Color Does Nothing For This Image

This old derelict has been sitting in the same place for years.  Each year as I make my annual 
trek to Chincoteague Island, Virginia, I drive by to see if it still is there and how it has changed.
(click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark III; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 34mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/6.3; ISO 64
Since the sun was brightly illuminating this white vessel against the dark sky causing me to use
a fast shutter speed, I used the unique Olympus feature, Live ND, on this image to slightly
blur the water.

In fact, I think the color detracts from what I want you to take away after looking at this image.

For years, this old derelict has been sitting like this, semi-submerged, off a pier on Main St. on the Chincoteague Bay side of Chincoteague Island.  Chincoteague Island is located on Virginia's Eastern Shore and is the location of the famous "wild pony swims" each year.  

When I make my annual visit I normally drive by and see if the old girl is still there and if there has been any additional degradation.  Most years, I'll make a couple of images.  I think the image I made this year is the best one I've made of this old vessel, not because of anything that has changed with her, but because of the light and the weather, which was a clearing storm.  The light and weather made the difference.

But is the image more impactful in color or black and white?

You may not like black and white imagery.  After all, we see in color so why shouldn't our imagery be in color.  Makes sense.  I "grew up" photographically learning how to shoot in black and white so it has a special place in my creative endeavors.  Seeing in black and white takes a lot of practice as colors don't matter but one has to envision how those colors are represented as gray tones instead.  A red and a green are distinctive in color but may merge together as a single tone in black and white.  It's all about brightness.

Below is the color version of the same image.  You decide which you like better.  But I feel the color really adds nothing to the image.  In fact, it detracts from what I want you to see and feel.

When I look at the color image, for me, two colors detract from the spirit of this image.  First, even though it was stormy, the sky was quite blue.  We normally associate a blue sky with fine weather and nice days.  We don't associate a blue sky with ominous and foreboding weather.

Second, color makes the foreground too prominent, in my opinion.  I want your eye to center on the boat and not look at the detail in the foreground.  Looking at the color version of this image, I found myself examining the detail of the rip rap in the foreground.

Also, the color of the bricks in the foreground takes my eye away from the boat.  The same orange color is repeated in the old lifeboat (?) on the roof of the cabin.  There is also some other kind of barrel on the roof, which is red.  Another detraction.  When I look at this image, I want to see the old derelict half-sunken ship in ominous weather and think about who may have worked on it, how it served its master, what storms it may have weathered and why it was left to disintegrate.

Color is nice and is how we see, but in some of my images I feel it detracts from what I want the
viewer to see.

I'm sure many of you will like the color version better.  That's the beauty of art, photography and other creative endeavors.  We all get to decide what we like and don't like.  It's all okay.

Next time you have an image and are trying to edit it in such a manner as to guide the viewers' eyes in a certain way, not only burn and dodge, etc., but also try it in black and white and see if that makes a difference.

Join me over at my website, www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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