How is this black and white conversion?

[poker]

I felt the color version was too busy so I cropped out a lot and converted to black and white to nuetralize the busy colors.

I have this thing about usng blurry people in the foreground to FRAME main subjects. I rarely pull it off but I'm hoping it worked this time.

Please share opinions good or bad.....

Thanks.

[swmdrayfan]

I certainly like the composition. Having the crowd lead the viewer right to the heart of the picture is a great touch. The cropping is nicely done, but I'm not quite sure if I'm happy with the tonality of the b & w. JMHO.
John

[echoback]

I really like this photo. I do agree that the color version is too busy and I don't think the blurry foreground would work with color, however it seems to work really well with the B&W. It took my eyes a second to find the subject, but once I did, it was like WOW. I really like how the light is highlighting her. Only thing I would suggest is perhaps next time, make your subject slightly bigger so she dosen't almost seem like part of the background as well. Great job!

[poker]

The cropping is nicely done, but I'm not quite sure if I'm happy with the tonality of the b & w. JMHO.
John

I'll work on the tones. I was questioning it myself. I'll also get rid of the rim of the guys glass on the right.

Thanks John.

[Loupey]

Good choice going B&W. The color version isn't as powerful because of how distracting that red blouse is.

Good crop on the B&W as well. Other than the subject, the rest of the image appears too dark to me. If you opened up your lens and blurred the foreground people a bit more, it would keep me more locked on the woman.

Interesting how everyone is looking in different directions. Imagine if the woman was the only one looking straight at you. Still, this was a fleeting image and you did a great job capturing the moment.

[poker]

I really like this photo. I do agree that the color version is too busy and I don't think the blurry foreground would work with color, however it seems to work really well with the B&W. It took my eyes a second to find the subject, but once I did, it was like WOW. I really like how the light is highlighting her. Only thing I would suggest is perhaps next time, make your subject slightly bigger so she dosen't almost seem like part of the background as well. Great job!

Thanks Echoback. When I get to mess with this photo in Photoshop, maybe I'll rework the composition to give the illusion the subject bigger. Stay tuned for the edit.

Thanks for the comments.

[poker]

Other than the subject, the rest of the image appears too dark to me. If you opened up your lens and blurred the foreground people a bit more, it would keep me more locked on the woman.

I'll rework the bw tones soon. I'll also try the blur tool in PS. I just need to be careful with the tool since at times it is obviously a postproduction blur.

Interesting how everyone is looking in different directions. Imagine if the woman was the only one looking straight at you. Still, this was a fleeting image and you did a great job capturing the moment.

I was thinking of how the photo would've been with her looking towards me. The only other version I have of this is her drinking something.

Thanks for your opinion and suggestion!

[yogestee]

Interesting image manacsa..The jury is still out on this one..It looks like one of those papparazi type photos we see in womens' magazines...At first glanze it looks like a low key image (dark tones) until I'm drawn to the girl in the background..I'd like to see a cropped version in B/W with the girl more prominant..

Jurgen
Australia

[poker]

I cropped it more to bring her out.

I blurred, dodged, and burned a little here an there in PS.

I'm giving a 800 pixel width image so you can really see the subject.

Is it better?

[julsoph]

This is a neat shot, Manacsa. I really like how you've framed your subject...and the layers of people work, imo. I do like the dodged version better...and agree that the b&w works better than the color on this one.

Emily

[GB1]

I think it's superior to the color photo in the way that it draws the viewer's attention to the woman. Great shot, actually.

GB

[poker]

Thanks GB.

Emily, I'm glad you used the word "layers" since I really like looking at anything where I can identify layers.....it's a just a thing I look for. Thanks.