After taking yesterday's color image, I reset the LX3's picture control to standard black and white and took this image of the Wisdom frieze with a bit more focal length. Best viewed large.
Although I love the colors in this frieze, the art is strong enough to really stand out in b&w. Not sure which one I like best. Your thoughts?
Like both versions, but think this is the better one. Not just because of the B&W though, now I have seen this one, the glass at the bottom of the colour one is a bit of a distraction, still a great shot.
Just a personal and subjective point of view to take with a grain of salt:
If I had to choose one of the two, I would prefer the black and white. The contrast makes the artwork very strong as it should be. In the color version, the distraction for me wasn't the glass at the bottom, it was the windows at the top. Having said that, they provided the context for the setting of the artwork which we don't have in the b&w version. Not that the context necessarily matters...just passing along a non-biased viewing experience on each. I feel both are great shots, thank you for sharing them with us.
Both are great, but I like the color version a bit better. It bothers me to see a photo that is merely an image of someone else's art. As photographers, it is up to us to add something of our own vision, and you have done that to some degree in both images; in this one by presenting it in B&W. But in the other one, you added your own perspective by including a bit of the building at a dramatic angle. Much more artistic in my personal opinion.
Personally I prefer this one, though I can understand the points Ross Walker above was making. To me there is more strength in the B&W - but this is only my personal perception.
@rvwalker Thanks for the insight. Fair warning - I plan to display some Picassos from MOMA - I enjoy taking photographs of fine art, but I understand your perspective on that issue.
December 16th, 2013
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If I had to choose one of the two, I would prefer the black and white. The contrast makes the artwork very strong as it should be. In the color version, the distraction for me wasn't the glass at the bottom, it was the windows at the top. Having said that, they provided the context for the setting of the artwork which we don't have in the b&w version. Not that the context necessarily matters...just passing along a non-biased viewing experience on each. I feel both are great shots, thank you for sharing them with us.
@rvwalker Thanks for the insight. Fair warning - I plan to display some Picassos from MOMA - I enjoy taking photographs of fine art, but I understand your perspective on that issue.