Posted by Steve Bunn on March 19, 2007 at 10:51 PM
This is one of the first B&W conversions I have tried. I have included the original color photograph as a reference. I used many layers, masks, photo filters and adjustments to arrive at the final image. I don't have an eye for B&W photography, so I just went by feel through the process. I'd be very interested in hearing peoples' honest opinion about the final image. I'll always be a color photographer, but I might try some B&W conversions for those images that lack color.
Posted by Steve Bunn on March 19, 2007 at 10:53 PM
I think B&W can be very personal, so it's hard to comment without bringing along one's own personal biases. I'm also not an expert, so take my observations with a grain of salt.
I like the setting, and I think it has potential, but this rendition lacks the punch I like in monochrome images. Ironically I think many a good B&W image contains a lot of colour data that gives you a range of tonalities that can be worked with. I think you might be hamstringing yourself by working with an image with an obvious blue cast.
If it were my image I'd try to do a couple of things. I'd probably start by cropping the branch in the bottom middle and come in from the left edge to remove some of the dark black forest. I might then try to dodge or burn (I'd burn) the left most sky to even out the tone a bit. I might also lighten the snow area in the front and darken the right-hand log a little bit.
Thanks for the suggestions Alex, I'll give those a try. I never really thought of converting a good color photograph. I'm not sure how many of those I'll convert because I love color so much, but it would be interesting.
Steve, I think what Alex was probably alluding to in his comment, "Ironically I think many a good B&W image contains a lot of colour data that gives you a range of tonalities that can be worked with", is that B&W conversions can be more dramatic if the conversions are based on the color content of the original as well as the brightness content. All visual imagery is about contrast: no contrast, no image. And color images contain both color contrast and brightness contrast, both of which can contribute to the tonality of your B&W conversion. B&W film photographers use color filters for this purpose when making an initial exposure. You can do the same in a photo editing application by, for example, splitting the image into its component RGB color channels and then (if no one channel looks the way you want) recombining two of the channels in various proportions. This technique can reveal dramatic luminosity in some images and can provide a great starting point for further tonal manipulations. The B&W image of the posted image comparison is a proportionally adjusted composite of the red and green channels of the color image.
Your intent in doing a B&W conversion may vary by image. Sometimes it may "salvage" an image that has distracting color elements or an unpleasant color palette. Sometimes it is a way of presenting an alternative interpretation of an image or subject or of abstracting or idealizing the subject. For these and other reasons, you may find yourself regarding color and B&W versions of a given exposure as two very different images, not as a superior and an inferior version of the same image.
Perhaps most importantly, experimenting with B&W conversions will teach you a lot about the photographic craft and will help to develop and hone your artistic vision.
Don - Thanks for clarifying my somewhat cryptic suggestion.
Steve - There is a really good, basic book on B&W imaging in the digital realm. It is give examples on various techniques to bring about the feeling or mood you'd like to present in your images. I just moved, so once I can find it I'll post it here.
Discussion
5 repliesI think B&W can be very personal, so it's hard to comment without bringing along one's own personal biases. I'm also not an expert, so take my observations with a grain of salt.
I like the setting, and I think it has potential, but this rendition lacks the punch I like in monochrome images. Ironically I think many a good B&W image contains a lot of colour data that gives you a range of tonalities that can be worked with. I think you might be hamstringing yourself by working with an image with an obvious blue cast.
If it were my image I'd try to do a couple of things. I'd probably start by cropping the branch in the bottom middle and come in from the left edge to remove some of the dark black forest. I might then try to dodge or burn (I'd burn) the left most sky to even out the tone a bit. I might also lighten the snow area in the front and darken the right-hand log a little bit.
Just my .02, hope it helps.
Alex
Your intent in doing a B&W conversion may vary by image. Sometimes it may "salvage" an image that has distracting color elements or an unpleasant color palette. Sometimes it is a way of presenting an alternative interpretation of an image or subject or of abstracting or idealizing the subject. For these and other reasons, you may find yourself regarding color and B&W versions of a given exposure as two very different images, not as a superior and an inferior version of the same image.
Perhaps most importantly, experimenting with B&W conversions will teach you a lot about the photographic craft and will help to develop and hone your artistic vision.
Don - Thanks for clarifying my somewhat cryptic suggestion.
Steve - There is a really good, basic book on B&W imaging in the digital realm. It is give examples on various techniques to bring about the feeling or mood you'd like to present in your images. I just moved, so once I can find it I'll post it here.