large separation of the cows. You mentioned that it was the reflection that caught your eye. Maybe if the reflection is the subject, it would be nice to crop down to the one cow at the top and her reflection. It would have a subject, a reflection and ripples from her drinking. Just a thought.

[ucci]

You mentioned that it was the reflection that caught your eye. Maybe if the reflection is the subject, it would be nice to crop down to the one cow at the top and her reflection. It would have a subject, a reflection and ripples from her drinking. Just a thought.

A good comment, thank you. The two cows would have looked much better with less space between them. As for cropping down to one cow it was more than just the reflection which interested me. It was the fact that both cows were synchronized in their drinking positions. Hope that makes sense.
How about this then? I went back and asked the two beasties to move up closer together and they kindly obliged. Don't you just love photoshop!
Ken

[MilT0s]

Ken I see those huge animals are very cooperative. Great models!