Techniques for B&W conversion

After reading through Michael Freeman's "Mastering Black and White
Digital Photography" I have been trying my hand at some of the
techniques he describes there with Channel mixer and curves plus
layers to achieve local contrast. You may want to check out my
description(s) and result(s) at:

http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=809

and

http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=822

~~~
eNo
http://esfotoclix.com/blog1

eNo

On Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:35:25 -0800, eNo wrote:

> After reading through Michael Freeman's "Mastering Black and White
> Digital Photography" I have been trying my hand at some of the
> techniques he describes there with Channel mixer and curves plus layers
> to achieve local contrast. You may want to check out my description(s)
> and result(s) at:
>
> http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=809
>
> and
>
> http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=822
>
> ~~~
> eNo
> http://esfotoclix.com/blog1

I believe there is also a section in "Grokking the Gimp" that talks about
the virtually infinite number of ways to do that with good examples of
how different 'moods' can be created.

ray

eNo wrote:
> After reading through Michael Freeman's "Mastering Black and White
> Digital Photography" I have been trying my hand at some of the
> techniques he describes there with Channel mixer and curves plus
> layers to achieve local contrast. You may want to check out my
> description(s) and result(s) at:
>
> http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=809
>
> and
>
> http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=822
>
> ~~~
> eNo
> http://esfotoclix.com/blog1

I was interested to see the different kinds of appeal that
the black and white photo had as compared to the color
version. The B&W, especially after you enhanced the
contrast, brought out the physical structures in the
rock and the stream. However the life added by the the
green and yellow plant and flowers in the lower left of
the photo, and the warmth of the brown tones in the rock
all seemed to me to be lost.

Alan

Alan Meyer

On Nov 4, 3:16*pm, Alan Meyer <amey...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> eNo wrote:
> > After reading through Michael Freeman's "Mastering Black and White
> > Digital Photography" I have been trying my hand at some of the
> > techniques he describes there with Channel mixer and curves plus
> > layers to achieve local contrast. You may want to check out my
> > description(s) and result(s) at:
>
> >http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=809
>
> > and
>
> >http://esfotoclix.com/blog1/?p=822
>
> > ~~~
> > eNo
> >http://esfotoclix.com/blog1
>
> I was interested to see the different kinds of appeal that
> the black and white photo had as compared to the color
> version. *The B&W, especially after you enhanced the
> contrast, brought out the physical structures in the
> rock and the stream. *However the life added by the the
> green and yellow plant and flowers in the lower left of
> the photo, and the warmth of the brown tones in the rock
> all seemed to me to be lost.

It's all a matter of purpose and preference in the end. For me, those
colors weren't particularly appealing and in fact distracted from the
features you note the B&W version brings out. I worked and worked that
image in color a couple of months ago, trying to bring out the beauty
I know was there, and ultimately, the hazy conditions just didn't
allow it, and anything that had the slightest measure of appeal for me
seemed over-cooked and over-pushed. Since taking up B&W recently, I
decided to go back through my images and see what else was there, and
this one popped up. It's not the one that has impressed me the most,
but I've been surprised at how one can re-interpret things in B&W and
bring out a different side of the image that the color sometimes
distracts from. BTW, until about 4 months ago, I couldn't find a color
vs. B&W pair where the color always won the day for me. I think part
of is an acquired taste and learning to appreciate what elements B&W
accentuates and brings forth.

~~~
eNo
http://esfotoclix.com/blog1

eNo