Case Study: B&W vs. Color

This is one from the middle of March -- one of the first few nice days of spring we saw. It was taken with my 85mm:


When I first edited this image, I left it in color, which looks like this:

I like the image okay in color, but I think a black & white treatment unifies the four kids and makes the image look more cohesive. I also think it makes it look more timeless. Fortunately, three out of the four kids are wearing lots of white/light colors, so they stand out even with the b&w conversion, which is nice.

Bummers in general:
1. It's a bummer that the boy on the left is behind the bar.
2. It's a bummer that there are such harsh shadows.
3. It's a bummer that I shot it at f/4 instead of f/8, or something more appropriate.

One last note -- I cropped the image to 16:9, which I think works really well for this composition.
I think the two trees framing the scene are nice, too.