Sometimes I get color that is so darned nice I can't bring myself to make it B&W. But, I am seeing such inspiring work here, I just had to try.





Comments? Thoughts? Was I better off with the color original? Did I go too far with the contrasty conversion? Here is a comparison of my conversion efforts:



I like the contrasty versions but sometimes I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing I lose objectivity. I value the opinions of the talent on this forum.

Thanks for looking.

Rusty

Rusty, I think they are great. The darker contrasty one is wonderful, love it. There are some pictures that don't take well to B/W not many but some. These are really good one for the B/W. I think they look better than the color, they have more interest. My 2 cents worth

Sometimes I get color that is so darned nice I can't bring myself to make it B&W.

Rusty, I have to agree with your first statement. I sometimes take photos of nothing but sky simply because of the clouds, or because of the color. Here, I like the color version best.
Joe

Rusty,
I am partial to B&W and I like your contrasty renditions.
I prefer the second one (better composition and readability).
The third one is good in the less contrasty version. There is a good quality of midtones gradation. Such a picture is best enlarged. Critical points for such subjects: keep detail and soft gradation in highlights, and avoid posterization in shadows.

Rusty, the originals have such a beautiful color that I too would of had trouble deciding to convert. I like the second one best as well. The first in my opinion is a little too dark. On the third set I like the less contrasted version too. Overall you are a winner either way you go with these, color or B&W.

Rusty, I like the high contrast ones as well, since they show off the branch structure well. This is a case of both the color and B/W great renditions.

Thanks y'all.

It's like so many things er do ... there is no *one answer*. If I like it, it's good for me. It is hard, as Michel aptly points out, to know when to stop and not go too far.

If anyone wondered, all of the B&W conversions were done with PSE5's "convert to black and white". If I was after detail in midtones I played around clicking "more red" and "more blue" 'til it looked right. The very contrasty ones were a "one click conversion" -- I simply clicked the "infrared" radio button.

Rusty

Rusty, Since I just use a p%s and am not much familiar with the technicalities (although I hope to improve in that area) I can only comment "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder". I like all the presentations, but for a variety of reasons. They each draw an emotional and/or an intellectual response that is different for each one. Was the sky really that blue? Wow. To paraphrase Duke Ellington when he was talking about listening to music "If it ... [looks] good, it is good." You do excellent work.

The sky was blue, Gail,
A very nice, rich blue. But, not that dark except for the fact that I exposed for the tree bark and, thus, underexposed the sky.

Rusty

Rusty my brother, the technique is perfect. I think this is an excellent opportunity for all to learn something important. This hi contrast technique do not work with every subject. This technique work best when the subject is isolated and the background is plain or simple. If you go to my website and look at "Creque Dam" picture #18 from top to bottom you will see this technique applied to that picture. Why it work? Simple, the background was simplified by eliminating some distracting branches and some reflections. This bring or force the eye where I wanted it to go.

Now, look at what I did to your image on the enclosed attachment. Insted of taking the picture of the whole tree. I made a crop of the lower left hand corner of the picture. I then did a quick clone stamp tool elimination of branches simplifying the background (for ilustration pourpose) and by doing it I created a stronger composition. It is still the same tree but now you can see the whole tree without having the whole tree in the picture. Hope this help you and others SEE what i mean.

Shalom,
Don