First B&W images, C&C help welcomed.

Ron--ah, you're using PSE. I'm not 100% sure channel mixer is available in PSE. :(

In fact, I'm not sure PSE even lets you do adjustment layers. Or am I thinking of GIMP? Crap, I don't know. Wouldn't hurt to have a look.

PSE does layers but I'm not well enough versed in it to know what all I can and can't do. I went to LR4 about 8 months ago and pretty much have stopped using PSE. I do use it but not much.
 
Only #1 is loading for me, but it is a good shot. It feels a little flat, so maybe a bit more contrast. But a great shot for your first B&W, I know mine was far off.
 
I like #2 but the pose in #1 is -sorry but- forgettable.

It's not that it's bad so much as it looks like a standard everyday 'snapshot'- great for a family photo album but not so much for a portrait.

Live people need to move, or at least show that they could. One shoulder needs to be further away from the lens- mimicking movement, how much is up to you. Even if you bring the head back around square to the camera lean it to one side or the other slightly by having the head perpendicular to the shoulders. The near shoulder down, head brought near, is usually considered to be a feminine pose.

There was a guy named Joe Zeltsman (he passed a couple of years ago) that codified all of this. Zeltsman Apporach to Traditionla Classic Portraiture he was pretty old when all of this was put together but if you go past how dated the photos look to the poses you'll see that they are still used today to great effect.

Good luck
mike
 
I like the edit in post #8...
Can you post other shots of #1? Just wondering what other "poses" there might be. What's the prize should u win? :)
 
I like the edit in post #8...
Can you post other shots of #1? Just wondering what other "poses" there might be. What's the prize should u win? :)

Thank you esselle. That was a quick session with my daughter checking out a new location. I only got a couple of poses and that was the best of the bunch. The prize isn't that much, you get gift card to use in the store and a print of the picture and it displayed in the store for a while.

I really am just getting into b&w conversions, so I didn't even consider submitting an entry.
 

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