These are two pictures that I took and converted into black and white.
First, here is a picture of one of the many cousins. I think that the original is a decent shot. The colors are nice. But I didn’t think it brought focus to her expression well enough. Converting it to B&W emphasizes that she is the center of the picture. I’m taking advantage of her shirt being the lightest element in the picture to draw attention and once your eyes are there they should naturally migrate north looking for something more interesting to look at: her face. I also feel the B&W version shows off her expression better than the color version.
Next we have Aleah looking out the window. The color version isn’t that interesting to me. Aleah looks a bit dulled out in the shot with more interesting/bright detail being out the front door. I suppose that could make one think of the outdoors being more interesting than indoors… but I’m not that artsy. Now, when I shot the picture I was thinking about making it into B&W later. In the B&W, I think Aleah has more of the picture’s ‘focus’. She is the point making a contrast from the dark indoors and the light outdoors. I’ve also seen this style of shot done in the past and I like the effect.
Thoughts?