Attempt at BW Convert

Meysha · Mar 24, 2005

So I read some different ways to convert from colour to B&W.
I tried to do one of them by adding a levels layer (I can't remember now) and changing it to monochrome and then changing the levels of the colours to tweak it. Well that didn't work because the quality of this pic is too crappy. So I just tried the greyscale convert after a little tweaking.

I found it really boring in B&W so I added the vignetting and I think it sorta looks classic now. What do you think? I would've prefered a slightly different angle on the road, maybe a bit more on the right. Criticism??

Here's the original (taken through a windscreen!! Cropped in PS)

B&W

Feel free to edit these and post if you like.

Kent Frost · Mar 24, 2005

Was this just converted to grayscale in PS? If so, you should try the channel mixer, described in THIS thread. ;-) I have a feeling it'll give you more pleasing and less boring results with your sky.

Meysha · Mar 24, 2005

I tried that method and it turned out really weird. There was no detail and it was all blocky and horrible... basically like a crappy JPG. btw thanks for the link, I couldn't find it again.

Kent Frost · Mar 24, 2005

May I have a shot at the full res image?

I'll be glad to post the settings I use.

Meysha · Mar 24, 2005

Sure, anyone else can have a go if they want.
It's not the best quality anyway because it was taken through a car windscreen.

http://www.ribbons.org.au/temppics/DCP_4202.jpg
190KB (This is the biggest file I can find of it)

mistakendavis · Mar 24, 2005

i was board so i gave it a try

what i did:
channel mixer layer
red +128
green +112
blue -60
constant -32
monochrome checked
i then copied the original layer and added a gaussian blur of 4.5 then used eraser tool to erase all of the blured layer but the blue part of the sky

jadin · Mar 24, 2005

The key to B&W conversion is the contrast. The more the better, it's fairly hard to add "too much" contrast in b&w.

Another thing you can do is sharpen your image with unsharp mask, many times b&w is sharper than it's color counterparts. But this is minor compared to the contrast.

contrast
Contrast!
CONTRAST!

Picksure · Mar 25, 2005

mistakendavis said:
i was board so i gave it a try

me2

willg133 · Mar 26, 2005

i think i got carried away..but it was fun

Meysha · Mar 26, 2005

Thanks everyone, You've given me a lot of ideas now.
I really like the sky in the version by Mistakendavis but I don't like how the water has now turned into a black lava flow. he he. I prefer the look of the water done by Picksure.
and will, i love the old-fashioned look.

Thanks again.

dalebe · Mar 26, 2005

just thought i would have a go, but just add a better sky to it, hope you do'nt mind..

Picksure · Mar 26, 2005

Thanks Meysha, I have read a few different ways to convert, and I say try a couple different ways on a photo. I find what works for one shot, may not work as well on another.

Also, using the laso(sp) tool, I played with the contrast of the raodway separately, and it seemed to enhance the whole photo.