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DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> Drought in the Bayou
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04/21/2006 11:47:07 AM · #1
South Louisiana is having the worst drought ever. This is the first time I've ever seen this part of the bayou dry. Which one of these versions do you like best, or neither?





-Chad
04/21/2006 12:02:24 PM · #2
Wow. I think both versions are fantastic in their own, different ways.
04/21/2006 12:02:27 PM · #3
Top one. By FAR. FAAAAAAAR.

Nice pic.

Doug
04/21/2006 12:04:52 PM · #4
Originally posted by dswebb:

Top one. By FAR. FAAAAAAAR.

Nice pic.

Doug


Gee Doug, how'd I know you say that? lol...

-Chad
04/21/2006 12:06:47 PM · #5
i think the b&w is much more powerful.
04/21/2006 12:11:39 PM · #6
I'm sorry, I just don't get it. How can a gray scale sky be much more powerful than that nice shaded blue sky with the contrasing white clouds...beautiful. I don't know why, but B&W just doesn't do ANYTHING for me compared to the rich full colors that are in the world around us. Can someone explain to me why people like B&W so much? I mean, if it was that great, why aren't people watching B&W TV sets? I don't mean this in a bad or offensive or argumentative way...just really asking. Someone explain to me what it is about B&W that is so good? Either it's just a powerful personal preference I have, or I'm missing something...

Doug
04/21/2006 12:16:27 PM · #7
Personally, I like the B&W version better. For me, sometimes B&W images give a mood or emotion that color can't. In this image, I only used the red channel, so the sky is dark.

-Chad
04/21/2006 12:18:33 PM · #8
Hey, when and where did you take that one? And what lens? Your 10-22? It does look very nice. Well, the color one at least...ha ha ha ha ha.

Doug
04/21/2006 12:20:13 PM · #9
I actually prefer the black and white version because I think it really brings out the texture of the foreground and my eye isn't distracted by the bright blue sky. Black white can work well if your photo has good tonal ranges and textures as this one does.
04/21/2006 12:25:21 PM · #10
Originally posted by dswebb:

Hey, when and where did you take that one? And what lens? Your 10-22? It does look very nice. Well, the color one at least...ha ha ha ha ha.

Doug


I took it this morning in Bayou Savage. I had to do it today, since we are supposed to get rain today!

Yep, the 10-22mm. I think the focal length was 10mm on this one. I'm processing some more now :-)

This one took a lot of post processing. Thanks to RAW, I converted two exposures to get the sky and ground.

Thanks everyone for the comments!

-Chad
04/21/2006 12:31:07 PM · #11
Rain today!?!!?!! Hah!!!!! You dreamer you..... :-)

Doug
04/21/2006 12:36:59 PM · #12
Check out the radar!

-Chad
04/21/2006 12:44:13 PM · #13
My vote goes to the B&W...The clouds and ground look better in it IMO. The colours in the colour version are not that great, they don't particularly grab the eye. So why have them?
04/21/2006 12:47:47 PM · #14
Ha ha ha, it just rained here for about 30 seconds!!!! Funny. I guess that counts though!! Looks like it's already dry again...
04/21/2006 12:52:36 PM · #15
IMO the B/W image is considerably more powerful than the color image. In the color version, the sky pulls the eye right up and out, and dominates the image. But the shot's not about the sky, it's about the foreground, the drought itself. Also, in the B/W version the naked branches are much more powerfully rendered, contributing more to the overall message here. The B/W version basically seems more somber and disturbing.

If you wanted color, you might consider a color shift in the sky. Here's one quick 'n dirty possibility, and a shift into a more apocalyptic orange might be inetgersting too. Depends on what you're after and your limits for this sort of thing. But I find the blue-sky version discontertingly cheerful.



Robt.
04/21/2006 12:53:57 PM · #16
That's Bayou Savage?! Talk about irony...
04/21/2006 12:59:09 PM · #17
Thanks Bear, you hit it on the head about the B&W version.

Interesting color version. Thanks.

-Chad
04/21/2006 01:12:27 PM · #18
I have often felt the same way about black & white shots, and I'm not a big fan of seeing gratuitous use of B&W, or sepia, or selective desaturation, etc.

But I really enjoyed reading Bear's comments. That made me look at this shot in a completely different light, and I think his comments really hit home with this one. I think that the B&W image really does make the shot more effective in this case, given his comments.

Originally posted by dswebb:

I'm sorry, I just don't get it. How can a gray scale sky be much more powerful than that nice shaded blue sky with the contrasing white clouds...beautiful. I don't know why, but B&W just doesn't do ANYTHING for me compared to the rich full colors that are in the world around us. Can someone explain to me why people like B&W so much? I mean, if it was that great, why aren't people watching B&W TV sets? I don't mean this in a bad or offensive or argumentative way...just really asking. Someone explain to me what it is about B&W that is so good? Either it's just a powerful personal preference I have, or I'm missing something...

