B & W conversion...does this work?

photostar_1

photostar_1

Suspended / Banned
Messages
4,802
Name
Carole
Edit My Images
Yes
I've had a go at doing a B&W conversion in Elements 5......

My monitor badly needs calibrating (it's my birthday soon so I've dropped LOADS of really big hints ;)) so I'm not certain if this is any good or not. Can one of you B&W experts advise?

B-W-mountains.jpg
 
photostar 1
looks pretty good on my (uncalibrated!) laptop
the dark corners do seem to be lacking a bit of detail tho
 
I really quite like that.:) Its maybe a tad too dark in the foreground. I would maybe try dodging some light into the middle of the shot to make slight subtle lightshafts. But other than that, good work.:thumbs:
 
I'm afraid it doesn't really work for me :( - too much detail lost in the lower corners and the shot looks unbalanced somehow (what I'm trying to say is that the darkness in the lower parts of the image overpowers the light sky, particularly the top left where there's nothing of real interest - makes that part look particularly 'empty' :shrug:).
I bet the original was better in colour. Any chance of seeing it :)
 
Messiah Khan said:
I really quite like that.:) Its maybe a tad too dark in the foreground. I would maybe try dodging some light into the middle of the shot to make slight subtle lightshafts. But other than that, good work.:thumbs:
Click to expand...

Thanks MK, I'll have a go at that. Always a bit nervous at the dodge and burn, but I did do a bit. Will try a bit more.
 
photostar_1 said:
Thanks MK, I'll have a go at that. Always a bit nervous at the dodge and burn, but I did do a bit. Will try a bit more.
Click to expand...

My advice would be don't set the exposure to more that 5% when dodging and burning so that you make small adjustments. Also - take a snapshot before you start and compare back to it regularly so that you can see the changes you're making. Keep taking regular snapshots as long as you're happy with the results. That way, once you push it too far, which you almost certainly will, you can just go back to the last result you were happy with. A lesson learned the hard way ;)
 
photostar_1, I love the composition and the vastness of the scene, but for me like the others have said I think it needs a bit of a lighten and an exposure remap to bring out all the detail in the photo.

I had a little play with the picture (hope you dont mind), I know everyone wont like my conversion, hope you do. The detail in the original file must be amazing as theres plenty in the 800pixel version.

B-W-mountains_lzn.jpg
 
mho said:
*Snip*
Click to expand...

I see what you were aiming at, but I feel its lost the lovely subtlety of the origional, and its also brought out too much noise.

photostar_1, as Grendel said, use the dodge and burn tools on a really low setting and build it up slowly. (I think I use it on 2% most of the time) Another technique would be to duplicate the layer and adjust the brightness/levels. Then apply a layer mask to it, invert the layer mask and finally paint in any bits you want of this new bright layer. This means you can adjust the dodging and burning at any time. :)
 
I like this, the only thing i would say is the same as mk the foreground is a little dark but that can be fixed.... those mountains look great. oh and well done for the paragliding great been upthere isnt it...... i used to jump from planes i got called mad lots of times ;)
 
Messiah Khan said:
I see what you were aiming at, but I feel its lost the lovely subtlety of the origional, and its also brought out too much noise.
Click to expand...

Like i said with an 800 pixel image its hard to do anything with, the noise wont / shouldn't be present in the original when remapped.
 
Hope you don't mind photostar_1, but this is my take on it. Its not quite right, but you get the idea.

Origional;
B-W-mountains.jpg

Edit;
bwmountainsof0.jpg
 
i like what you have done mk, thats along the lines what i was thinking, :thumbs: Subtle
 
I can't comment as a b&w conversion expert as I've yet to do one I'm really happy with but I've printed enough exhibition stuff to know what I like to see in good print..... will that do? ;)

I like the original best. There is nothing wrong with having really deep shadows in a landscape (or any other shot), they can act as a part of the landscape and bring form and texture to the image in their own way.

I love the way that the first draft is mostly dark space, it really enhances the beauty and delicacy of the light contained within.

In the same way with music, where the notes that aren't played can so enhance the ones that are.

Conversion aside, it's a lovely shot and very good for b&w. Was it taken with that in mind?
 
dazzajl said:
I can't comment as a b&w conversion expert as I've yet to do one I'm really happy with but I've printed enough exhibition stuff to know what I like to see in good print..... will that do? ;)

I like the original best. There is nothing wrong with having really deep shadows in a landscape (or any other shot), they can act as a part of the landscape and bring form and texture to the image in their own way.

I love the way that the first draft is mostly dark space, it really enhances the beauty and delicacy of the light contained within.

Sort of like with music, where the notes that aren't played can so enhance the ones that are.

Conversion aside, it's a lovely shot and very good for b&w. Was it taken with that in mind?
Click to expand...


Thank you so much for your kind words.........and although I didn't take it with B&W in mind, I thought I'd give it a go, as I love Ansell Adams work.

I shot it using a tripod, a polariser and also an ND grad as the sky was so bright. Even so, the foreground is underexposed and when I tried to "lift" it, it looked so noisy, so I left it alone.

I do like what MK has done, however. I wish I was better at PP, but practise takes time and I don't seem to have much of that these days!
 
must be a slow day! my go, different in order to give the clouds a bit of punch and to bring out the detail of the foreground even more....hard though, as one monitor is a bit blue and the other a bit dark so displays blacks totally differently.


landscape1copy.jpg


much prefer messiah's version though as it looks more moody
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top