Woman Wearing Straw Hat (B&W)

[peter27]

I've been trying my hand at converting colour negative film to B&W using the RGB channels in Elements 8. It's getting a bit slow and costly to get true B&W film developed 'round here, so this seems a good option. The original was shot with Portra 400 (@320) with a 135 mm prime (Pentacon) on my K1000.

View attachment 51801

I got some good and really useful feedback on my Hurdy Gurdy Man conversion, so more of the same please!

Here is the original:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...83-woman-wearing-straw-hat-1-imm001_2-001.jpg

 

[ceeboy14]

Processing from color to B&W can be done by a variety of methods. I don't use LR so cannot comment on how that side works, but taking your original color, doing a slight readjustment to your B&W points, a few luminosity edits using screen and multiply as blend modes, I came up with a slightly different version of your Lady...I think they are all fun and each has its own merit when compared to another, none being the "right one" just a "different one."

 

[gsgary]

Learn to develope b+w yourself it is not that hard and makes it very cheap you will never get the same effect converting colour

 

[KenC]

Very nice portrait. I'd go for something between the original and the edit, but to each his own. I would crop it nearly square. I don't think the space on the sides really adds anything.

 

[terri]

This one works much better as a B&W than your Hurdy Gurdy man. But again - the color is so soft, warm and lovely, I don't know why you're bothering with the conversions unless you are just teaching yourself. I'd also recommend developing your own B&W film - you'd quickly realize how cheap it is to do it, plus even with minor tweaks you'd have little work to do achieving the B&W look you're after by starting with B&W film. Remember you do NOT need a darkroom to develop film! Just a changing bag (or sit in a closet at night) to load it onto the spool - you can do the rest at the kitchen sink anytime of day.

This shot is lovely in color, though. Just say'.

 

[ceeboy14]

Learn to develope b+w yourself it is not that hard and makes it very cheap you will never get the same effect converting colour

Tell that to Clyde Butcher, Jay Maisel and Jon Cone, Antonio Correia, Al Weber or David Vestal...I think they can give you quite a convincing argument on that thought.

 

[peter27]

Processing from color to B&W can be done by a variety of methods. I don't use LR so cannot comment on how that side works, but taking your original color, doing a slight readjustment to your B&W points, a few luminosity edits using screen and multiply as blend modes, I came up with a slightly different version of your Lady...I think they are all fun and each has its own merit when compared to another, none being the "right one" just a "different one."

View attachment 51804

Thanks ceeboy, this is very useful info. I like your conversion; it's more contrasty than mine and I think both work well.

Learn to develope b+w yourself it is not that hard and makes it very cheap you will never get the same effect converting colour

The time has come to delve into this!

Very nice portrait. I'd go for something between the original and the edit, but to each his own. I would crop it nearly square. I don't think the space on the sides really adds anything.

Thanks Ken. The square crop was one of the 3 original crops I tried out, and it works well, but in the end I preferred this version a little more.

This one works much better as a B&W than your Hurdy Gurdy man. But again - the color is so soft, warm and lovely, I don't know why you're bothering with the conversions unless you are just teaching yourself. I'd also recommend developing your own B&W film - you'd quickly realize how cheap it is to do it, plus even with minor tweaks you'd have little work to do achieving the B&W look you're after by starting with B&W film. Remember you do NOT need a darkroom to develop film! Just a changing bag (or sit in a closet at night) to load it onto the spool - you can do the rest at the kitchen sink anytime of day.

This shot is lovely in color, though. Just say'.

Thanks terri. Yes, the colour version is one that I'm very pleased with (perhaps my best photo in quite a while) and yes, the B&W is really just for practice....and yes, it works better than the Hurdy Gurdy Man conversion for me too!

I really must get started with B&W developing soon