First time trying B&W

[schumionbike]

Hi everyone, this is the first time that I shoot anything in B&W. I like it a lot, it give a completely different feeling to the subjects that you're taking a picture of. Here's is a few that I took last night, what do you guy think? Anything to make these photographs better would be great. Thanks

1)

2)

3)

4)

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s291/schumionbike/Picture602edited.jpg

 

[cherrymoose]

Well, you asked for help on these, so I'll be honest. They're not bad-- especially for a beginner like you-- actually, they're definitely better than my first black and white shots. But did you convert these afterwards, or shoot in B/W digitally? I always find it best, and I'm sure others will tell you this too; to convert your photos into black and white afterwards, while post processing. It really makes a difference.
Also, all of these need a little more contrast. The blacks and whites aren't sharp enough; they're dull and almost on the gray side. If you bump up the contrast, and do a couple of small crops on these though, I really think you could get somewhere. Your subjects may not be the most interesting (but it's probably all you have at the moment); but nevertheless you have a nice eye for composition (especially in numbers 3 and 4). Keep it up; I really think you can get somewhere with these shots and your future ones. :thumbup:

(Oh, and I'm sorry if I sounded like I was "preaching"; just a little friendly critique! )

 

[EOS_JD]

I agree with Cherry.

Can you advise how you created the B&W image? If you use photoshop try using the channel mixer set to monochrome. The three channels should add up to 100. I usually aim for 110 to get some added contrast.

 

[schumionbike]

Oh, don't worry, I have only been shooting for a few weeks so I have no idea what i'm doing!!! As far as the pictures, what happen was I converted one of my color pictures into black and white in Picture It! and it look kinda cool so I switched my digital camera to black and white and shoot all over the place. So yeah, the pictures were taken in my dorm so yeah, I was just having fun so no worry about upsetting me. How do you shoot good black and white photos right from the camera, is the technique different? The reason I ask is because I think these pictures would look incredibly boring in color that I can't see myself taking them. But I think I'm going out tommorow and shoot all these pictures again in color and then convert them to black and white and see the difference, that would be a neat experiment I think.

Regarding the subjects of these shots, like I say, these things are just in my dorm and since I'm graduating next year, I wanted to have some pictures for memory purposes. Thanks for the composition comments, I'll try to get beter at it, it just seem like good luck right now=).

Anything to make these better are always welcome, thanks guys.

 

[LaFoto]

Interesting to hear someone who deliberately switched their camera do b&w say that you have to look for motifs in a different manner! So in knowing that (or feeling that) you definitely are very much on the right track.
I experienced the same when after years of el-cheapo colour negative film photography I decided I wanted to test myself in black and white photography for a change (and challenge) and instantly noticed that I have to look out differently. My motifs needed to offer me contrasts to begin with, and anything that was not contrasty enough, so I felt, would sure look bland (and still out of those 36 pics some 20 looked bland!).

Of all these four I like the first best, though you could not keep the camera all still, so it shows just the hint of shake, and I miss the bit of hand rail curve on the right that got cropped off. A tiny move of the camera to the right and that would have been in your frame and the leaning black wall on the left would have been avoided .

 

[EOS_JD]

If you use digital, always shoot in colour and process the B&W in the computer. You will get much better results.

 

[schumionbike]

If you use digital, always shoot in colour and process the B&W in the computer. You will get much better results.

Thanks for the advise, I'm gonna trying to take all the pictures again in color and then do the B&W on the computer.

 

[schumionbike]

Interesting to hear someone who deliberately switched their camera do b&w say that you have to look for motifs in a different manner! So in knowing that (or feeling that) you definitely are very much on the right track.
I experienced the same when after years of el-cheapo colour negative film photography I decided I wanted to test myself in black and white photography for a change (and challenge) and instantly noticed that I have to look out differently. My motifs needed to offer me contrasts to begin with, and anything that was not contrasty enough, so I felt, would sure look bland (and still out of those 36 pics some 20 looked bland!).

Of all these four I like the first best, though you could not keep the camera all still, so it shows just the hint of shake, and I miss the bit of hand rail curve on the right that got cropped off. A tiny move of the camera to the right and that would have been in your frame and the leaning black wall on the left would have been avoided .

Hi, thanks for sharing your experiences and advise. I too like the first one the best even though I feel that it have the most mistakes of them all. I noticed that that I cut off a little bit of the railing before too but it didn't bother me much until you mentioned it!! lol. On the left of the picture is not a black wall however, that's the stair going up to the 4th floor. Does that change anything regarding the picture? =)