First Attempts At B&W: C&C Please!

[genital_apparatus]

Hey all, being new to photography I'm also new to black and white, so here I've posted my first attempts, would like to know what those more experienced shooters think:

 

[tirediron]

Welcome. A good start on mono conversions. A few thoughts:

1. I'm not sure if it's a low resolution image or what, but it seems slightly soft overall to me. There are a couple of issues; the mono, while not bad is a bit mid-tone rich or muddy (There's too much grey, not enough black or white). I'd suggest taking this back into post and doing some work with levels and curves to bring a little more detail out in the dark areas and perhaps try to recover a little more range as well. From a composition point of view, I think it just missed. I find my eye following the double track from lower right, to the back of the image without really noticing the frieght cars on the siding. Lastly your sky is lacking. A graduated neutral density filter would have really helped this image and improved the contrast between the sky and the cloud.

2. Much better sky in this image and overall better exposure, but again, very muddy. I'm not really sure what the subject in this image is supposed to be. Is it the crane, the playground equipment or the houses image right? If it's the crane, I think perhaps a different perspective might work better, say from closer and looking up.

Overall, good work. Mono conversions are much more difficult that they look. The key to a good one is to start with a perfectly exposed image to begin with. Looking forward to seeing more.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[SrBiscuit]

i think levels could be tweaked a bit in both images, but something about that second image grabs me.
im probably grasping at straws here, but it;s the "industrial playground" thing going here that i love....the childs playground with the looming crane in the background...graduating from slides and swings to levers and freight containers...
i dont know...it;s early...lol

 

[manaheim]

The second one looks like the playground is building the house with its brandy new shiny crane!

Dunno if that's what you were going for, but it amused me, so therefore I like it.

Aside from that, I agree with tired.

 

[genital_apparatus]

Hey all, thanks for looking. My attempts at black and white were amateurish at best. Being so new to photography I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to start with black and white, as tirediron mentioned I'm still having issues with composition.

With regards to #1, composition-wise, would it have been better to catch the train closer to the centre of my photograph, but not quite centred?

For #2, my thinking was somewhat along the lines of SrBiscuit's interpretation. I was trying to capture the contrast between urban development versus rural life in a city that's growing. I saw the playground of my old elementary school with the crane for a background as an opportunity to get that contrast. It looked like an amazing idea when I drove past it last week, but for some reason I just couldn't get my idea to fit within the frame.