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Working in B&W

RayB
Posted 23/10/2013 - 13:33 Link
I've been wanting to improve my B&W skills for a while. I took these two yesterday and offer them up for comments as appropriate...

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Both taken with the K5 & 16-50mm DA*
gartmore
Posted 23/10/2013 - 16:08 Link
I think a bit of level tweaking might work wonders. I would lift the highlights just to the point of blowing them, and the shadows just to the point of crushing them. You can do this by adjusting the sliders under the histogram so that they are just touching the graph at either end. Then slide the mid tones to taste
Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -
michaelblue
Posted 23/10/2013 - 16:36 Link
No.1: I would crop nice and tight, the top off down to the brickwork and get rid of that 'Malan' sign.

Something like thisComment Image
just my opinion of course
Regards,
Michael
swarf
Posted 23/10/2013 - 16:46 Link
I agree with Gartmore's comments on adjusting the levels.

In no. 1, if you had taken it from a foot further left, the hanging light bulb would not have been covering up the edge of the 'S' which I find slightly irksome - it might even then have worked as a small and slightly odd exclamation mark. I agree with Michael's suggestion to crop out the 'Malan' sign.

On No. 2 - a tiny crop on the LHS would get rid of the white line in the top left (a road sign?)

Phil
K-5iiS; K-r; ME Super; ME; DA* 16-50 f2.8; DA 18-135 WR; DA 55-300 WR; HD DA 15mm F4 ED AL Limited; FA 50mm f1.4; A50mm f1.7; DAL 18-55mm; M40mm f2.8; + assorted non-Pentax lenses

My Flikr Page link
RayB
Posted 24/10/2013 - 08:50 Link
Thanks for the comments, chaps.

Ken, I'd already done some work with the levels to get them to a point I liked - I've had a look at the full jpgs and they are pretty much as you describe, which is a look I wanted, so there must be something in the compression that has changed things?

Michael, I prefer your look, so I will adjust accordingly.

Phil, I know what you mean vis. being further left, but that would have put me half in and half out of the shop - I'd be part of the window and would have a staircase right in front.

I'd not noticed the white line, it's now been banished!

Thanks again, all
Edited by RayB: 24/10/2013 - 08:50

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