[Rob Barron]

Ok guys and gals, I haven't done this much but thought I'd see what people think. I took this picture a couple of days ago when we had some lovely clear early light which gave gorgeous golden light and the reflection in the river was really strong. I like it but what do you think?

I then predicted that the usual people will insist 'That would look better in mono' so I have pre-empted that and done it in advance. So, you get both here, what do you think of them as pictures and which works best for you?

Please see them as pictures, not just as a partisan idea. I know many people have a particular penchant for mono or for colour but please tell me what you think just with these two, not just what you like generally

Ok, here is the colour...



and here is the mono...



Cheers,
Rob

[fionaB]

you know for once i think i prefer the colour.
the picture i think is gorgeous, and the warmth that u have captured in the colour is missing in the mono. I think maybe because u can see more of the detail in the stone work in the colour and the sky is much nicer. i think for the mono i would be tempted to replace the sky to make it more atmospheric.

Fi

[Gary Bagshawe]

Without doubt the colour one in this case, the reflections work very well and their power is lost in the mono version.

[danpen]

Prefer the colour one, good reflections, good composition. Is it a little oversaturated?

[P-E]

Colour for me too.

[undercoverdc2]

definitely color.

[skipper954]

This is close for me, Rob. I am a large mono proponent, but I like the color of the building. On the other hand, the tonal range of the mono is quite good. Of course, one gets a completely different feeling from each.

The thing that bothers me is the edge of the buildings. It stands out too much. Either too much sharpening, or it has been photoshopped and selected, maybe for the sky.

Of course, it could also be compression artifact.

skip

[Sonsey]

Well I'm going against the grain and saying the Mono version of this nicely composed shot for me...

It would've been the colour version but for the fact that the tricky light condition's have made the top of the tallest wall too golden for my taste, and washed out the sky a bit... perhaps a slight gradient applied in PS would help add colour to the sky and reign in the top of the building a bit, the bottom 2 thirds of the shot looks wonderful.

Just as a side note, I find the shadow on the bottom right (possibly your legs?) is distracting my eye a bit, it look's like it could be tricky but it might be worth trying to clone out.

[Angela]

Difficult one. I like both for the same reasons as Skip - you get such a different feel to both photos but I also agree with Sonsey about the colour shot. So still undecided here.

[cotter]

I like them both Rob, although I think the mono could be much improved with better processing. It looks very flat and the building is very soft. The detail is in the building, but it just does'nt seem to come through on this image.
In saying all that I'm on my laptop today so it could be me!!

[Rob Barron]

Thanks all for the helpful and considered opinions, exactly what I was looking for

Let me respond to a couple of the points: the two shadows at bottom right, I agree Iain I wondered for a while about those and whether to attempt to clone them out but I left them for two reasons> The first was I was determined to put a shot up that I hadn't cloned in any way at all so that all the focus would be on the picture as is and not the rather tedious 'is it as was or isn't it?' stuff that opften takes over threads on these two display boards. The other is that I didn't feel removing them would be very convincing as there is not enough space let to clone from without lots of repeating patterns or ages doing it to source from different places constantly. Looking at them (they are from trees behind me, not my legs though some might argue my legs are like treetrunks anyway!) they are angled towards the main subject so I felt they were appropriate lead-in lines so were on balance probably best left. If anyone wants to try and remove them convincingly I am more than happy to let them try.

Is it over-saturated? Actually No I don't think so, it is as close as possible to how I saw it. The time was about 7.15am, the sun was just up on a very clear morning and the golden light was as strong as I have seen it for a long time. I might have lifted the reflection very slightly higher than it was but it really was VERY clear and colourful because the sun was striking the walls directly.

The edges of the building have not been touched in any way at all, the sky is the original. I think what makes it look a bit strange is that it is (of course) a ruin and the dark strip along the top gable is simply the shadowy brick surface which is usually absolutely covered in seagulls and pigeons! I can however see a slight line between the left of the roof and the sky but I must put that down to the compression as it isn't evident on the original at all.

I did increase the contrast as RAW pictures usually need as they are generally a bit flat. I considered using the famous LucisArt filter on it but thought better of it to keep it as was. The one area of building to sky that I would like to get a greater contrast is the chimney type structure where the right of it almost blends into the sky. I could go in close, select the chimney and burn the edge in slightly I guess.

If anyone would like to try and convert the colour to mono again, feel free. There are a hundred different results you can gain from playing around with the channel mixer but I chose this one because I wanted fairly high contrast and a full dynamic range. I also wanted to keep as much detail in the bluer part of the sky as possible.... but I wanted the conversion to be all one layer, not selecting different parts and converting them separately. That was in order to maintain the balance of the scene.

I think I agree with Fiona that a more textured sky might work better for a mono to give it mnore atmosphere. Might give that a go at some point. As I said, this time round I went for as close to as was as possible.

Cheers, the comments are really helpful and it's great to see a variety of responses.

Cheers,
Rob

[Suicide Reject]

well normally i'm a black and white guy...lol. But with this the colour definately wins over. It adds life to the picture that the b&w version just lacks. Thats the best way i can describe it.

[RichW]

The color for me Rob, you've really captured the fantastic light you get if you're lucky at this time of year.