# B&W Help



## JacaRanda

Please feel free to try your hand at processing this.  I think it's worthy of a B&W conversion, but I'm just not feeling it.




DPH-0164 by jsteve5506, on Flickr

Version 2 attempt.  Lifted shadows, lightened the blue (all water in background) brushed in some contrast to hair, and increased vignette.



Untitled by jsteve5506, on Flickr


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## 407370

How about the HDR look?


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## Designer

Cool, Jack, you found a statue of a surfer!


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## KenC

The light isn't your friend here - very contrasty with deep shadows - and the background looks kind of muddy because there are no highlights  Try to lighten the background a bit.  If that's water at the top, there probably is more blue there than elsewhere in the frame, so try raising the cyan slider to lighten it and maybe the yellow for the sand.  You could also selectively increase contrast a little with a curves adjustment, perhaps in his hair.


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## The_Traveler

how about posting the original color?


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## waday

Do you have the original?


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## JacaRanda

Here is the very next image.




DPH-0165 by jsteve5506, on Flickr


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## jcdeboever




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## JacaRanda

KenC said:


> The light isn't your friend here - very contrasty with deep shadows - and the background looks kind of muddy because there are no highlights  Try to lighten the background a bit.  If that's water at the top, there probably is more blue there than elsewhere in the frame, so try raising the cyan slider to lighten it and maybe the yellow for the sand.  You could also selectively increase contrast a little with a curves adjustment, perhaps in his hair.



Ah, then I could very well be way off thinking it's a good candidate for B&W.  Better to think of making a B&W when shooting instead of everything in color and hoping to get lucky.


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## JacaRanda

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 111872



I actually like the stronger vignette.  One of those things......I tried not to make mine noticeable, but like what you have done with it.


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## JacaRanda

407370 said:


> How about the HDR look?
> View attachment 111857



I rather like that also.  Thank you.


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## jcdeboever

I prefer the first one. Just giving you ideas.


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## The_Traveler




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## JacaRanda

jcdeboever said:


> View attachment 111873
> 
> I prefer the first one. Just giving you ideas.


Interesting,  this version is somewhat easing towards the HDR look 407370 did.


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## Designer

JacaRanda said:


> Ah, then I could very well be way off thinking it's a good candidate for B&W.  Better to think of making a B&W when shooting instead of everything in color and hoping to get lucky.


There might be something to that line of thinking.  In my experience, some subjects make good B&W candidates and others just don't.


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## JacaRanda

The_Traveler said:


> View attachment 111874



Interesting you chose to keep the water dark or darken it.  I did not realize how badly I made his skin (I used some quick preset initially).  Did you also de-focus the watch, was it a distraction?


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## jcdeboever

I'm getting carried away now...  I really like this photo. I hope to get this good some day.


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## PixelRabbit

I'm a sucker for black and white so I had to give it a shot, this is what I came up with....


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## waday

Hey Jack, I really like this photo. Here's how I see it.. I did both a B&W and a 'retro-style' (slightly desaturated and added vibrance, haha).


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## spiralout462

I never edit others photos but this time I couldn't help it.  This guy reminds me of one of my buddy's, "Uncle Esteban".


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## jake337

Here's where I went with it.


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## Derrel

There are some interesting and very different edits on this shot!


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## jcdeboever

Derrel said:


> There are some interesting and very different edits on this shot!


Well, he invited it! [emoji13] 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## jcdeboever

JacaRanda said:


> The_Traveler said:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 111874
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting you chose to keep the water dark or darken it.  I did not realize how badly I made his skin (I used some quick preset initially).  Did you also de-focus the watch, was it a distraction?
Click to expand...

I like his skin. I went out and bought beef jerky after viewing.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk


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## JacaRanda

Derrel said:


> There are some interesting and very different edits on this shot!



I know.  Makes it more confusing actually.  What is your take, or which do you like or dislike?  I'm all over the board.  I do like the HDR version maybe #1.  JC's framed sepia version is really nice, Wade's color version is too, and I like how Lew took away some focus from the face and the watch.  I do like the darker water better than light.

Again, I am all over the place.  Thanks to everyone that gave it a shot, and offered suggestions.


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## Derrel

I put a 'Like' on the versions I thought were solid. There are three or four pretty good renditions of the shot, by my way of looking at it, but my opinion affects nobody else's opinion. The thing with B&W conversions is that the emphasis can be altered very significantly by any color filter effects, or strong burning or dodging, or sloppy border/faux distressed border type looks, etc..etc.. Should the water be darker or lighter than the foreground? I dunno. Warm tone B&W look or cold-tone B&W look? I dunno...what's the world's BEST beer with a cheeseburger?


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## Tim Tucker

Derrel said:


> I dunno...what's the world's BEST beer with a cheeseburger?



Ruined??  

A more "classic" look (the OOF was a bit choppy in the original?):


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## Bod

id saw original black and white not hdr and try next time to get an angle on the facial expression ,would have been interesintg, good pic


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## JacaRanda

Derrel said:


> I put a 'Like' on the versions I thought were solid. There are three or four pretty good renditions of the shot, by my way of looking at it, but my opinion affects nobody else's opinion. The thing with B&W conversions is that the emphasis can be altered very significantly by any color filter effects, or strong burning or dodging, or sloppy border/faux distressed border type looks, etc..etc.. Should the water be darker or lighter than the foreground? I dunno. Warm tone B&W look or cold-tone B&W look? I dunno...what's the world's BEST beer with a cheeseburger?


 
Welp....I'm really digging on IPA's these days especially with a blue cheese burger w/grilled onions and shrooms.


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## JacaRanda

Sorry for the slow response on some of the later comments.

My goodness.  What I have found with all the rendetions is that B&W processing can be just as flexible as color.
Thanks for all the offerings!


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