BW conversion of a Yosemite shot.

[flyinion]

Took this in May of 2011, just got around to starting to play with them. I used LR4 to convert from color to black & white. Wasn't the best time of day for the shot, but when you're there for one day driving through & around the village I guess you take what you can get. Something seems off to me still, but I'm not sure what.

[armando_m]

Very nice, hope one day I get the opportunity to shot this area!

Maybe turn down blue luminosity so the sky gets darker with more contrast vs the clouds ?

[flyinion]

I'll play with that a bit more. I actually used LR4's ability to click/drag on an area to change the "correct colors" in the BW panel but maybe it needs a bit more. For reference, here's the original out of the camera shot untouched other than a resize and some slight sharpening from my LR export preset.

[armando_m]

Downloaded your color image to LR4
I clicked on auto in the basic panel
increased clarity to 100
increased vibrance to 100
clicked on B&W in the HSL color b&W
changed tint to -57 and temp to 5
dragged blue and aqua to -100
added sharpness to all but the sky and your signature


I can upload the results if you like

[flyinion]

Please feel free. I'm trying to improve my technique I used one from Scott Kelby's LR4 for Digital Photographers book but it would be good to know some more. Seeing your edit and your list of what you did to achieve it would be helpful.

edit: nevermind I was trying to apply your technique to my original lol

[armando_m]

I also reduced highlights on the whole sky to -100

[flyinion]

Hmm, odd mine didn't come out with as much punch in the contrast when I tried your settings on that same .jpg. The sky looks the same but the mountains and trees are much lighter.

[hminx]

Nice composition, have you tried lifting the yellow slider during conversion this may improve the forest detail a little, green areas don't seem to take well to B&W in my experience.

[flyinion]

Nice composition, have you tried lifting the yellow slider during conversion this may improve the forest detail a little, green areas don't seem to take well to B&W in my experience.

I'll give it a try this evening. Funny you mention yellow, a friend on facebook mentioned the "shadow" transition on the rock walls was rather rough and said something about using a yellow filter when actually taking the picture.