Archive 2016 · B+W conversions; Hit me with your feedback.

Statitica
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · B+W conversions; Hit me with your feedback.

Today, I put a bit of practice into my B+W conversions.

Have at them. Don't sugarcoat it. I want to learn.

1

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2

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3

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Mar 21, 2016 at 08:05 AM

eSchwab
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · B+W conversions; Hit me with your feedback.

There's no wrong way to do a BW conversion because everyone has different tastes. If you don't mind I posted my preference.
I brought it into photoshop and did a curves adjustment. I grabbed the line around the 25% mark and pulled it down a bit to darken the shadows and pinned the line at the 75% mark where it was to keep the highlights in check.

I also like a little more texture in the skin. A pure red channel conversion gives nice translucent skin like this. Adding a little of the green channel gives it a little more depth in my opinion.

Mar 21, 2016 at 11:40 AM

Squirrely Eyed
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · B+W conversions; Hit me with your feedback.

I think these would benefit from more contrast. The light is fairly flat to begin with, so they would have a little more pop with the added contrast.

I also feel they would benefit by darkening the light background to make the boys stand out, especially in #2. One of the beauties of B&W is that it's all about light and relative brightness, matching color is unnecessary. You can use that to your advantage and darken/lighten areas to enhance B&W that in color may be problematic with the 'realism.'

I agree with eSchwab that B&W conversion is highly subject to taste.

Mar 22, 2016 at 11:22 PM

Danpbphoto
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · B+W conversions; Hit me with your feedback.

Tone and contrast needed here IMHO. Background need some contrast to compliment subject not distract.
The above comments I agree with..hope this helps..
Dan

Mar 23, 2016 at 08:47 AM

cs3is
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · B+W conversions; Hit me with your feedback.

On the first photo. Clone that distracting black line over his right shoulder. Increase the tonal contrast and light up those eyes

On the second photo. Crop to get rid of that black line on the right. Play with the curves and Pop those eyes out.

Mar 23, 2016 at 08:53 AM

airfrogusmc
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · B+W conversions; Hit me with your feedback.

I think if you are really serious about B&W get someplace to see actual prints by some of the greats like Adams, Weston or maybe Richard "Avedons In the American West" images. Look at the tonality and the dynamic range in the prints. It's good to have a high bar especially early on.

Mar 23, 2016 at 08:53 AM

eSchwab
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · B+W conversions; Hit me with your feedback.

I agree with Airfrogus on this. There is no canned conversion that works for all images. The best thing to do is work to try to get the most depth of tone in the skin. After that work on the rest of the image. Like I was eluding to in my post, the skin in this image is very translucent looking and lacking in that tonal range that I prefer. It's also important to remember that a lot of famous BW images have quite a bit of dodging and burning done to give the image that depth.

Mar 23, 2016 at 01:33 PM


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