Which B&W is best?

[Sam Carleton]

I had my senior pick her pictures the other day. She simply loved this one. She said it looks like one of those pictures in the magazines. After looking at it in color, B&W and sepia, she wants it in B&W. My only problem is I cannot figure out which I like better. Here are the two options:





Now I realize that my techniques for converting to B&W might just stink, so here is the orginial color image so that if you would like to provide yet another B&W look, I would love to see it (and the technque used to produce it, of course )



--
Sam
http://www.miltonstreet.com
http://www.sportsshooter.com/scarleton
http://photos.miltonstreet.com/

 

[catz]

I like Option 1
--



Melissa - aka Catz
PBASE Supporter and
NAPP Member
Proud owner of a Nikon D2X
Still use the Fuji S2 for backup
Kodak 6490
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco
http://www.atncentral.com

 

[Dave Fitzpatrick]

No.1, no question in my mind.

--- Dave

The camera sees things as they are. Photoshop makes them appear as we'd like them to be.

 

[metgue]

--
http://www.pbase.com/metgue

 

[Samuel Briggs]

--
Sam

 

[erichard]

Honestly, while the first one is better, it seems a bit pasty to me, with some highlights lacking detail, and the darker one is too dark and flat, lacking depth. What about some intermediate with a little more contrast than number 2 (labeled 1.5 here):



The one labeled 1.25 is a mix of your number one and my number 1.5, filling in the detail of number one and lightening up number 1.5.

Or just mix your own number 1 and number two (put one over the other in layers and lower the opacity on the top one somewhat) till the detail fills in:



Very pretty daughter.

 

[Peano]

Of the two, I like #1 better. The only problem I had with it is that the light areas seem almost blown. I played around with converting the source image and touching it up a little here and there.



--
~ Peano

 

[redbaron41432]

Option 1 seems to be in the majority and I agree that it is magazine-like quality!

 

[GGB]

Place two copies of #1 overtop of #2. Change the opacites of both copies to Soft Light and the opacities to 75%. This route brightens yur #2 and removes some of the glare of yur #1.

If yu prefer a darker version, change the blend mode of the first copy of #1 to Multiply.

GGB

 

[erichard]

One more try with a bit more contrast, yet still retaining most of the highlights. A bit more dramatic:

 

[erichard]

That worked pretty well when I tried it.

 

[erichard]

One possible addition to your recipe is to Apply Image, blue channel, blend multiply (in the apply image window) to that top layer. Leaving the overall opacity of that layer at 75%. Gives it just a tad more definition, looks great.

 

[christie2003]

--
Christie
http://christieking.com
http://pbase.com/christie2003

 

[f8BeThere]

no text

 

[Sam Carleton]

Sam B,

Very nice, willing to share with us all how you did it?
--
Sam
http://www.miltonstreet.com
http://www.sportsshooter.com/scarleton
http://photos.miltonstreet.com/

 

[ChefZiggy]

And I haven't read any of the other replies yet. That takes the fun out of it.

To me both of your conversions needed more contrast. I started with the original and added a levels adj. layer to improve the base contrast. Then I added a Hue/Sat adj. layer set to -100% saturation. Under than I added a selective color layer and tweaked the differnt colors either adding or removing black. (Relative)

Once I got that where I wanted it I added a Brightness/Contrast layer to finish the contrast boost.

Being such a small file I started to see posterization pretty easy. I'm sure working on a larger file (16bit preferred) would yield better results.

Mine:



Your versions:

--
Chefziggy
http://www.pbase.com/chefziggy/lecream

 

[klassylady25]

 

[nbourbaki]

So far, I like klassy and ziggy's best.

how did you do yours klassy?
--
cheers,

nbourbaki

d70s . 18-200 vr . 35/2 . 90/2.8 macro . sb-600

 

[Cherilyn]

You nailed it Sam, this is the style I prefer!

Cherilyn

 

[spider227489]

I had my senior pick her pictures the other day. She simply loved
this one. She said it looks like one of those pictures in the
magazines. After looking at it in color, B&W and sepia, she wants
it in B&W. My only problem is I cannot figure out which I like
better. Here are the two options:





Now I realize that my techniques for converting to B&W might just
stink, so here is the orginial color image so that if you would
like to provide yet another B&W look, I would love to see it (and
the technque used to produce it, of course )



--
Sam
http://www.miltonstreet.com
http://www.sportsshooter.com/scarleton
http://photos.miltonstreet.com/