B & W at the beach

[stubbsy]

I'm in love with the texture of B & W at the mo. Here are three experiments with some shots from the recent Stockton sand dunes trip. Click a pic for a larger version.

I'd love to know if these work for you or not. You can be brutal - I am



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[spartikus]

Nice conversions stubbsy - the third one works a lot more for me, the branch/stump constrasted with the white sand makes the b&w more appealing. (Not sure how well that was expressed, but hopefully you get the idea!) BTW, what conversion technique are you using?

[sirhc55]

Sorry Peter but no. In my humble opinion B&W pics need to be dramatic to take full effect of being in that medium. Your first pic approaches this but has no focal point.

[Hlop]

Hi Peter,

I'd try to make them much more contrast and they might "play" then

[stubbsy]

Mikhail, Chris - Thanks for the honest criticism. I'll revisit these and make them more gritty.

Spartikus - I used the B & W tonal enhancer filter from the Nik Color Efex Pro plugins

[Hlop]

Spartikus - I used the B & W tonal enhancer filter from the Nik Color Efex Pro plugins

Given example has contrast source, so BW conversion looks contrast but we shut on Saturday under cloudy sky with soft light. I beleive bumping contrast up will help a lot

[stubbsy]

Gave up on getting the three above to look right, but I think this one works much better:

[Matt. K]

Peter
That first image is a stunner. It's as if the viewer is low down on an old sailing boat...on the high seas. It has a marvelous perspective! I think it will make a great background to something else one day.....a Photoshop montage waiting to happen. But it also works on its own.