Opinions Please!

[bluesbassman]

I was asked to produce a B&W/Color mixed photo of a special rose. I came up with two variants: The first with the roses and foliage in color and the second just the single bloom in color. I'm leaning toward the single bloom, but would like to get some input on which has more impact as I like the additional green in the photo also. The print is going to go in an 8x10 frame. Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions!

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Personally, I like both.

But, I do like the top one a smidge better.

[bluesbassman]

4. Thanks BtA. I do too. :)

[Blue_In_AK]

2. I personally prefer the first one,

but I need to qualify that by saying that I am a color person. I prefer the little bit of green, and if I were going to do this picture, I would color that leaf on the lower right to keep it consistent with the stems.

But, as I said, I like color

[bluesbassman]

3. Actually that isn't a leaf...

There is a second bloom and I purposely left that part B&W as it was badly discolored and looked better in B&W. Thanks for the input Blue!

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Oh, okay.

It just kind of looked like a leaf to me. I can understand why you wouldn't want to draw attention to a flaw. It's a very pretty shot, by the way.

[Solly Mack]

6. I like both but the 1st one appeals to me more.

I like the hint of red in the BW bloom.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Yes, it kind of ties the shot together.

The second one seems a bit too stark.

[In_The_Wind]

8. I like the top photo better.

It's a very pretty rose.

[Hoppy]

9. I like the second one. The color of leaves and stem (and second bloom) distracts.

But they are both excellent.

[Mira]

10. I like the second one better

To me the green does not add anything to the photograph. The absence of it makes the bloom look supported, cradled and allows the red to pop even more.

[alfredo]

11. I like the first better. It makes manipulation less apparent.

The best face lift is the one that is opaque to the viewer.

It is easy to see the background as colorless, but not the stem and second rose.

The real test is the client. Will he/she notice that the second rose in the first image is red with some monochrome petals? Can you clone it out, or adjust color selection (threshold) to include that petal in the selection?

[ManiacJoe]

13. Nicely stated.

As a secondary concern, the obvious selective color processing fad just looks cheesy to me. In the first shot the color seems to slowly fade away, much nicer.

[alfredo]

15. Still, one has to satisfy the client.

[ManiacJoe]

16. Very true.

[alfredo]

17. It's hard to do anything original, and getting harder every day.

[Mz Pip]

12. I like the first one

The first one has some definition under the bloom. The bud in the second one appears flat, like an empty space.

[Curmudgeoness]

14. I definitely like the first one better.

But there are very few things that I appreciate more in b&w. I do like the b&w background with the first one though, since it does accent the color of the rose.