First B&W conversion.

[Knight]

Ok i have been wanting to try a B&W conversion for a long time now , i found this photo to busy color wise and decided to give B&W a shot. Do you think that even in B&W it appears to be to busy ? Should i give it a tighter crop? and is the frame fitting for a photo like this ?

Dont hold back on this one ,if theres something that i could do to improve this photo pls say so and if you think i should just hit the DEL key on it well so be it.
I will never be offended by a critique

I added another version ,i used Corel Painter HighPass filter.

Glenn

[payn817]

I like it, and don't find it too busy. It reminds me of growing up on the coast. The frame compliments it well in my opinion.

[jar_e]

Knight,

Well done. I'd pick the second one, cause the gray border adds greatly instead of just the blank white one in the first. Great conversion and a very nice clean, tonal shot. Well done,

Jared

[Dzerzhinski46]

Dear Glenn,

I see that you tried to correct the slight brightness of the picture. The high pass filter seems to have been a little zelous and heavy handed. A little lighter on the filter next time . As for the pic, it is interesting. The reflections are nice. However, the photo does not have any other element to retain the interest. The masts don't form a lead in line going somewhere, and there is no real pattern to them. It is not necessarily too busy, but is not very dynamic. Sorry for being hard, but that is how I see it. The reflections are actually more interesting than the rest of the picture. Perhaps a future picture with just reflections? Keep up the hard work.

Drew

[Arctirus]

I love the first, the second is a little dark for my tastes. Could you post the original for comparison?

[readingr]

Okay how do you get these frames from? As a sailor anything with boats will do me fine. I prefer the second which has more contrast and shows the water surface and reflections better.

I really like the frames - where or how do you do these?

[Knight]

Payn817 and Jared thanks for your kind words ,your a real moral boosters Dzerzhinski46
im gonna have to start viewing my photos in Internet Explorer ,think someone mentioned that it helps you C what others will C because there seems to be a big difference from Photoshop to IExplorer. As for working with reflections im on it I was having supper and there was a good reflection on the river behind my house so i took a few pictures wich i will post if they are any good .
Arctirus i just posted the original in color for you .Readingr heres a link to a site that has quite a few Photoshop Action that you can download and try.
http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm only one thing are we allowed to post links to other sites here , if not i hope no one gets mad at me lol.

[mjs1973]

Hi Glenn,

Personally, I like the original photo the best out of the 3 you have posted. I don't fine the original too busy at all, I do find it a bit flat tho, lighting wise. For this image tho, it doesn't bother me. It makes me feel like this was taken in the evening, and adds to the feel of coming off the lake after a long day.

What method did you use to make your original B&W image? I find this image to be lacking contrast. I almost find it hard to look at because it is so bright. I like your filtered b&w version, but perhaps it is a bit overdone as was already stated, but I really like the reflections in that version.

As far as the crop goes, I wouldn't change a thing.

[Knight]

I was raining a bit when i took this picture actualy it was a few seconds before a big downpour. For my first conversion to B&W i dicided to use a filter from Digital film tools 55mm v5. I know there must be hundreds of filters and action for PS to do it with . Im just starting to do B&W so until i develop a way of doing it myself ill be trying some ready made action`s and filters.
mjs 1973 thanks for taking the time its appreciated.

[Dzerzhinski46]

For my first conversion to B&W i dicided to use a filter from Digital film tools 55mm v5. I know there must be hundreds of filters and action for PS to do it with . Im just starting to do B&W so until i develop a way of doing it myself ill be trying some ready made action`s and filters.

Glenn, one way I have found to be very satisfactory is using the channel mixer to convert to black and white. This gives you a slightly finer degree of control over the end product. The main advantage is that not every color photo will convert to black and white the same, even if you are using the same filter or program. Using the channel mixer is an easy way to tailor the black and white to each scene. I don't know where you could find instructions for this procedure, but it is fairly intuitive. Just start playing around with it and see what happens.

Drew

[Knight]

Will give the channel mixer a try , oh and i did capture a few good water reflections tonight . I will try to post one in the morning.
Thanks Drew

[readingr]

Payn817 and Jared thanks for your kind words ,your a real moral boosters Dzerzhinski46
im gonna have to start viewing my photos in Internet Explorer ,think someone mentioned that it helps you C what others will C because there seems to be a big difference from Photoshop to IExplorer. As for working with reflections im on it I was having supper and there was a good reflection on the river behind my house so i took a few pictures wich i will post if they are any good .
Arctirus i just posted the original in color for you .Readingr heres a link to a site that has quite a few Photoshop Action that you can download and try.
http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm only one thing are we allowed to post links to other sites here , if not i hope no one gets mad at me lol.

Thanks for the link - I will be looking at it shortly - I prefer the B&W which I already mentioned to the colour purely because the colour looks really drab and yes you can see the rain or is it because I'm used to the conditions.

Have you tried this in sunlight because that usualy makes the reflections jump out along with the colours,

[Arctirus]

For what it's worth here is my take on the original:



How I got there:

[Knight]

Readingr i will try to get back to this marina this summer hopefully it will be on a sunny day Arctirus thanks for showing me the settings you use in the B&W conversion its realy going to help me well done again thanks