does this work better in color or B&W?

[River Roe]

 

[Ron Evers]

B&W for me.

 

[crashcart]

B&W as well. Without the color the baby blanket is less distracting. But I'm not old hat at this...just my $.02

 

[livingandart]

I'm in agreement. I prefer the black and white version best. It gives the picture a calmer/softer feeling for me.

 

[bullitt453]

I also agree that the B&W would be the better of the two. But, as it stands, the B&W looks a little flat. It lacks a bit of contrast for me. How did you do the conversion? Just desaturate? If you just use the Desaturate command, you end up losing a bit of your contrast. Try making a new Gradient Map layer with a fade from black to white. This should help keep your contrast intact. Then you can use whatever method you prefer to add some brightness and/or contrast (curves, level, etc).

 

[River Roe]

I also agree that the B&W would be the better of the two. But, as it stands, the B&W looks a little flat. It lacks a bit of contrast for me. How did you do the conversion? Just desaturate? If you just use the Desaturate command, you end up losing a bit of your contrast. Try making a new Gradient Map layer with a fade from black to white. This should help keep your contrast intact. Then you can use whatever method you prefer to add some brightness and/or contrast (curves, level, etc).

nothing so sophisticated. I'm just working with the basic Picassa. Conversions sometimes end up a bit on the flat side when using it.

 

[elemental]

Oops, about four people beat me to this.

 

[River Roe]

a button that says : black and white

if i click saturation and bring it all the way down, it still leaves a hint of washed out color.

 

[toofpaste]

I like the B&W but with the first image size....the 2nd one has a slightly smaller crop

 

[River Roe]

I like the B&W but with the first image size....the 2nd one has a slightly smaller crop

ahh yes it does. I was wondering if anyone would notice

 

[ann]

you should be able to work with the contrast even in picasa.after going to black and white, then go to tuning and play with the sliders fill light, shadows and highlights and see if that helps you

 

[River Roe]

this is another version but i was afraid that the blanket was starting to look a bit blown out. Is this better then the first b&w?

 

[bullitt453]

That is definitely better, but like you said, the blanket does seem a little blown out in areas.

Here is your original with a gradient map applied to convert it to B&W and a few tweaks of the levels. Unfortunately, there are a couple partially blown out areas of the blanket on this one too.

 

[River Roe]

That is definitely better, but like you said, the blanket does seem a little blown out in areas.

Here is your original with a gradient map applied to convert it to B&W and a few tweaks of the levels. Unfortunately, there are a couple partially blown out areas of the blanket on this one too.

blanket aside, the baby looks much better in this conversion :thumbup: nice, thank you. I'll have to watch the lighting better next time i shoot