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Colour vs monochrome Journals/Blogs
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Regular poster 315 posts jpachl Regular poster 315 posts
jpachl

I recently made a photo session with my GP 9, which is a motorised version of a non-operative die cast 1:120 toy model made by Lionel some years ago.

Due to the lack of US motive power in TT scale, many US prototype TT scale modellers motorised pieces from that product line using kits offered by several small batch manufacturers. From the toy appearance of the original model, it cannot really compete with contemporary scale models.

To hide the flaws of that rather toy-like model, I tried a B&W version. Users in another forum agreed that it looks better.

One user with an art background suggested to make a sepia version. Compared with the B&W version, the picture would gain more depth.

After having posted all three versions on Flickr, Deviantart, and Instagram, I asked users which one they would like most. On there three platforms, users decided differently. On Flickr, there was a preference of the B&W version. Users on Deviantart preferred the colour, and users on Istagram the sepia version. Since I got much mure feedback on Instagram than on the other two platforme (Flickr and Deviantart have been in a serious decline for years), I decided to post the following pictures of that series in the sepia version. However, on Instagram, where a single post in the feed may contain a series of pictures, I will post each scene in all three versions.

Homepage: http://www.joernpachl.de/model_rr.htm

Blog: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/blog/40591
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Human.c.ity Junction Regular poster 170 posts
Human.c.ity Junction

Interesting experiment. In

Interesting experiment.

In the color photo, I did not see the locomotive right away. The B&W scene is much more balanced to me, but I think that is just because I saw it before the Sepia.

I would have picked the sepia version until I went back and looks at the first color photo.

The backdrop in the color photo really takes away from all the colors in the modeled scene. if you crop the photograph right above the horizontal bridge, then the photo ends up a lot more balances and the colored photo becomes a lot more interesting than the other two.

Uncropped, sepia. Cropped, definitely color.

Heath @Human[c]ity

http://www.humancity.org
http://www.RiversideTransfer.nyc

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Graham Line Prolific poster 1,165 posts
Graham Line

B&W

I'm viewing on a display that tends to block up the shadows so it is hard to make useful comments. 

But is is a lot of fun to see a scene built and photographed as it would have been in the early '50s, with good camera gear and most definitely in monochrome.
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EspeePhildee New member 11 posts
EspeePhildee

B&W definitely, but...

Thanks for sharing this very interesting comparison. After looking each picture several times, I definitely prefer the B&W. However, for my little taste, "this" B&W is lacking a little something, in contrast, brightness, grain... It deserves to be processed in a photo software that offers such renderings. As if the photo would have been shot with various films in i.e. the Agfa, Fuji, Ilford, Kodak, Polaroid, Rollei, brands. It is amazing to see the variety of atmospheres that can be added that way to a given photograph.

I use DxO FilmPack for that purpose. It is a pay software, I don't know if RawTherapy or Gimp have built-in features, or plugins, to simulate above results.

This is just my perfectionnist's humble opinion.

 

 
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