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Working my BW conversion, again... :)
#1

Any comment and advice is very welcome.. Smile


[Image: IMG_6937-Edit.jpg]


I went to de cemetery in Berkentin, and I took this picture. I tried different composition but I think this one was the best one...
The legend says. "They died for us". In a plate under this monument a list of people from Berkentin... I found it very moving.


[Image: IMG_8778-Edit.jpg]


Hope you like them... Smile

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cezanne
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#2

#1. Love it.
#2. Composition brilliant. Very dramatic.with the dark sky behind.


Whoops I was lucky there. I keep forgetting to press the submit button.

Lumix LX5.
Canon 350 D.+ 18-55 Kit lens + Tamron 70-300 macro. + Canon 50mm f1.8 + Manfrotto tripod, in bag.
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#3

Thanks a lot NT... Smile

I have to say that I have learned a lot from Zig BW pictures. To see them and what he has explained has been very useful... Smile

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cezanne
Reply
#4

You know how they say if someone is looking to the left, then put them on the left.(looking in to the picture)
I wonder if the same goes with buildings. Your building looks to the left.(#1)
Just something I noticed.:/ I like it as it is though.

Lumix LX5.
Canon 350 D.+ 18-55 Kit lens + Tamron 70-300 macro. + Canon 50mm f1.8 + Manfrotto tripod, in bag.
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#5

You are right...
I'll do some research. Interesting point NT... Thanks... Smile

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cezanne
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#6

Love #1, great treatment and shot Irma - BTW have a good holiday Smile

Cheers,
Pat
Canon 400D plus assorted lenses
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#7

I find black and white conversions very difficult. At first I assumed it would be as simple as desaturing an image but this normally turns out poorly. I some times use a few other methods with a bit more success (adjusting brightness of individual colours in another layer or preserving luminosity). The contrast and tones look very good here and I would like to know what methods you use to convert to black and white?

Thank you for the translation of the war momument. I also find them both moving and inspiring.

Canon 50D.
Redbubble
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#8

Thanks so much Pat, Shane for your comments... Smile

Shane, yes, I had the same problem as you had, mine didn't look nice either.

In the last bw pictures I've been working with CS3. The black and white feature this program has is really great. You work with the light in different colors, so you can make your yellow brighter and separetly work with the red and magenta when your original red tends to the magenta side, also you can leave your blue dark...

However, in the case of the house you have the yellow bright but you might as well in this step bright your red of the brick house, and you want it dark to make the contrast. So what I do is to make a mild bw version. I have done this technique also with the channel mixer. (So the CS3 feature is not necessarily needed.) Under this layer you work with mask and selective color.

In the house picture I gave priority to the grass so I tried to make it brighter, but as the house also has yellow in the bricks, I mask the house and work sellective colors and remove the yellow and add cyan. That helps and give different tones. I masked the sky and worked curves to give just a bit of color and not to have it blown out. So you go working by subjects and colors in your picture. When you are happy with what you have. Go to brightness/contrast and make it hard really hard. my contrast layer here is brightness +33 contrast +77. At the end you see your histogram, and work with leves if it is needed...

Something that I have seen is that your white sometimes has hard shades of blue or yellow or green, you have to remove those shades from the white to get a real white so to say, in your bw treatment, otherwise that white will be affected by your treatment and there won't be a nice contrast which at the end, I think, it is one of the most important things in bw pictures. I also tend to sharp a bit more of what I normally do. Sellective sharpness works fine in even amount 200, but smal radius from 0.4 and not more than 0.8.

I hope I explained it well... but if there is something not so clear, you just ask... Wink

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cezanne
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#9

Thanks for your detailed explanation. It is easy to look at a black and white image and not appreciate the post processing skills and effort. I use masks alot when working with full colour images but tend to work on the whole image at once when converting to black and white. I will definately remember to experiment a bit more next time... Thanks again.
Shane

Canon 50D.
Redbubble
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#10

Can't contribute significantly to B&W techique discussion - I don;t have a good feel for B&W (much less than you). Composition and content wise , #2 is a jewel.
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#11

Thanks so much for your comment Toad!
Have to say that when I was in the cemetery I remembered that you like pictures from those places, and I thought you might like this one... Smile

Shane...
and just for the fun of it... try switching off your layer that makes your picture monochromatic! So ugly colored picture, but a great BW contrast... Wink

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.
Paul Cezanne
Reply


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