Help & input needed with this lackluster b/w conversion

saltydog

Hello Dgrinners,

I'll be the first to admit that b/w conversions are not exactly my strong suit and am hoping for some input here.

The photo below doesn't do much for me in color, but I really like it in black and white. It has a nice retro touch to it that way. Except, I cannot get it to "pop" at all and keep getting posterization in the sky.

I am open to all suggestion, or give it a whirl yourself if you like. Thanks for any input or ideas in advance.

Jana


Color version:




My more than lackluster attempt at b/w conversion in Photoshop CS4:

Qarik

it would be more helpful to post larger size but anyway..here is my take. just stronger curves, stronger black point, a bit of recovery, little bit of sharpening and NR

racer

here is my take on it
high contrast, dodge/lightened and blured the sand some



Here is my idea of retro/vintage look

ziggy53

Too much sky gives it too much power. I cropped back to nearly a square format. (Sorry, a little sloppy on the crop.)

The sky has some interest so I did work with the blues to try to work up something interesting, considering the primary subject. I copied most of the sky to a separate layer and I used Gaussian blur to make the clouds more billowy. (I used feathering to make the clouds/sky blend in.)

The rest of the image was treated to a sharpening.

The sign has red in it that needed to be darkened separately from the rest of the image.

Desaturate the image.

A custom curve to bring down the lower third tones and bring up the upper two-thirds.

A little vignetting in the corners.

saltydog

Oh wow, interesting results from all of you! I have to say that I like Racer's version best since the contrast in the umbrellas generates the "oomph" I was looking for and the clouds are well preserved. I created a colorized version of the image as well, but the vignetting really makes it work. Racer, was this "handmade" or some sort of one-stop filter effect?

Ziggy, I kind of like the amount of sky - it gives the lifeguard stand the kind of "lost & lonely" look I was going for.

Did anyone notice the bare foot peeking out underneath the umbrellas? Should I clone it out or is it a little secret treat once you discover it?

Okay, I'll give this a try on my own again, will post results later. Thanks a bunch,
J.

racer

saltydog wrote: »

Oh wow, interesting results from all of you! I have to say that I like Racer's version best since the contrast in the umbrellas generates the "oomph" I was looking for and the clouds are well preserved. I created a colorized version of the image as well, but the vignetting really makes it work. Racer, was this "handmade" or some sort of one-stop filter effect?

I did use a preset, but the Photoshop B&W high contrast yellow filter will do the exact same thing (you just need to adjust more). Mess with the reds and magentas for your umbrella contrast, blue and cyans till you get the sky looking close, and yellows for the sand. Then I just went threw the tools, dodging and burning shadows, highlights were I thought it was needed, blured the sand some, burned the sky shadows.
If that is the sort of look you want, I would start with the yellow filter.

eur0ed