B&W Tulip

Tolyk · May 8, 2007

I had tagged this onto a gallery post, but I decided I wanted more indepth critique on it.

Tv: 1/1000; Av: 9.0; ISO: 200; Focal: 50mm

I would like to know is if the composition is correct, and if not how I could do it better? Should I have included the entire flower? I know I cut part of the top petal off, was that a mistake? And just anything else anyone thinks I could improve upon. Thanks

fightheheathens · May 9, 2007

i think the photo needs

1. all of the flower
2. longer depth of field or more in focus
3. more contrast. the whitest whites are kinda grey and the blackest blacks arent really deep black. also parts of the flower petal are blown out.

also im asuming this is digital,
i think the converstion to B&W should be done differently. it looks like it was just desaturated. Im no PS expert as i shoot film only, but from what i have heard desaturating is not the best way to convert to B&W

Mithlondor · May 9, 2007

I agree the top petal needs to come in.
As far as depth of field goes, its fine. I actually kind of like the way attention is drawn to the main part of the image due to the placement of focus.
Im not sure about b/w in this one. Dont get me wrong, I love black and white in general, but especially macro photography of flowers strives on vibrant colors that just get lost in B/W.

As for the technical conversion to b/w:
Desaturation is also not the way to go. What you should do is make an adjustment layer - Gradient map - black/white. Best results IMO.

C.3.3. · May 9, 2007

Tolyk said:
I had tagged this onto a gallery post, but I decided I wanted more indepth critique on it.

Tv: 1/1000; Av: 9.0; ISO: 200; Focal: 50mm

I would like to know is if the composition is correct, and if not how I could do it better? Should I have included the entire flower? I know I cut part of the top petal off, was that a mistake? And just anything else anyone thinks I could improve upon. Thanks

You sound so uncertain, and to no reason really for such a quite succesful photo! There is nothing you should or shouldn't do. Some will argue that there is such a thing as "correct" composition, but many have shown that it is far from an absolute rule. If you cut a petal then it must be that you didn't think it was needed. I think it adds to the image. Personally if there is anything I would change it would be to freshen up the tonal range a bit, but it's a question of preference I think.

Tolyk · May 9, 2007

I did not use desaturate. I used the channel mixer and fooled with the colour settings there until I was happy with the result. Then I adjusted the curves very slightly.

I don't see where you're saying a part of the flower is blown out though, in either the original or the B&W conversion.

Here is a look at the original colour version. Oh, and for more information, this was shot with +4 close-up filters on, which is why it's slightly soft and yes it was taken with my digital Rebel XTI.

Steps I took to make it black & white. First I cropped off some of the excess on the left hand side, then I used the Channel mixer, clicked the Monochrome button and set red to 30, green to 10, and blue to 60. Then I used curves to slightly adjust it, I don't recall the settings but it was just a very slight S shape.

Thanks for the comments so far though, I'm valueing the input.

silver163 · May 9, 2007

it should have more contrast added and a bit more cropped

Peanuts · May 9, 2007

Do you use "Gradient Map" Prior to Channel Mixer? That usually helps to make the contrast go across the full black through white spectrum. Though I usually don't see flower images in black and white - this one in particular works quite well with the bokeh and shadows in the background.

Tolyk · May 9, 2007

Peanuts said:
Do you use "Gradient Map" Prior to Channel Mixer? That usually helps to make the contrast go across the full black through white spectrum. Though I usually don't see flower images in black and white - this one in particular works quite well with the bokeh and shadows in the background.

No I don't, I've never used the Gradient Map actually. I'm new to working with Photoshop for anything besides Brightness/Contrast and some goofing off with the occassional filter. This was the first time I'd ever used Curves. I'll try the gradient map next time. Thanks

Glad you liked it. I personally found it very plain in the colour version and was just messing around one night, changed it to B&W and loved the difference, just thought it made it pop a lot more than the original.

Silver, cropped more from the left or right?