Snowy Tryfan in B&W

Just been looking at past shots which might convert to B&W - this was taken last year, it's Tryfan mountain in Snowdonia. Would appreciate peoples thoughts - does it work for you in B&W ?

thanks


Simon


[IMG]http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e68/STKITCHIN/Tryfan_bw.jpg[/IMG]

I don't know much about BW, So I would be interested to know how to tweak this image too as a lot of mine look similar to this. I think in my case I can't bare to loose detail so they come out a little grey.

It is my guess that this needs the contrast increased, even clipping the snow a little, and making the mountain darker and more dramatic.

The sky could be burnt in a little and highlights dodged to give the look of a red filter.

I could be wrong but I think BW is a lot about artistic and/or dramatic effect so more artistic licence is possible without looking over the top.

Anybody??

Darkmunk... to answer your question (and hopefully help others), here's a few quick suggestions for creating some "punch" in B&W with Photoshop:

Full Photoshop only
* Add a new adjustment layer "Selective Color"
* Select the "Whites" and drag the "Black" content to the left a little
* Select the "Blacks" and drag the "Black" content to the right a little
* You can also select the "Neutrals" and move the black slider - but this often isn't needed.

Photoshop Elements & Photoshop
You can play around with the magic of layer blend modes. In this example, here are a couple of suggestions:
* Add a new Levels adjustment layer.
* Leave the settings "as-is"
* Change the layer's blend mode from "Normal" to "Soft-Light"
* Reduce the layer opacity to between 50 and 75%
That'll give some punch to the blacks & whites and stretch out the histogram somewhat. Incidentally, you can double click the Levels layer and move the centre (grey) slider to 'skew' the contrast.

You can adjust the sky in a similar way:
* Add a new Levels adjustment layer
* Leave the settings "as-is"
* Change the layer blend mode to "Multiply"
* Now fill the mask with black
* Pick the gradient tool with "Foreground-to-Transparent", and 50% opacity
* Stroke the gradient from the top across just the sky.
This will darken the sky.


Of course, there are many variations - but that's a basic principle

Hope that helps!
Matt


...sorry to all about not finding the time for the online Photoshop masterclass...

Here's a quick sample:


http://www.pbase.com/image/102980908



Simon - I'll remove this if you don't approve

Matt

No problem & thanks for the info on B&W conversion - the process is new to me so I appreciate some guidance, I'll have another go myself

cheers

simon

Just to add...

The quickest way to B&W:
* Add a new "Hue & Saturation" adjustment layer
* Set Saturation to -100
* Click OK
* Now change the blend mode to "Color"

This gives you a nice perceptual B&W, rather than the standard - which assigns the same weight to all colours.

Have fun!
Matt

If you have Photoshop CS3, there's a dedicated B+W conversion tool in "image > adjustments". This gives a good amount of control over the tonality of the image. From there, you can still end up with a rather flat shot. Personally I use Curves and Levels adjustment in order to give the shot more pop. Note that if this is pushed too far, noise/artifacts can be induced, as seen in the sky of the conversion by MattMatic.

There are many techniques available to create a B+W image. The best thing to do is source some online tutorials and try them out. I like www.theradiantvista.com - I think there's a video tutorial on there dedicated to this sort of thing.

Nice shot by the way Simon.

Toby

I prefer to adjust my BW conversions using Channel Mixer.

Had another go with the conversion, nothing too drastic but a touch more burning to add a little more contrast - BTW the original is converted in ACR - perhaps this isn't the best place, am I better off saving the RAW to Tiff & then converting in CS3 ?

thanks

simon

[IMG]http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e68/STKITCHIN/G104369_bw_2.jpg[/IMG]

No....,I think this is the best way. Basically ACR in CS3 uses the same method as Lightroom. And the gray scale conversion in LR with the possibility of changing and adjusting each separate color gives you the best tools for b & w. Not to mention the option for split toning. I would always try to work as much as possible on the Raw file first. But......it's just one mans opinion of course.

Martin.