My second B&W conversion...

[Pink Dragonfly]

This is an old photo from 2003, Sony Cybershot (full image size 887kb!), probably my favourite of all my point and shoot photos, which it was literally. Out there on this huge desolate beach on the Indian Ocean (Mozambique), this lady appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into nowhere just as suddenly - I only got this one shot, then she was gone.

I've just done the B&W conversion (I used the B&W option in Picasa, desaturation in PS seemed to turn it really grainy?). I've left it uncropped and unsharpened. Any suggestions? I have a feeling I should crop a bit off the left side to gain a slightly better composition? Should I sharpen it a little? How's light and contrast? (There's quite a lot of haze from the sea and spray from not insignificant breaking waves)

Mette

[Ron Kruger]

It does seem a little soft, but that doesn't bother me much. I would crop it a little from the top and a lot from the bottom, so that the walker is just above the bottom edge. Of course, to do this, you will have to lose some of the sides as well, but I belive this will get rid of wasted beach space and actually give the exposure more depth. The problem is each time you crop something, you lose detail, so you might want to sharpen it as well.
It's an interesting scene.

[Pink Dragonfly]

Thanks, Ron how about the left side? It'll be quite square otherwise?

Mette

[Pink Dragonfly]

Here's the original colour photo, just for comparison...

Mette

[Frog]

Nicely converted.
Unlike Ron, I'd crop more from the top and less from the bottom.
It would work as is actually if she was smaller, further away but since she's where she is I'd crop more from the top and then the left to make it a standard sized portrait format.
Also I can see why its one of your favs. Getting a person to magically appear in a landscape takes a lot of luck and the landscape wouldn't be much without her.

Someday, I'll scan one of my old film shots when I was shooting a sunset at the beach and wishing someone would walk along the beach when suddenly a couple appeared, stood looking at each other and then moved on. I had one chance and was fortunate to chatch it and its one of the best shots I ever tookand yours reminds me of it.

[Ron Kruger]

Now, what are you going to do? lol

[Pink Dragonfly]

Thanks, you now have me completely confused

Ron and Frog, feel free to edit my photo and post your suggested crops Then we can see what looks best

Mette

[Frog]

This ended up as more of a severe crop than I first imagined and I accidently took the color shot instead of the b/w but you get the idea

[Ron Kruger]

I'm new here and don't know how to mess with other people's images. Many images can be improved with a verticle crop, but some are better with a horizontal crop, depending upon the dominant lines of the photo. That's what I had in mind to maintain the expansiveness of the scene. The problem with expansive scenes, is they often lack depth, but I think that can be improved by putting the person close to the foreground. Maybe Frog or you could try this, leaving only a little sand in front of the person, most of the sky and as much of the sides as possible.

[Frog]

Hi, Ron. When you have permission to edit someone's photo, just save it and then you can edit it with your editing program. I then immediatly delete them from my hard drive

[Pink Dragonfly]

Thanks Frog I appreciate you taking the time

Hm...but not really sure what I think, Frog. I think some of the desolate, wide, open space feeling is lost? And there's that slice of water on the left that get's chopped into two...hm...maybe I should have a crack at Ron's idea?

Mette