19 Comments
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Jdvt's avatar

You might also consider that color is associated with objects and monochrome with reflected and transmitted light.

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Terry J. Allen's avatar

I'd like to know more about that. I'm not sure I wholely understand on a practical level.

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Hilary Dirlam's avatar

I love these photos, and for me, it’s B and W. There is a glow from within somehow, wonderful. And each photo would have affected me without the other, I am sure. Maybe because if my own advanced years? The crags and folds of age are made beautiful by the light. Thanks fir posting these.

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Terry J. Allen's avatar

Thanks hilary. What lovely comments.

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Maria Race's avatar

I prefer the color version, seeing the two together. I wonder if I would have felt that way if I had seen them separately? I love the color contrasts between the two people.

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Terry J. Allen's avatar

Thanks for commenting nd the kind words. it is hard, isnt it. I still dont know.

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Maureen Mehlman's avatar

Black and white, hands down

Great pics BTW.

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Terry J. Allen's avatar

Thanks for the feedback. This has been interesting. Looks like the general sense is black and white for the drama and art; color for the more personal portrait.

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Rob Spring's avatar

I prefer the black and white. My eye stays with in their faces, exploring details and receiving a sense of their humanity with no distraction from color. My eye tended to wander more in the color versions.

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Terry J. Allen's avatar

Thanks for the feedback. This has been interesting. Looks like the general sense is black and white for the drama and art; color for the more personal portrait. But that ability to draw in and hold the viewer is important.

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T. Telenna Thompson's avatar

Black and White

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Jeffrey Gilbert's avatar

I recently switched to monochrome on my iPhone screen saver. Very instructive to re-see my fotos in black and white. They seem to exude a more palpable presence from within the subject. Deleting the associations with color may help to see past the surface.

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Terry J. Allen's avatar

Thanks for the feedback; you make a good point. This has been interesting. Looks like the general sense is black and white for the drama and art; color for the more personal portrait.

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Roger's avatar

I prefer the color, they just have more depth, more life to them. But they are wonderful photographs, either way!

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Alison Underhilll's avatar

I love the black and white, looks like a study, more depth, makes me look at them differently, more intently.

The color photos are lovely, too, but I find I look at them more as someone (you) showing me pics of friends, the way a grandmother will show photos of her grandkiddies.

That being said, both versions are wonderful of the elders, those beautiful lines.

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Jonathan Allen's avatar

I agree. Even though color photography is now dominant, there are instances, such as this, where B&W just works better. The Nikonians Website often includes a significant share of contributed B&W works.

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Janet Van Fleet's avatar

I prefer the color version, though I wonder what would happen if you ramped up the contrast in b/w...

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Susan Forste's avatar

Your friend is right, they're even better in black and white. They look noble, like statues. And thanks for the link to his Reality Check (great name) blog.

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Terry J. Allen's avatar

Thanks for the feedback. This has been interesting. Looks like the general sense is black and white for the drama and art; color for the more personal portrait.

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