My first Greyscale

DavidS

This is my oldest daughter Abigail.

How could these be improved?




The original image

Giselle

try one on the tutorials http://dgrin.smugmug.com/How-To/143180

System

very nice pic-

1,000,000 and 1 ways to go bw-

try the tute that giselle mentioned-

a popular method is some variation of channel mixer-

optikverve's free program has some nice bw conversions-

george

DavidS

Thanks for the input. I tried the tutorial and Optikverve as well. The image below is an Optikverve conversion with the black boosted slightly in selective color. What makes a good b&w photograph? I'm not sure what to look for.

illuminati919

One thing I learned while shootin with film SLR's and developing photos my self is that contrast is number one thing. Having good blacks and whites somewhere in the photo is very important. Once you reach a certain point of black or white then stop increasing your contrast, thats the way I have learned it. Also try just using your own eyes and resolving yourself whether its enough contrast, enough brightnest or not(tip: when you bring the photo up and convert it to black and white and adjust the contrast and levels, walk away or look away from the photo for a minute or so, then look back at it, this allows you to forget what the photo looks like and gives you almost a first time look at it).

As you shoot more photos and convert them to black and white you will get used to converting them. Good luck with it.

Giselle

I really like the redone pic, nice job! Very pretty girl.

wxwax

Yes, I agree, the second version has more contrast in her face. Personally, I find the white top to be a distraction. The eye is naturally drawn to the brighter parts of an image, I believe, and so her top is a distraction. A little too bright, perhaps? Also, the background is the same tone as her face, so it doesn't set her off very well.

DavidS

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I really appreciate the help.

I tried your suggestions, Sid. I hope I applied them correctly.

System

david-

I posted a bw a while back on the whipping post that I had the good fortune of having pathfinder critique-

you might want to look at it and pay particular attention to pathfinder's posts-

although it's not portraiture, bw is bw-

http://digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=31327

best
george

wxwax

DavidS wrote:

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I really appreciate the help.

I tried your suggestions, Sid. I hope I applied them correctly.

Huge difference, IMHO, David.

Antonio Correia

Just a crop with the rule of thirds and canvas...

DavidS

Antonio Correia wrote:

Just a crop with the rule of thirds and canvas...

Thanks Antonio. I like your crop and the canvas adds a lot.

Antonio Correia

DavidS wrote:

Thanks Antonio. I like your crop and the canvas adds a lot.

Glead you like it

Is it gead or glad ? I feel more like glead ...

wxwax

Yes, the crop is a very good thing.