B & W's C&C

Valentia

I've been experimenting with generating black & white just through RAW conversions. I like the deep blacks that I am getting. I would really like your comments as this is a new experience for me and I think with a bit of practice there might be sonething to work on.

Thanks to Greysoul for setting the seed. A long way to go but it's exciting.

The pics are here.

Greysoul

Great work.

Valentia

Thanks Greysoul.

joolsveer

Great black and whites. I really like the one of Ita. Portraits (particularly of elderly subjects) seem to demand black and white.

Fajitas!

Excellent contrast in the shots. My biggest problem with B&W in digital is that it usually ends up being grey and grey! Those shots are 'proper' B&W imo.

Nice work Danny!

Fionn

is it wrinkles and grey hair that add extra character to a B&W

hmmm i'm at the grainy end of the spectrum here in no time i'll be able to take lots of B&W self portraits

I'm with you there Fajitas, nearly all my efforts at B&W tend to be 256 shades of the same grey or the wrong black or too much white or something!

i'm thinking tho that the quality of the original photograph has a good bit to do with the outcome of any manipulation

ChityWest

Some very good shots there - I prefer the one of your dad - the dof is bang on and the tones /contrasts are what I would have been aiming for too. The detail in the face really stands out very well. The bar one also is very strong, I maybe would have burned out the biggest lamp at the top-centre and the triangle shape top-left to give it a more closed in intimate look to it.

Dimy

Some great shots there! Keep experimenting

Valentia

Thanks a million folks. I used Rawshooter (a free version is available). I desaturated which leaves them grey. Then messing with the contrast and whitebalance it's possible to get real blacks. I'm delighted with them.

Thanks Greysoul for sharing your workflow. I would never have thought of working on the RAW files to get black and whites. I'm not comfortable with layers and masks in PS. I hope that when I learn how to use them it will give me even more scope to create what I want.

Greysoul

Valentia wrote:

Thanks Greysoul for sharing your workflow. I would never have thought of working on the RAW files to get black and whites. I'm not comfortable with layers and masks in PS.

Neither am I. But I think while PS is a wonderful tool that can bring out the greatness in a great raw photo, it can't make bad photography good - it'll never compensate for good subjects well-captured, as you quite ably demonstrate here! (If I had to spend the rest of my life taking photos only of faces like Da's and Ita's, I'd be very happy.)

Ruu_Old

Some great work there, keep it up. I like the two people chatting best.