Sundial Bridge at Sunset, a photo from California, West

Photographer's Note

This is at the north end of the bridge at sunset time. There are hills and trees all around. The view of sunset through the trees are not appealing for photography. Then I noticed that the sun’s rays coming through the trees shining on to the base of the bridge pylon is giving beautiful yellow light on everything. I turned my attention to it. This is the picture I like most, the father readying his two kids to bike across the bridge. The darkly shaded lawn on the foreground gives a nice frame to the picture.

A black and white version of the same photo is shown in the Workshop so you may compare the two. Which do you prefer and why?

Pp Work: Adjustlevels control; Increase saturation +10; Sharpen using USM; Crop.

mulder, fayeulle, Steft, oochappan, Rychach has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Steft (6109) 2005-07-24 6:22

I like this version better, the photo is very sunny and colourful and that feeling get a bit lost in the ws.
The photo is very nice, the sky is a bit white, but I like the round shapes of the brigde on the background.
Thanks!

oochappan (4880) 2005-08-05 19:00

Pleasant to include the people to scale this detail out of the bridge, nicely composed and sunny colored, better then the B&W.

pamastro (7296) 2005-08-09 21:23

I can see what you like about both versions of this photo. The black and white offers some really nice shades. It also makes for a much sleeker and modern looking feel that adds to the bridge footing. But in the end I prefer the color version. It makes the bridge look less a part of the landscape. Its sleek silver contrasts with the grass and the trees and even the people. The color goes along with its size and shape in making it look like a giant foot on the landscape. And you capture the warm glow of the setting sun in the color version sort of softening the entire scene and bringing the foreign object of the bridge right into this setting as if it were as natural a part of it as the people or bridge. And in both versions you capture another graphic feel, a bit stronger in the black and white, but still strong here. And that graphic aspect interacts better with the natural world in color as I said.

Rychach (25) 2007-05-27 12:34

I think the colored version is much better. THe sunset can't really be appreciated in the B&W version. The people preparing to go home add to the sense of the "end of the day". They are also dwarfed by this giant white "thing", which adds something, I'm not sure what...