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Author Topic: Black and White  (Read 2629 times)

AndrewKulin

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Black and White
« on: March 06, 2011, 03:07:20 pm »

Looking for input on doing Black and White conversions, as I infrequently try black and white but would like to do so more often.

Is there anything can I do to improve upon these?  I do not think they are bad but I bet I could do better.

And in regard to another ongoing thread, I do not have an issue if anyone copies these for purpose of providing edited examples.

Thanks
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popnfresh

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Re: Black and White
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2011, 04:08:55 pm »

#1 lacks punch. It has an overall dull quality with little detail below the low middle range. It looks like it was underexposed and you tried compensating in post. I was able to make it look a little snappier in PS CS5, so you might want to play with it some more. #2 is a bit better. There's a little clipping in the highlights but it's not bad. But it too could benefit from tweaking the levels some. The third one shows a lot of clipping in the upper levels and is too skimpy on the midtones for my taste.

I question whether the camera you're using has the dynamic range to keep the high values in the snow from blowing out and/or the low values from getting blocked. Snow is tough to shoot well and it takes a lot of dynamic range to pull it off. There could also be an issue with your monitor calibration.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2011, 04:33:46 pm by popnfresh »
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AndrewKulin

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Re: Black and White
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2011, 10:51:52 pm »

#1 lacks punch. It has an overall dull quality with little detail below the low middle range. It looks like it was underexposed and you tried compensating in post. I was able to make it look a little snappier in PS CS5, so you might want to play with it some more. #2 is a bit better. There's a little clipping in the highlights but it's not bad. But it too could benefit from tweaking the levels some. The third one shows a lot of clipping in the upper levels and is too skimpy on the midtones for my taste.

I question whether the camera you're using has the dynamic range to keep the high values in the snow from blowing out and/or the low values from getting blocked. Snow is tough to shoot well and it takes a lot of dynamic range to pull it off. There could also be an issue with your monitor calibration.

Popnfrsh.

I am not clear on what you mean by lacking detail in lower mid-tones on number 1, and would appreciate a bit more insight into what that means if you wouldn't mind.   I did do a comparison side by side in CS5 of the JPEG versions against the TIFF originals and the JPEGS were definitely flatter so I added some contrast back into them to get them looking closer to what the original TIFFs look like.  Photos used in this first one (15 shot stitch - non HDR) were not underexposed or overexposed so hopefully the cause of the dullness was in the JPEG conversion.

Third one I agree looking at it (though JPEG conversion did not help either), it was too bright and this hides some detail in the snow, so I have adjusted brightness, levels and curves. 

Camera used in a Canon 40D which I thought has decent dynamic range at ISO 100, and I am not sure why you are seeing clipping as my histograms on both original TIFFs and the JPEGs I originally submitted do not show clipping.  Not sure if this is something "caused" because I am using a wide gamut monitor (also calibrated about a month ago)

Thanks for replying.
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popnfresh

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Re: Black and White
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2011, 01:54:15 am »


I am not clear on what you mean by lacking detail in lower mid-tones on number 1, and would appreciate a bit more insight into what that means if you wouldn't mind.   

Actually, I said it lacked detail below the lower mid values. But I like the tweaking you've done to the second round you posted.
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stamper

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Re: Black and White
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2011, 03:48:29 am »

The water in the bottom half lacks contrast. You could boost the contrast of the image overall which will blow out the top half. However inverting the layer in PS will allow you to paint the effect into the bottom half. Viveza 2 would make it simpler. A plug in that is invaluable for this kind of thing. The image has potential and the type of thing I like, so a little work will go a long way. :)
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