Rare photo opportunity...thoughts on BW conversion

SitterS · February 21, 2008

This opportunity doesn't happen much especially with all three of my kids looking at the camera. Playing around with natural light as usual and also with custom gradients that I built yesterday for my BW conversions. Thanks for looking:D

Shane

Briggie · February 21, 2008

clap

.... WOW!!! Love it!! IMHO, don't change a thing!

Briggie · February 21, 2008

oh, and find a wall to clear so you can put that one up!!!

Richard · February 21, 2008

Great shot, Shane.

I think the conversion suits the subject matter well.

Cheers,

Telf22 · February 21, 2008

Great shot! and yes, you should put this one up on the wall, its one of those photos.

Agnieszka · February 21, 2008

Wow!!! What a photo!!! I love it ....

SitterS · February 21, 2008

Thank guys for the wonderful comments.

I sent one for print yesterday to see how the BW conversion prints on paper.

If it looks good, I have a coupon for a canvas and thought this would be a good photo for one. I only wish I had more room at the bottom so that I could do a gallery wrap (think that is what they call them).

Shane

Moogle Pepper · February 21, 2008

AND you got your dog looking too!

SitterS · February 21, 2008

Moogle Pepper wrote:

AND you got your dog looking too!

Usually the dog is the more cooperative one. Imagine that!!!!

Shane

urbanaries · February 21, 2008

SitterS wrote:

Thank guys for the wonderful comments. I sent one for print yesterday to see how the BW conversion prints on paper.

If it looks good, I have a coupon for a canvas and thought this would be a good photo for one. I only wish I had more room at the bottom so that I could do a gallery wrap (think that is what they call them).

Shane

Absolutely fantastic shot, Shane, and your conversion is, as always, BRILLIANT!

RE: canvas, I had one made thru canvas on demand, and you can have them sample a color from the photo if there's not enough room for the wrap. I had one done this way and I just love it, you wouldn't notice the image doesn't truly wrap unless someone pointed it out.

Elaine · February 21, 2008

Oh, just beautiful, Shane! A definite wall hanger, for sure! And a terrific conversion. I LOVE it!

SloYerRoll · February 21, 2008

Great shot. Great pp. Great everything! Definite hanger!

LiquidAir · February 21, 2008

Great shot and a very nice conversion. I have only one little nit which is that your son's hair gets lost a bit in the black background. Not a big deal at all but you might try a localized curves adjustment to see if you can pull out a little more separation there.

SitterS · February 21, 2008

urbanaries wrote:

Absolutely fantastic shot, Shane, and your conversion is, as always, BRILLIANT!

RE: canvas, I had one made thru canvas on demand, and you can have them sample a color from the photo if there's not enough room for the wrap. I had one done this way and I just love it, you wouldn't notice the image doesn't truly wrap unless someone pointed it out.

Thanks very much Lynne. I am going to check on that with Canvas on Demand. I just joined NAPP and found a coupon with them that I am going to use. Any other NAPP members out there check out discounts. I think the coupon is for 50 something which isn't bad.

Appreciate the compliment on the conversions. Always working on them

Shane

SitterS · February 21, 2008

Thanks Elaine, SloYer Roll and Liquid Air.

Liquid Air I took your suggestion and lightened up the upper part of his hair. Looks better.

Shane

Ann McRae · February 21, 2008

Bravo! Excellent!

ann

Swartzy · February 21, 2008

Shane
It's perfect...don't change a thing....incredible you got all 3 looking in the same direction even..and the conversion is stellar. Wonderful!

evoryware · February 21, 2008

Perfecto!

photoshow · February 22, 2008

Really nice work. I love the calm emotion of the shot it's self and the conversion is beautiful with great tone and shadow detail.

NeilL · February 22, 2008

Yes, sweet shot!

The subjects themselves must take a good chunk of the credit - all of them beautiful! Beware of confusing the photograph's-photographer's merits with the subject's(s'). Some things just are beautiful in themselves - children, some animals, gray tones, hair sheen, direct eye gaze (did you know that experiments have indicated that the longer direct gazing into each other's eyes strangers do the likelier they are to fall in love?)... The viewer has more than just eyes - they have a brain and an emotional system hard-wired to respond in certain ways to certain types of stimuli. Photography is exciting to me when it is playing with those factors. Here there is no such play.

I find the girl's face to be a little washed-out bright. I don't so much like the gradient from darker to lighter tones of the subjects across the image from left to right, dog to girl. I feel the crop is a little cramped - for such a relaxed posing, a little more ambiance would have complemented.

I DO like the image very much - as I said, I can't help not! It is haunting as encounters with beauty are. Thank you for that. But I would encourage you to explore the frontier where such beauty and our perceptions confront in a more controversial way!

SitterS · February 22, 2008

Thank you again for all the nice comments. Appreciate you taking a look.

Shane

madigg · February 22, 2008

Great

SitterS · February 22, 2008

NeilL wrote:

Yes, sweet shot!

The subjects themselves must take a good chunk of the credit - all of them beautiful! Beware of confusing the photograph's-photographer's merits with the subject's(s'). Some things just are beautiful in themselves - children, some animals, gray tones, hair sheen, direct eye gaze (did you know that experiments have indicated that the longer direct gazing into each other's eyes strangers do the likelier they are to fall in love?)... The viewer has more than just eyes - they have a brain and an emotional system hard-wired to respond in certain ways to certain types of stimuli. Photography is exciting to me when it is playing with those factors. Here there is no such play.

I find the girl's face to be a little washed-out bright. I don't so much like the gradient from darker to lighter tones of the subjects across the image from left to right, dog to girl. I feel the crop is a little cramped - for such a relaxed posing, a little more ambiance would have complemented.

I DO like the image very much - as I said, I can't help not! It is haunting as encounters with beauty are. Thank you for that. But I would encourage you to explore the frontier where such beauty and our perceptions confront in a more controversial way!

Neil....thank you very much for the specific feedback. I got the print back yesterday and you are right on in your feedback. Actually in print, my sons face looks a little hot around the cheeks and forehead. Caroline's as well could be toned down. I see what you are talking about with the gradient tones from left to right.

Good thing I shoot in RAW!. Worked this again last night and and watched for the areas mentioned above.

Shane

xris · February 22, 2008

SitterS wrote:

...in print, my sons face looks a little hot around the cheeks and forehead. Caroline's as well could be toned down...

It IS a nice shot. And I think it will work well for display. And since you shot in RAW, here's a suggestion:

Try using a green filter effect when doing the B&W conversion. (Several editing apps have this feature. DPP, for instance.) It won't make the photo look green. (After all, it'll be B&W, right?) What it does is render a B&W image that has been shot under a greenish light. It's a common technique for bringing out clouds and leaves when shooting B&W landscapes, but it also works very well to add contrast detail to white skin and hair.

Give it a whirl!