Experimenting With Levels & Black and White

[AMBP]

Ok.. So I got response on, "Left For No One" and decided to put some of the techniques to the test, or.. "Try them out".. I based the black and white off #7 on here: 7 Black and White Photoshop Conversion Techniques Then, I got to thinking.. Someone said to get the color photo "perfect" and then convert it to black and white. So I started to experiment with the following adjustments:

Levels
Exposure
Channel Mixer
Shadows/Highlights


Ok, and for the black and white, after the color one was deemed "done", I ran through technique #7.

So, this is what I'm asking for suggestions, advice, and critiques on. The levels, colors, tone, highlights/shadows/mid-tones.. Also, since it is my first black and white conversion in Photoshop using the new found information, I need some critiques on that as well. Please do keep in mind, I know the layout/setting kinda' sucks a little and it's NOT the clearest photo I've ever shot. Also, the 'starburst' was intentional.

1 - Original
2 - Color levels edit
3 - Black & White levels edit

--Photobucket auto-resized..
Canon EOS T3i (600D) Rebel 18MP w/EFS 18-55mm Kit Lens
---Pulling out.. Thanks for your comments and suggestions---

 

[WesternGuy]

Not bad...you seem to be getting the hang of it. I like the conversion - too bad that lamp is "in the way", but sometimes we have to live with what we can get. I might be tempted to add a little more contrast to the B&W image, it is still a little flat - maybe you can add a bit more contrast in the colour image, before the conversion, don't know, because I do not use PS to do my conversions. Don't forget that not every colour image will necessarily make a good black and white image. I could go on about "what does or does not make a godd B&W image", but there are plenty of opinions and thoughts on the web, such as: Black and White Photography Tips – PictureCorrect and An introduction to digital black and white photography to give you a couple of examples.

If you are really interested in B&W photography (conversion from digital colour), then I would encourage you to look at some of the images by photographers who did a lot, or all, of their work in B&W, e.g. Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Josef Karsh, Henri Cartier-Bresson, etc. and some of the more contemporary ones, e.g., Tony Frissell, Nick Brandt, Annie Liebovitz, etc. I have also found that there are a lot of B&W "galleries" online that display B&W images by various photographers. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

 

[MTVision]

Wow! You take advice really well and actually put it to good use! I was the one who said the color thing - at least I think it was me. Anyways....I agree that the b/w needs a little contrast. When I do b/w conversions I usually create a hue/saturation (or any other adjustment) layer and then just change the blending mode to soft light. Soft light gives the image some contrast and you can adjust the opacity of the layer until it looks just right.

WesternGuy is right that not all Images are meant for black and white. I'm in this photography class and we played around with b/w conversions last time. The whole class converted an image to b/w then printed them out. Some of the photos were definitely not meant for black and white!

Great job on your conversion!!

 

[ann]

good for you to start working on getting black and white techniques under your belt.

This photo imho is not a candidate for converting. You could try channel mixing to help separate the gray values, too many brown, greens, blues which translates into the same values in greyscale terms.

 

[Proteus617]

Someone said to get the color photo "perfect" and then convert it to black and white.

Not really. The first step in making an image is conceptualization. You need to be thinking "color" or B+W" before you lift the camera to your eye. For example, the background houses are a bit murky and the trees have no detail at all. You could have metered for the shadows of the trees, metered for the light walkway, and come up a compromise that gives you shadow detail while preventing the bright walkway and lawns from blowing out. Guaranteed that the exposure that would have given you a better B+W image would look overexposed in color. Try decomposing first and working from the channel that has the info and detail you need. All in all a nice try and a big improvement over "left for no one".

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

As Proteus said, you should try ( when possible ) to have the idea of b&w conversion before capturing the image. However, lets face the reality that often times B&W is an afterthought. While it is good to get the colors right, I would however, recommend using Curves after the conversion because you can isolate specific tones and lighten or darken those tones slightly. There are other advanced masking techniques like Luminosity Masks ( google it ) but that may be getting ahead of yourself a little right now. As others have stated, some images just aren't great for B&W. Nice effort though. I think with a better image to start with would make a world of difference.

 

[AMBP]

--Apologies for not replying yet.. Just started a new job and starting out working double shifts.. I'm beat tired tonight with a major headache.. I shall come back here tomorrow and try out you all's great advice on my day off..

 

[photo guy]

the 1st one is a little dark but good, the 2nd one is great, the 3rd one is a little too bright

 

[COLTSFANATIC1]

practice makes perfect, keep it up

 

[AMBP]

Ok everyone.. Almost here.. Seems my day off was another day of work.. I'll be back Sunday or Tuesday.. Nice to have work again, but geeze it's a lot all at once.. Missing my photography a lot.. I sooo wanna get back into this ASAP..

--I do like what Proteus said about taking the photo with B&W in mind.. That hadn't occurred to me when I was taking the photo.. It really should've though.. That actually seems more like common sense to me..

And curves.. Yes, I usually use that.. I don't know why I didn't this go round..