Meow.....

melissa6631

Ok, so which version do yall like better? I love the yellow eye color in the colored version but theres just something that makes me keep going back to the black and white one... What do yall think?



x

rutt

All she needed was a little more dramatic color. How about this version:



I did this with LAB curves in PS/CS. Here are the curves I wrote: (PS format original curves at http://www.chezrutt.com/rutt/cat.acv)




If you don't know anything about LAB and/or curves, start out by taking a look at this tread: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2042

Assuming you do understand what LAB is and how curves work, here's a explanation of these particular curves. The original lacked contrast. The cat's eyes weren't reaaly true black. Parts of the carpet were blown, true, but the L curve wasn't really steep in the places where the cat lives -- fur, eyes, nose. So the L curve makes the darkest colors truely black and steepens the curve through the midtones where the cat details reside, flattening out in the highlights because we don't really care about the carpet (in fact it's a distraction) and we want to steel the contrast for the midtones anyway.

The A curve is steepened slightly asymetrically in order to neutralize the white fur on the cat's nose which was slightly magenta.

The B curve is obviously where the action is here. I steepened the right (blue) side to cool the light in the baclground and also to make her fur seem more neutral gray. Then I flattened the curve a bit on the near yellow side to lose the yellow cast in the fur and background. Then I took a steep dive to heighten the drama of those yellow eyes.

Finally I used the sharpen tool a little on those eye to correct for the slight softness.

OK, now, B&W or color?

lynnma

melissa6631 wrote:

Ok, so which version do yall like better? I love the yellow eye color in the colored version but theres just something that makes me keep going back to the black and white one... What do yall think?



x

Hi Melissa I like the first one best with the color? the black and white is nice but it's rather blown out on the left side.. lovely subject and beautiful eyes

Angelo

rutt wrote:

All she needed was a little more dramatic color. How about this version:

^ What he said. Now the color is great. Thanks for the lesson Rutt.

Khaos

I think the B&W is fantastic by itself. Sometimes when I see such contrast I like to imagine what the colors are. Nice shot.

wxwax

Color. Why? The actual colors are very subtle, almost black and white, and work extremely well. I don't think anything is gained by the conversion, and some subtlety is lost, IMHO. It's a lovely shot, very nice indeed.

Steve Cavigliano

Missy,

They are both nice, but as Sid points out (and despite Rutt's excellent edit), other than the eyes, there's not much color in the color shot anyway. The B&W looks really nice and if you want, you can always mask and leave the yellow eyes in color. Sort of the best of both worlds

Nice job on this one and thanks for sharing,
Steve

rutt

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Missy,

The B&W looks really nice and if you want, you can always mask and leave the yellow eyes in color. Sort of the best of both worlds

Steve

Oh, no, not selective color! In this case, you could actually accomplish with just LAB curves. Flatten the A curve and the right side of the B curve. Then take the nose dive on the left side of the B curve to get those yellow eyes. Might want to keep a little magenta (left side of the A curve) for the ears and to modify the yellow of the eyes. It will look more natural than any mask. So you could do it easily. But it would be wrong.

REECEPHOTO

rutt wrote:

All she needed was a little more dramatic color. How about this version:



I did this with LAB curves in PS/CS. Here are the curves I wrote: (PS format original curves at http://www.chezrutt.com/rutt/cat.acv)




If you don't know anything about LAB and/or curves, start out by taking a look at this tread: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2042

Assuming you do understand what LAB is and how curves work, here's a explanation of these particular curves. The original lacked contrast. The cat's eyes weren't reaaly true black. Parts of the carpet were blown, true, but the L curve wasn't really steep in the places where the cat lives -- fur, eyes, nose. So the L curve makes the darkest colors truely black and steepens the curve through the midtones where the cat details reside, flattening out in the highlights because we don't really care about the carpet (in fact it's a distraction) and we want to steel the contrast for the midtones anyway.

The A curve is steepened slightly asymetrically in order to neutralize the white fur on the cat's nose which was slightly magenta.

The B curve is obviously where the action is here. I steepened the right (blue) side to cool the light in the baclground and also to make her fur seem more neutral gray. Then I flattened the curve a bit on the near yellow side to lose the yellow cast in the fur and background. Then I took a steep dive to heighten the drama of those yellow eyes.

Finally I used the sharpen tool a little on those eye to correct for the slight softness.

OK, now, B&W or color?

Nice work Rutt and thank for teaching us something today