Another comparison of the effect of colour and mono in the same image.
lets look at the colour on first for a second.
EM5 17mm f5.6
What is the first thing that you were drawn to?
For me, it is the woman's face that dominates a busy image, but is it strong enough? The warm skin tones, the contented look then the babies head and hat and her arms. I tend to linger on her arms cradling the baby. This is the "connection point" of the image emotionally. I next notice the colours of the red bag and the green socks. The background seems close, the car less visible due to the neutrality of it's colour and the green bush and blue sky and green walk signal harmonise with the warmer tones and colours. Even though it is a busy image, the balance and the warmth of the colours works for me.
As is often the case the mono image looks sharper (contrast?) and the woman seems to stand out more from the back ground. All of the warmth of colour is obviously lost, so the woman's look and pose are more important and the temperature, time of year are less obvious, adding to the mystery. The car is simply a tonal distraction like the building and there is nothing added by the missing colours of sky etc. The walk sign has effectively disappeared. The little bit of pole in the top left corner is annoying, where it is irrelevant in the colour image (I did not notice it at all until the mono image). he main subject become more of a confused play of patterns and tones. In short, the look on the woman's face has to carry the whole image. Selectively lightening some tones (the bag, her stripes) may add openness, or it may muddy an already busy image. Maybe a warm tone to the whole image?