Doug
04/21/2006 01:21:42 PM · #19
Originally posted by alanfreed:

I have often felt the same way about black & white shots, and I'm not a big fan of seeing gratuitous use of B&W, or sepia, or selective desaturation, etc.

But I really enjoyed reading Bear's comments. That made me look at this shot in a completely different light, and I think his comments really hit home with this one. I think that the B&W image really does make the shot more effective in this case, given his comments.

Originally posted by dswebb:

I'm sorry, I just don't get it. How can a gray scale sky be much more powerful than that nice shaded blue sky with the contrasing white clouds...beautiful. I don't know why, but B&W just doesn't do ANYTHING for me compared to the rich full colors that are in the world around us. Can someone explain to me why people like B&W so much? I mean, if it was that great, why aren't people watching B&W TV sets? I don't mean this in a bad or offensive or argumentative way...just really asking. Someone explain to me what it is about B&W that is so good? Either it's just a powerful personal preference I have, or I'm missing something...

Doug


Other peoples' personal feelings on the matter aside, there's a REASON for the ednuring popularity of B/W photography; it can be a very effective means of conveying strong emotion. Much of the time, color gets in the way and misleads us. Exactly as has happened in this shot; the color version is certainly more "striking" at first glance, but it's striking us the wrong way if we get right down to it. Colors carry their own emotional baggage, and sometimes it's more effective to do away with all that layering and get right down to the basics of light/form/expression.

Robt.
04/21/2006 01:55:11 PM · #20
I think this texture is cool.



-Chad
04/21/2006 02:03:23 PM · #21
I like the B&W, but have you considered seipia instead of black?

As far as preference goes, and why I like the B&W, the dirt around where I live is brown and gets light brown when dry, so the black dirt looks unnatural. Its just my personal expectation, I'm sure if you grow up with that dirt, it looks right to you. But it may help explain why some like the color, and others the B&W.
04/21/2006 03:08:48 PM · #22
Originally posted by dswebb:

I'm sorry, I just don't get it. How can a gray scale sky be much more powerful than that nice shaded blue sky with the contrasing white clouds...beautiful. I don't know why, but B&W just doesn't do ANYTHING for me compared to the rich full colors that are in the world around us. Can someone explain to me why people like B&W so much? I mean, if it was that great, why aren't people watching B&W TV sets? I don't mean this in a bad or offensive or argumentative way...just really asking. Someone explain to me what it is about B&W that is so good? Either it's just a powerful personal preference I have, or I'm missing something...

Doug


I personally like B&W shots when the emotion of the shot is what i want to convey. as stated by bear, color can be destracting when the mood is somber.
I used to live on a bayou in north Louisiana and I couldn't imagine it every getting this dry. for what its worth i think that if you cropped out the foreground you could have another cool shot with a completely different mood.
04/21/2006 03:32:33 PM · #23
I still have to disagree, about the color version promoting the "wrong emotion." To me, the color version, with the blue sky/white clouds, that EMPASHIZES the lack of rain/dry cracked forground, not detracts from it. Here's why (in my thinking). That bright blue sky is mocking the dry cracked grass. Showing, "look, you haven't had any rain in a LONG time, and you're not about to get any anytime soon either! Not a storm cloud in the sky, just a nice bright sun to dry you out more!" So it INCREASES the emotion trying to be conveyed, to me at least. In the B&W version, the grey drab sky could be saying "ah, here you go, rain is on the way at last..." Which it is not.

While I will agree that the texture of the mud foreground is SLIGHTLY enhanced in the B&W version, to me it's not much enhanced.

And, as someone else mentioned, dirt is supposed to be brown, not black as in the B&W version.

Also, as someone else mentioned, the brush in the middle ground changes to "thin bare branches" or something like that in the B&W version. But, you LOSE a lot of the subtle brown/tans that were in the brush completely. Those items are almost GONE from the B&W version. And that dried, brittle, dead grass/brush (that disappears from the B&W version) only leads to more emotion of dry dead stuff to me in the color version. So again, to me, the B&W loses this emotion that everyone says it is trying to emphasize.

So I guess it's just personal preference. What people are saying B&W adds, I view it as taking stuff away that I see in the color version. I guess to each his own...

But I would be interested in anyone's comments on my view above. Do they make sense to you? Or not? You may not agree with them, but do you see where I'm coming from in my view?

Doug

Message edited by author 2006-04-21 15:34:15.
04/21/2006 05:00:47 PM · #24
Two more.





I can see Doug's point too. But I still think the B&W adds a mood that the color doesn't. I like them both.

Again, thanks for all the comments.

-Chad
04/21/2006 05:17:34 PM · #25
I think with the black and white, the attention is on the dark shadows of the cracks on the ground. With the beautiful blue sky, it takes the viewer's attention from the original message of the drought.
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