First attempt at B&W

[Jamie]

Thanks to Matt.K for the conversion method.



Comments more than welcome.

[waspo]

Nice shot, Jamie! I can't really offer any advice but I think B/W certainly suits this shot. Where abouts did you take it?

[Aussie Dave]

I'm not sure if it's my monitor or not, however the image seems a touch dark....but I agree that it certainly lends itself well to B&W.

Which B&W conversion method did you use ??

...and as per Jases' query, where was this taken ???

[Jonesy]

I am with dave in thinking that it might be a touch dark... but maybe a monitor/upload thing?
Apart from that it reminds me of home so its easy to like!

[waspo]

No, you guys are right. I too think it's a little bit dark, but I wasn't sure if that was the intention. (moodiness)

[Jamie]

It is a little dark isnt it!

Well when converted in PS it looked fine, then when i saved to the web it went darker, maybe it was a little dark to start with though.

Ive had another go at it but it doesnt look that good IMO. What do you think?



Converted in PS via the lab mode techinque that Matt. K posted up in the tips section.

It was taken on Mt Anakie this morning as a storm was rolling in (as you can see from the clouds).

[mudder]

Terrific choice for B&W Jamie. Old historic homestead stuff really does it for me... Just a curiosity question about the B&W treatment, is there a bit of soft halo around the foreground edges and the hill in the background? Might be just me

Oh, just noticed the second post, somewhere between the two for brightness I think... The first has a really moody feel which seems lost in the second...

[Jonesy]

Yeah it kind of lost its effect now? I ilke the orignial better but still think its dark
Ok call out to a more experienced member to point out where the problem lies... if theres one

[Jamie]

Yeah it kind of lost its effect now? I ilke the orignial better but still think its dark
Ok call out to a more experienced member to point out where the problem lies... if theres one

I think the problem lies with my PP skills, or lack there of.

Ill have another play a little later on and see what i can do.

mudder - would the halo thing be something to do with sharpening? Ive really no idea at all what causes that but i can see it quite clearly.

[mudder]

... mudder - would the halo thing be something to do with sharpening? Ive really no idea at all what causes that but i can see it quite clearly.

Did you darken the sky (with levels or curves etc.) or use layers at all to treat the sky differently to the foreground? Looks like a diff between layers maybe? Is it in the original NEF (or JPEG)?

Doesn't look like a sharpening effect around the homestead or trees but it looks like it might be a sharpening effect on the edges of the hill in the background though as sharpenign basically increases contrast between edges.

[DaveB]

There seem to be two levels of halo:

• The detailed halos (along the edge of the hill on the right, along the roofline, individual leaves, etc). This is surely the result of too-aggressive sharpening.
• The broader haloes (e.g. around the trees) may be due to manual dodging/burning, or something else?

I'd agree that a tone between the two initial versions would probably be best.

EDIT: "Wot mudder sed..."

[Jamie]

I dont know how to adjust levels or curves (or anything else much).

I converted the NEF to lab mode, adjusted the brightness, contrast, shadows and highlights then USM to 70% @ 1.5.

[big pix]

........maybe this will help.......
http://porg.4t.com/Recent.html

[Neeper]

Second is lacking contrast. Did you shoot it in raw?

[Jamie]

Neeper - yes its shot in raw

Ok last try before i give up on this B&W thing.

[mudder]

Bloody beautiful Jamie...

[Frankenstein]

Lovely shot Jamie - definitely a subject begging for BW treatment. I like the original one best - maybe a touch dark, but nothing I'd worry about (actually I tend to darken my shots too). Your last attempt seems to lack a bit of contrast.

Frank

[psionic]

Jamie,

The choice of subject and the B&W composition is great ! I really like this image, it just oozes... "old"

The second image lost that mood, looking over exposed and blown... That one can be sent to the big bit bucket in the sky.

I find it's a toss up between the first and the third. Its hard to describe but the first image reminds me of an aged B&W photo, so I guess the mood says "really old" to me; whereas the third says "not quite as old".

/M.

[big pix]

use levels......try and increase your blacks and mid tones then decrease using the right hand slider, this should help to add contrast and remove some of the mid tones which is making the image a bit flat and lacking contrast, you may have to add a bit more black, this is called crush up the blacks to make an image more appealing .......

[Aussie Dave]

Hi Jamie
thought I'd have a quick go at brightening this up (hope you don't mind).

original:


my version:


My process was (in PSCS2):
- ran a curve (63/74, 160/190, 255/249)
- duplicated Layer 1
- changed blending mode to "hard light"
- ran High Pass Filter (radius = 5.0 pixels)
- duplicated Layer 2
- changed blending mode to "soft light"
- changed opacities to Layer 1 (100%), Layer 2 (20%), Layer 3 (30%)
- flattened image
- saved for web

It would be interesting to see what this does on the original (as this was obviously done on a JPEG copy - from the PP that' you'd done on it beforehand).