B&W Portrait for Comments

Jeff Fillmore · October 13, 2006

Would like some feedback on conversion and PP - Thanks!

Stustaff · October 13, 2006

Just a quick one to start you off, composition works expression is interesting but im really disracted by how soft it seems?
The nose and hair are so out of focus, the eye are better but maybe next time not sucha shallow depth of field.

I think with a reshoot you could have a really good shot as the idea is sound.

Jeff Fillmore · October 14, 2006

Thank you very much for taking a moment to evaluate it. Some of that may be processing- here is the right out of camera shot for comparison. I was going for a soft look but may have over done it?

ESiggins · October 14, 2006

With a tight shot like this, I don't think it's necessary to have it so big (unless it's goin on a wall in a big room). The softness mentioned above would be less noticeable at a smaller size, too. Really nice shot, though. Beautiful eyes.

Stustaff · October 14, 2006

Hmmm yeh the softness is from your post, for me its either too much or not enough softness! It doesnt look enough to be intentional so just looks out of focus.

I think especially as we are so close to the subject go for the BW but lose the extra softness.

System · October 14, 2006

hi jeff-

are you using photoshop?-

if so, go to greg gorman's website and check out his pdf for bw conversion-

it really works great for bw conversions, particularly for portraits-

once you go thru the conversion, then you can play with blur, sharpen, toning, etc.-

I think this photo has great potential-

great eyes and very cute!-

best

System · October 14, 2006

jeff-

worked on the color-

will take down if you don't want this posted-

System · October 14, 2006

also worked on a bw version-

again, if you don't want it up, I'll take it down-

dkoyanagi · October 14, 2006

Hi Jeff

I like the toning you used for the conversion. I think it works. However, her forehead and the middle of her face are a little bright. You might want to even out her complexion a bit. Also, her pupil and iris are too distinct. If I didn't see the color photo I would have guessed that she has blue eyes. Her eyes are fairly dark so I would use a conversion that would more closely match her iris and pupil.
It looks like you used the channel mixer method with the green channel boosted. This is fine, because it gives the best skin tone. However, I think Gorman might work better for this photo. Gorman will darken her eyes and deepen the shadows. You'll also want to even out the bright spots on her face. User the levels adjustment to bring down the highlights and boost the midtones.
Stick with the toning method you used. I think it looks great.

Here are some links:
Simplified Gorman Method
Using Levels Adjustment

Jeff Fillmore · October 14, 2006

Thanks George-

I got Photoshop a couple months ago but I am still using Elements more because I just have not spent the time yet to get up to speed on it- this was done with Elements. Thanks for the feedback and your two versions- No problem with the postings- always like seeing a new take on a shot- I like the processing (aside from I would have probably saved the chin) Very nice. I will definately check out the Gorman process.

System · October 14, 2006

fillmore to fillmore-

re chin-

hah!-

I cropped that 'cause you cropped the head-

Jeff Fillmore · October 14, 2006

Yeah- I am often guilty of (and regretting) too close of a crop with the camera.

Jeff Fillmore · October 14, 2006

PS- I need to reach out- not re-chin.

Jeff Fillmore · October 14, 2006

Thanks Dan-

I like the tone also- have been adding just a hint to my b&w's lately. Interesting comment on the eyes- her eyes usually look more like Georges version in my conversions and I usually get blasted for it since they look so dark. I guess I need to keep working in it- Good. Again- I will definately check out the Gorman method- thanks for the link.

System · October 15, 2006

gdad wrote:

PS- I need to reach out- not re-chin.

hah!

photogmomma · October 15, 2006

Here's my take.... if you're going to crop off the top of the head (which I don't mind at all), make it look like it's on purpose - crop it really close to bring out the face. ETA: I just looked at your first post again and realized you DID crop it like I did!

! Sorry....)

As for B&W, I did it with a little warmer tone - slightly sepia. In Elements (or PS), I do it with a Hue/Saturation layer with the hue set to 32 and the saturation set to 9 (clicking the colorize button, of course!

!).

I then did some slight curves. (You can google curves plugins for PSE for 3 or 4, but not version 5 yet. I did this in PSCS2.)

Now to soften, I did a gaussian blur on a new layer that was a copy of the background. In Elements, you'll have to erase to get the underneath layer to show (unless you have PSE3 and download the plugin that does curves/channel mixer and layer masks) - or in PS you can create a mask. But you want to bring back the pieces that should be in focus - eyes, hair (or at least some of it), tip of nose, mouth.... So you get a softer image that doesn't look out of focus. Oh, and then I lower the opacity to about 30% - differs for each image, though. (That's how I do it to soften wrinkles and minor blemishes, too, without changing the character of the photo too much.)

Anyway, hope some of that helps! This is a really precious photo and I just love it! (And like I said, I don't mind the cropped head - I do that a lot on extreme closeups, but maybe I'm just a freak.)

Great job!

Jeff Fillmore · October 16, 2006

Alright- Here is my first go at the Gorman method. I like it a lot.

One question for you guys have been using this. On the site http://www.blackandwhitedigital.com/Convert/Manual/gorman.html step #9 says 'select a color'- I picked a brown shade and the shot ultimately seems to have that tint- which I like here. If I just wanted a non-tinted b&w should I have just picked black here? Thanks all.