Monochrome conversion help?

[chocolic]

I'm having a difficult time with conversion. I've been using gimp for a couple of years now but plan to get the free month of Elements here soon and want to make the most of it before deciding to buy or not. I know what I like in a b&w photo when I see it, but for some reason I get so flustered in the process I don't know what to do. I've tried decomposing, levels, curves, desaturate, channel mixer, working with the RAW file etc.... I tend to overdo things (with color too), but more so with the b&w images. I just get so flustered and cant see what is in front of me.

What I would love is to upload a photo of mine, have those of you that like to edit other's photos do a b&w conversion to your likeness... so I can see different interpretations of the same photo, and then try to recreate that with my program. I realize that may be a lot to ask, but it could also be a lot of fun, Any takers?:thumbsup:

[fx101]

Well, it would be helpful if you uploaded a picture first .

[Abiciriderback]

Be more than happy to do a conversion for you and show you the step by step workflow just post a picture at the max KB allowed

Ray Still

[Frog]

Be more than happy to do a conversion for you and show you the step by step workflow just post a picture at the max KB allowed

Ray Still

and/or put a higher res one in your gallery and post the link to it.
Probably better if you post the color version.

[chocolic]

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the help. I lurk here all the time, and have been timid to share. But I know you all are great at helping each other out and I can return the favor someday when I figure out what the heck I'm doing.. ;)

This is a recent one from a trip to the park to play with the settings. I took a lot of photos and my son wasn't real happy with me by this point...

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...&ppuser=253449

[Didache]

chocolic

Here is my take on it (very nice portrait btw).

I use Elements 5.0. The "Convert to B & W" option gives various choices (eg vivid landscape, urban, etc). For this I used "portrait".

I then adjusted the levels. I just pulled the tags on the histogram to the edges of the bell curve. I then pulled the middle tag slightly to the right to make it slightly darker and more gritty.

Then came the contrast. I boosted this up enough to make the boy's face pop a little out from the background.

Finally, just a little unsharp mask, just enough to make the eyes really sharp.

I haven't bothered with the bright spots which, if the image were mine, I would clone out or reduce.

This is just my take and workflow. I am sure other people would do jobs just as good or better. The point here is to develop your own workflow and stick with it. Do it one step at a time and only do enough adjustment to get the effect you're after. And don't overcook it!

Cheers
Mike

[jetrim]

One of the things I really love about Corel's approach to B&W is the interface that lets you adjust to your liking on the fly, easily. You mentioned trying the channel mixer, but when you talk about channels, you need to understand that RGB isn't really the balance of Red-Green-Blue, it's about tone, not color. The red channel handles the highlights, the green channel handles midtones, and the blue handles shadows, or dark tones. Here are a few examples of doing conversions with Paint shop pro, and how changing the RGB sampling completely changes the feel of the image:

[chocolic]

*nanana not listening..* jk ;)

Without looking at what you all have shown me, I went ahead and did my own conversion as I usually would just out of curiosity. And I just learned how to "print screen" which is really awesome... Anyway here's what I'd do first. Adjust the levels and slide the black and white points to where the little "mountains" end. At this point this is where I'd leave it if I was just adjusting for a color print.



Then I open up channel mixer and adjust so it would be about 60% green and 40% blue.



Leaving me with this - I feel like it should be brighter, but any more and i get the blown out spots on his face. So I'd leave it at this.

[chocolic]

or then I'd play around with curves to adjust the contrast to my liking... which is probably too much. I look at it and like it, but I know it could be much better, or simpler ? ugh!! :mad2:

[Frog]

In photoshop elements the most important step is the levels adjustment, in my opinion.
My work flow is pretty much like Mike's for a jpeg, though I did contrast first and just converted to gray scale instead of one of the b/w conversions.
Levels adjust all the tones to what you want and then sharpen as necessary as the last step.

[chocolic]

ok I replied to this already twice!! ;)

thanks for the PSE tips - hopefully this week I'll have some time to download the trial and play around with it and try those suggestions

jetrim - what software is that? I'm able to do percentages with the channels on Gimp but yours definitely looks more user friendly..

Thanks again everyone!!

[Abiciriderback]

One more version here. Basically opened in CS4 then ran it thru Redynamix. After that converted in Nik Silver Pro using the "High Structure" filter. Once converted opened up Nik Color Pro3 there ran it thru the paper toner filter using toning #5 and cut the opacity of the layer back to about 45%. Next up again in Nik color Pro3 ran it thru the Tonal contrast here highlight slider to 0 then slight contrast on midtones and shadows. Final run thru in Nik Color Pro was the Portrait Glow filter and backed the opacity of the layer off to about 25%. Resized and sharpened for web. Total time about 15 minutes. Ooops forgot before resizing back into CS4 for a levels adjustment

Ray Still

[chocolic]

Thats really great Ray.. hmm Im wondering if I can even come close using Gimp??

[jetrim]

jetrim - what software is that? I'm able to do percentages with the channels on Gimp but yours definitely looks more user friendly..

Thanks again everyone!!

Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 (it's about $59 IIRC)