Choice - B&W or color

[Wicked Dark]

So I shot this the other day and I have been playing with it in Lightroom. I really like both versions for different reasons. I'm curious to hear opinions on them and if you have a preference.

I have left them both uncropped and have made similar edits in sharpness and clarity although not identical edits.





So...share your thoughts and insight. I'm just stuck looking at both of them and I'm just too close...you know what I mean?

[Marko]

Black and white all the way - VERY lovely image.

Personally though, I'm not crazy about the orientation; I think it would be stronger rotated 90 degrees clockwise. In addition the tones here feel rather flat, and they SO have the ability to sing much louder in my opinion; so I suggest some levels play especially on the main plant.

Hope that helps - Marko

[Wicked Dark]

I messed with color levels in the B&W image as well as curves. It's tough because the colors aren't isolated to the main subject or the background exclusively. If Lightroom does masks, I haven't discovered them yet.

I'll play with the rotation. I didn't touch that since it would be altering it beyond just the color or lack of it.

[Wicked Dark]

No other ideas?
I've played with the rotation, but it just looks weird to me. Sorry.
Also messed around with shades, curves, white balance and contrast, but nothing else has worked. Problem is that there isn't much of a shade range in the ferns themselves. The light green color is fairly uniform with only a highlight at the edges. I've tried bringing that out in different ways, but nothing really changes.

[Marko]

OK WD - you're the master of the shot, I just throw ideas out

For the B/W - just making the leaves lighter (increasing contrast) did a lot for the image in my opinion, but if you tried it and didn't like it - your call. (The burrs look like stars when they are lighter as well)

Even if you keep them as they are, they are very well done.

[Wicked Dark]

I think I must have zoomed every slider I could find. : ) The contrast is high, but maybe could be tweaked higher...I'll come back to it.