My first B/W

tony0778

Here's my first attemt at a BW conversion. I used PSE7. C&C welcome!

Nikonic1

Not bad on the conversion, IMO it could use a bit more contrast. My only constructive criticism of the shot itself is that it's awfully busy. There's a lot of stuff going on there and no one single subject to really draw your eye, then view the rest of the composition. It's all just kind of "there".

pathfinder

tony0778 wrote:

Here's my first attemt at a BW conversion. I used PSE7. C&C welcome!

Tony, you might mention what camera you use, and what you did in PS 7 for your conversion, and maybe a word or two why you chose B&W.

There have been numerous discussions here about monochrome conversion techniques that you might find interesting as well


The brightest white I can find is in the sign and reads ~ 220,220,220 and the blackest black reads about 17,17,17 - I think that is where some of the contrast has vanished. I try to include tones from 5,5,5 to 250,250,250 in my B&W conversions if possible, as I know I can print this range on my printer.

Welcome to dgrin and Finishing School and Happy Thanksgiving!

I looked through your galleries. I like rail roads also. Here's a link to my conversion effort and another

tony0778

Pathfinder,

Thanks so much for your feedback! Your B/W conversions of the rolling stock and steam engine are absolutly fantastic. The quality of your work is my goal to strive for. I thought B/W may be a good look for this scene to convey age, vintage RR cars, etc. In addition, I though the pealing paint and rust would should up well in contrast.

I reworked the image to improve contrast. I took the shot early this AM with my Canon XSI and 18/55 lens. I edited the file within PSE7 using layers and adjusting red, green and blue. Converted to grayscale.

pathfinder

More punch in this one, for sure. Much greater use of the available tones. WHite in the sign now reads 253,253,253, and I can find a few blacks near 7,7,7