Coastal Rocks B&W

CWSkopec

This shot was taken up at Crystal Cove near Laguna Beach a couple weeks ago while waiting for this sunset. Looking in this direction (180 degrees from the sunset), the clouds were solid and uninteresting so I tried to focus on the motion of the waves and the reflections on the wet sand.

C&C always welcome! :thumb

CWSkopec

CWSkopec wrote: »

This shot was taken up at Crystal Cove near Laguna Beach a couple weeks ago while waiting for this sunset. Looking in this direction (180 degrees from the sunset), the clouds were solid and uninteresting so I tried to focus on the motion of the waves and the reflections on the wet sand.

C&C always welcome!

Well, that one seems to have been a bust
So, how's this one?



Or the combo?

jpc

First one could have used an interesting sky, but the new ones don't need it as much. Very dramatic.

CWSkopec

jpc wrote: »

First one could have used an interesting sky, but the new ones don't need it as much. Very dramatic.

Thanks, jpc.

I wish I could have had a better sky for that first one, but sometimes you just take what you can get!

Also, I'm thinking I need to figure out sharpening for the web as all of these look a good deal softer than they do in photoshop!

AndMan

jpc wrote: »

First one could have used an interesting sky, but the new ones don't need it as much. Very dramatic.

The 2nd & 3rd are very nice Chris.

vintagemxr

In the first photo I'm thinking a little brighter light on the upper left rocks and then a little more white in the waves. This might increase the feel of depth in the photo. I like the reflection effect in the water a lot.

Considering that the sky you had to shoot under was very blah I think you did a very nice job.

Doug

pathfinder

I agree - there are greys, but no real whites in this image.

Even the brightest areas of the water are only light grey.

Try getting some real white and some real blacks in this image, Chris, and I think you will like it better.

hawkeye978

The last two are really nice with the wave action. How wet did you get from those waves?

They all did seem soft to me also. How do they look at 100% in Photoshop or Lightroom? That's how I generally judge sharpness before applying any software sharpening.

CWSkopec

AndMan wrote: »

The 2nd & 3rd are very nice Chris.

Thank you, AndMan!

vintagemxr wrote: »

In the first photo I'm thinking a little brighter light on the upper left rocks and then a little more white in the waves. This might increase the feel of depth in the photo. I like the reflection effect in the water a lot.

Considering that the sky you had to shoot under was very blah I think you did a very nice job.

Doug

pathfinder wrote: »

I agree - there are greys, but no real whites in this image.

Even the brightest areas of the water are only light grey.

Try getting some real white and some real blacks in this image, Chris, and I think you will like it better.

Thank you, Doug and Jim! I'm really still experimenting with how to create a quality B&W image. Most of my coversions in the past have felt a little flat and I think you're both right that this one could benefit from a little more tonal range.

What's the best way to get some real whites in the image? A curves adjustment layer using the eye dropper for the whites?

hawkeye978 wrote: »

The last two are really nice with the wave action. How wet did you get from those waves?

They all did seem soft to me also. How do they look at 100% in Photoshop or Lightroom? That's how I generally judge sharpness before applying any software sharpening.

Thanks, Tom!
I actually didn't get wet at all on these shots (later for the sunset I was knee deep in the waves, but nothing more than my toes for these).

They do appear soft here... My conversion process for these was to throw away the green and blue channels as the red channel had the image I liked the most. After throwing them out, the image lost some sharpness and I'm guessing those channels held a decent amount of edge details. I tried to smart sharpen to compenstate and they look sharp and detailed in Photoshop but I think the downsizing for the web lost some of that sharpness. I'll make a 100% crop this afternoon and post it for comparison.

pathfinder

Chris, conversion of digital color to B&W can be done many, many ways - there are some suggestions here - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=114917

vintagemxr

CWSkopec wrote: »

Thank you, Doug and Jim! I'm really still experimenting with how to create a quality B&W image. Most of my coversions in the past have felt a little flat and I think you're both right that this one could benefit from a little more tonal range.

What's the best way to get some real whites in the image? A curves adjustment layer using the eye dropper for the whites?

I've begun using Nikon Capture NX2 for all my conversions and adjustments and I think it works a bit different than PhotoShop. In NX2, for an adjustment you would just put a correction point on the spot you wanted to adjust and then work it from there. I would presume that is similar to the adjustment layer function in PShop.

In converting to B&W it's rare that a straight red/green/blue filter gets the best results. Some combination of those usually yields nice control over the tonal range with just minor tweaks after that.

Doug

CWSkopec

pathfinder wrote: »

Chris, conversion of digital color to B&W can be done many, many ways - there are some suggestions here - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=114917

vintagemxr wrote: »

I've begun using Nikon Capture NX2 for all my conversions and adjustments and I think it works a bit different than PhotoShop. In NX2, for an adjustment you would just put a correction point on the spot you wanted to adjust and then work it from there. I would presume that is similar to the adjustment layer function in PShop.

In converting to B&W it's rare that a straight red/green/blue filter gets the best results. Some combination of those usually yields nice control over the tonal range with just minor tweaks after that.

Doug

That's quite a list of techniques, Jim!
Thank you for the link, some good weekend reading/experimenting is in order!

Thank you for your thoughts as well, Doug. No NX2 for me, but sounds similar to what adjustment layers can accomplish. I was hoping that starting with the channel that looked most like what I wanted I could develop quick and easy conversion process for myself, but it sounds like it's time to go back to the drawing board on the process!

Sam

I like the composition of first one, but for me it appears too flat with nothing in focus.

Here is a quick to perhaps provide you with an idea for a diferent processing direction. I hope you don't mind.

Sam

dlplumer

Very nice Chris thumb

CWSkopec

Sam wrote: »

I like the composition of first one, but for me it appears too flat with nothing in focus.

Here is a quick to perhaps provide you with an idea for a diferent processing direction. I hope you don't mind.

Sam

I don't mind at all, Sam! Thank you for your interpretation, you've had me feverishly scrolling from top to bottom of the thread for the last few minutes trying to compare the two!

I like the direction you took this in. I'll have to save it and use it as a reference over the weekend.

CWSkopec

dlplumer wrote: »

Very nice Chris thumb

Thank you, Dan!