Bodie State Historical Site - playing with B&W

Dixie

I'm experimenting with some black and white conversions and would love to get some feed back. Don't be confused by my copyright date of 2007 because that is when I took the photos. I'm just now processing them.

The first image is a rusty automobile in the ghost town of Bodie in Bodie State Historical Site, California. Bodie State Historical Site is located just a few miles northeast of the east entrance (Mono Lake) to Yosemite NP. For this conversion I used a little harsher grain and contrast than I normally use.


Here is the color version and you can click the image for EXIF data:


Service station in the ghost town of Bodie in Bodie State Historical Site, California. This B&W conversion was pretty straight forwarded with no color filtration and minimal brightness and contrast adjustments.


I used blue filtration on this conversion to lighten up the metal surface on the blue vehicle.


His the original color version that I started with and you can click on the image below for the original EXIF data.

Awais Yaqub

They look great in both !

CWSkopec

Dixie,
Great conversion on the first one! I wouldn't change a thing!!

As for the second one, I think a combination of the two would be good. I prefer the lighter color of the truck in the second, but I like everything else in the first (ie. the darker sky and there's more detail in the buildings in the background). If you felt like doing some masking and blending I think you would be right on.

Dixie

Awais Yaqub wrote:

They look great in both !

Thank you.

Dixie

CWSkopec wrote:

Dixie,
Great conversion on the first one! I wouldn't change a thing!!

As for the second one, I think a combination of the two would be good. I prefer the lighter color of the truck in the second, but I like everything else in the first (ie. the darker sky and there's more detail in the buildings in the background). If you felt like doing some masking and blending I think you would be right on.

Chris,

Here is the re-work:

davev

They look good Dixie.

What type of conversion method are you using?
I usually use gradient map layer so I can change the individual colors under that layer.
I have a quick tute here if you'd like to take a look. LINK

Bkodger

I think they look great.

Do you mind me asking how you set up your frame work? I've never seen them done with that 3D look before and think it looks great.

ian408

The first of the truck looks more natural. All are very nice.

grimace

ian408 wrote:

The first of the truck looks more natural. All are very nice.

I agree, all of them are very nice but if I have to pick, I'd go with the 1st shot of the truck.

roentarre

Simply stunning colour in deed :ivar

ritewinger

These are great, I like them all, but prefer the color.(just me)
I used to spend a lot of my time in the Eastern Sierra area, and have been out to Bodie a few times. I miss the west.

dlplumer

Excellent series Dixie.

Dan

Nacho

Dixie: I truly like the images and the conversions. I agree that the first one of the truck is best. The contrast with the darker metal seems more appropriate. The color version of the first one is also very cool. Great eye, and neat neat work. Thank you.

N

schmoo

Dixie, another amazing set!

I'd love to see Bodie at some point. I can't believe how many cool things there are to see in this ghost town. And honestly I can't choose between the b/w and the color shot of the truck.

Dixie

davev wrote:

They look good Dixie.

What type of conversion method are you using?
I usually use gradient map layer so I can change the individual colors under that layer.
I have a quick tute here if you'd like to take a look. LINK

Thank you for the link. I am using Nik Software's Silver EFEX Pro PS CS plug-in.

Here is a screen capture.

Dixie

Fad2blk wrote:

I think they look great.

Do you mind me asking how you set up your frame work? I've never seen them done with that 3D look before and think it looks great.

Thank you for your comments.

As to the frame - I built the frame template some time back and I just resize it by changing the dpi to fit which ever Canon camera I'm using so I can just paste the image over the template at full size. I then resize for the web. I have each template saved for each Canon camera body (see the list in the signature block below) in both vertical and horizontal formats.

Regretfully, I did not save the steps as an action. Many times I have wished that I had. However, using the templates I can change the color of the mat, copyright info, etc.

Dixie

ian408 wrote:

The first of the truck looks more natural. All are very nice.

Thank you, Ian.

Dixie

grimace wrote:

I agree, all of them are very nice but if I have to pick, I'd go with the 1st shot of the truck.

Thanks, Grimace. That was the one I like best as well.

Dixie

roentarre wrote:

Simply stunning colour in deed :ivar

Thank you.

Dixie

ritewinger wrote:

These are great, I like them all, but prefer the color.(just me)
I used to spend a lot of my time in the Eastern Sierra area, and have been out to Bodie a few times. I miss the west.

Thank you. ...but you don't get too much sympathy from me for missing the west because you have those great New England falls with all that color.

Dixie

dlplumer wrote:

Excellent series Dixie.

Dan

Thank you, Dan.

Dixie

Nacho wrote:

Dixie: I truly like the images and the conversions. I agree that the first one of the truck is best. The contrast with the darker metal seems more appropriate. The color version of the first one is also very cool. Great eye, and neat neat work. Thank you.

N

Thank you, Nacho. I really appreciate the input on the different versions.

Dixie

schmoo wrote:

Dixie, another amazing set!

I'd love to see Bodie at some point. I can't believe how many cool things there are to see in this ghost town. And honestly I can't choose between the b/w and the color shot of the truck.

Thank you, schmoo. Next time you are out west you should really try to see Bodie. It has the extra added advantage of being so close to Yosemite and Mono Lake that you can really turn it into a great photo trek.