London Eye - B&W or Colour

[fletch]

I took a load of shots in London a while back but had left most of the un processed as the light was bad and I was not going to print them or put them on flickr. However I just did a blog post about a London Photo Walk so I needed all the shots sorting.

This one of the London Eye was one of the drabest and flat origainals so I decided to try it in B&W but can decide if I like it or the colour best which is where you come in. Please vote. If you have any further critique about the B&W conversion or composition then let me have it as well.

B&W


Colour


Camera: Olympus E-510
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Thanks for your time

[holycow958]

I think a monochrome of this is nicer. The green of the tower really stands out, and to me, not in a good way. I would suggest a sepia though, much like the general tone of the color.

[Sime]

The green drags my eyes away from the main subject. Mono for mine.

[Sime]

...and yell out next time you're down, we'll go for a shoot?!...

[wulf]

On balance, I agree with the monochrome version being better, although I wonder if a halfway house, partially desaturating the colour version (and perhaps moreso over the red and green areas), would be better still.

I also think the foreground buildings are a bit dark in the mono version and the whole photo could perhaps also do with a crop to tighten it up.

Wulf

[Gronygroovy]

Definately Mono for me too, just looks better to me.

[newHorizon]

Well i like the second shot! Looks more lively to me.

[fletch]

Originally Posted by holycow958

I would suggest a sepia though, much like the general tone of the color.

I liked the idea but I had no idea how to turn a shot sepia in PS Elements. So I learnt how! Turns out its really easy and you can do it the same way as in full PS. For anyone who doesn't know you create a hue/saturation layer and select the colourise check box. The settings I used were hue 40 saturation 25.

This produced a slight tone to the shot. Not a full on sepia as I don't really like the brown hue but I really like what it has done to the shot.

What does anyone else think? Anyother ideas? (The colour version above is linked to a larger file if you want to have a play.)

[tvoelcker]

I prefer the sephia however the building to the right seems a touch dark thus loseing some of the detail in my eye. However, since it isn't the main subject I guess that's a bit irrelevant.
Another great shot you have posted. Congrats.

[monkeyfinger]

I'm going to be a bit of a trend bucker and say that I much prefer the colour version, and this is coming from someone who will plump for B+W 99% of the time.

Maybe I'm having a funny turn...

EDIT: I must be having a funny turn, because having writted the above, and went straight to the top of the page, and voted 'Black and White'. Dim-wit