Thread: b&w conversions for cc

A few of Randy this time! We were at Ruthie's school program, which was being held at the school I work for. I had to bring the key to let everyone in, so we were there SUPER early. There's some great light in there, so I wanted to try and get some good shots. Well, this is the only good one I really got. I wanted it b&w, b/c I just thought it looked better, and I am ready to get a good conversion going. So, let me know what you think. I realize his head is a bit chopped, but does that bother you? It doesn't me, but that might be mommy goggles. Are they too bright? I think they might be. They didn't look like they were at first, but when I put them on my flash drive, they did.

Same pics, diff crops and conversions:
1/50 ( I know it should have been higher, but I wasn't thinking) , f/2.8, ISO- 400

1.



2.


3.

I love those big dark eyes. My 2 oldest have big dark brown eyes.

I like the first and second conversion the best. They are richer and look better with the added contrast. He is a little bright on a few spots but it's not horrible, if you can bring that down a little by masking those parts out it might help. My personal taste, is that I love the toning layer over a black and white.. it looks good in this conversion, I might have lowered the opacity on the toning layer just slightly, but that is very much a personal taste thing. It doesn't look bad at the opacity it is (imo).

The third one looks "muddy" to me. It needs more contrast and it looks too sepia to me, I prefer the lower opacity "chocolate" color.

Hope that helps!

Of these 3, my favorite is #1. I don't mind the head chop at all ... your focus goes right to the eyes and that cute little grin. I think your conversion looks really good here. I like the high contrast even if the whites in his shirt are slightly blown.

#2 is my second favorite. I don't like the portrait crop as much. But your conversion still looks good (& he's still adorable).

#3 just looks a little too yellow for my taste. It looks like you were going for a sepia tone, but I don't think it works well here. Having the whites of his eyes not be white just doesn't feel right.

LOVE that first one though! PRINT IT!!!

Best,
GiGi