Personally, I dig the black and white, but I'd adjust the levels so you get a good black in there -- right now it's a little flat. Some contrast would make it a lot better, IMHO.
Petals get lost in the B & W, and the tones of the bride's dress may get washed out.
The color photo allows some distinction between the petals and background. I also like the colors on the bouquet, which would be lost if converted to B & W.
Finally, I would crop out the heads on the right side and bottom right corner -- though that might change the feel of the photo more than you'd like.
As an example of what I mean, for this version I only made one modification.
In the Levels tool, I used the black point eye dropper to set the black point (using one of the shadows on the groom's suit, just under the flower. It is probably a bit too contrasty now - but it at least illustrates what I mean
I preferred the colour originally, but after seeing the adjusted bw that Gordon did (tempted to call him "Gordo", I bet he wouldn't like that!) I like the boosted levels bw. Either way, I think the shot is cool, but for that lady's head on the lower right.
bdobe, I tried cropping out the head, it drives me crazy too, but loose a lot of the brides flowers and or his body is framed weird. There were some 600 people at this wedding. It was a mad rush when they came out hard to get a good spot.
Im on my laptop right now and the screen is much different then the one I have at home so cant really edit anything now.
Gordon, I have yet to try setting points using the eyedropper. I usually use curves and just mess with that line until I get what I like. Also I haven’t really tried black and white much. The way I got this was to just set the saturation to 0 on the color image and save..
Any suggestions on technique would be greatly appreciated.
There were 2 other photogs there 1 was main and and the other and myself where photojournalism.
I think the subtle colors in the color version really amplify the joy of the couple and the happiness of the situation. I like the tilt, too, though they may not want a tilted photo on their wall over their fireplace mantle.
The angle in both photos clearly demonstrate the permanent uphill battle of marriage. I prefer the color one, if only because of the contrast. The b/w is a bit flat as others have mentioned. But both shots are composed well!
both lame? what are you talking about that is an awesome shot...i like color version
but gordon's version is great too in B and W...
would love to see more
The color one is the best, for all the mentioned reasons.
I would, however, try to crop out a bit more of the top of the photo.
You can get rid of the top of the door and the less-than-fab looking rod that holds it open.
