B&W street picture

[Maher]

Hey
I have converted this picture using lightroom..
your opinion ?
Before:


After:

 

[kdthomas]

I can't say the photo speaks to me very much. It's a fairly sharp photo of ... a busy street. What do your think your intent is, to communicate with the viewer?

There seems to be a lot of mid tones, maybe? Especially in the buildings ... Maybe try fooling with the contrast sliders, and see what you like.

How did you actually do the conversion?

There's a BW Look 2 that I usually start with.

 

[Tim Tucker]

The foreground is fairly dark and the subject's faces are all in shadow. The only thing that stands out because it's bright is the car.
Not really a fan of the photo as I can go to my local high street and see the same thing anytime I want.
All the same a CS6 'quick fix', curve adjustment layers with foreground biased luminosity masks for lights and darks, further curve adjustment layer with a graduated mask to give the background some contrast without boosting contrast in the lightened foreground, and finally a B&W adjustment layer with a simulated orange filter.

 

[The_Traveler]

The problem is that there is no target for the conversion, no idea of what should be important.
This conversion above is ok but what is the end point - a reasonably converted B&W of a uninteresting scene?

 

[Maher]

I can't say the photo speaks to me very much. It's a fairly sharp photo of ... a busy street. What do your think your intent is, to communicate with the viewer?

There seems to be a lot of mid tones, maybe? Especially in the buildings ... Maybe try fooling with the contrast sliders, and see what you like.

How did you actually do the conversion?

There's a BW Look 2 that I usually start with.

It's a historical street in turkey.. Honestly I have an issue with choosing something that can attracts the viewer's eyes, choosing a good subject is a big problem to me as many in this forum said the same thing to me :/ ... I converted it using lightroom and it took lots of time from me to get it like that way ..

 

[Maher]

The foreground is fairly dark and the subject's faces are all in shadow. The only thing that stands out because it's bright is the car.
Not really a fan of the photo as I can go to my local high street and see the same thing anytime I want.
All the same a CS6 'quick fix', curve adjustment layers with foreground biased luminosity masks for lights and darks, further curve adjustment layer with a graduated mask to give the background some contrast without boosting contrast in the lightened foreground, and finally a B&W adjustment layer with a simulated orange filter.

View attachment 104036

Thanks a lot sir ... you replay really did help.. I took the picture only because its a historical street in turkey it's right though that I should work on choosing a subject that can attract the viewer's eyes

 

[Maher]

I'm not sure where you want an opinion about; the quality of this b&w convertion using Lightroom or the content of your photo?
To convert a photo you can use a bunch of (paid and free) programs. Using Lightroom (or Photoshop) will not automatically make your photos better photos.
I find this b&w photo needs a lot more contrast and much less gray tones.

well I was asking for both .. I didn't use lightroom with the believe that using it will make amazing B&W pictures.. I'm new to it and some comments will defiantly make me upload better pictures in the future
Thank you

 

[Maher]

The problem is that there is no target for the conversion, no idea of what should be important.
This conversion above is ok but what is the end point - a reasonably converted B&W of a uninteresting scene?

true.. will work on it.. thanks

 

[DarkShadow]

I bet to left of the car where the Canopy is,looks like something interesting may have been going there.

 

[Dave442]

I agree that it needs some additional contrast. As for the scene, I think it could be a good set-up shot for some closer in shots that would follow - it could be the architecture or the people. Right now there are a number of interesting things going on with people, it would have to be a big print to see the little interactions going on.
Anyway, here is my version from LR:

 

[The_Traveler]

I took the picture only because its a historical street in turkey it's right though that I should work on choosing a subject that can attract the viewer's eyes

The photographer must have a center of interest in mind and then compose and expose around that.
All the rest of managing the picture, post-processing - everything depends on the photographer knowing what the picture is about and taking that.