I will work on that.
Thanks for posting your B&W images. I apologize for making you think you need software to create a great B&W image. That is farthest from the truth. Just ask Ansel Adams.
I am also posting a link to some images of Jane Bown, who was an extraordinory B&W portraitist...Great exposures defined her work and her images. Well. One of the reasons. You might also "google image" her...lots of her work there too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/oct/18/jane-bown-60-years-portraits#/?picture=354266999&index=5
There are only a couple of other things I wanted to point out about B&W images and conversions.
The best thing you can do, (as Craig pointed out) is to get the correct exposure straight out of the camera(sooc)...Use your histogram to double check your exposure, and then bracket what you believe to be a good exposure.
The other thing, is that when you look at the blacks in your image, there should be detail there. The same for the highlights. It can be challenging, but fun working toward that goal...just try to stay away from the flat gray tones across the whole image.
Ansel Adams once said that "The negative is the score, the print the symphony".
In this digital age, we have many resources at our fingertips to create limitless symphonys from the same image.
But we don't want to rely on having to correct something in software when we could have got it from a good exposure. Black and white underscores that concept.
Ok.
So now I have to post my weak image. I was trying for shooting falling snow, and I have been more successful at other things...like mod podge, or folding laundry. I had in my mind what I was trying for, but it was pretty much a nonstarter. But my blacks are black, my whites are white...and there is even some bokeh....and even a couple snowflakes in focus. Mostly this is for Stef and Tony, so they know what they are missing....:)
Not much.
D700 ISO 200 105mm
f 2.8 @ 1/100
Interesting that you chose to shoot falling snow. I have experimented with that before and you're right...it is HARD! Most of my attempts didn't capture what was happening very well, leading me to the conclusion that I need a new SLR with video. Here are a couple of things I learned:
ReplyDeleteBackground was important...try to find one that is consistent (don't mix buildings and trees, and cars for example). Also, the darker, the better.
I had my best luck with a slightly longer shutter speed because it tended to indicate motion rather than just make dots.
Shooting straight up in the air with a flash at night was interesting.
You gotta get out IN it. I tried shooting from cover and that just didn't work well.
Now I wish it would snow here so I could get back out and try some more now that I know a bit more about what I'm doing in general.
Hey Craig. Initially, I WAS in it...but it went from snowing to flurries pretty darn quick. I was bummed, cuz I was picturing big fluffy flakes..HA! Not to be. I am going to keep trying... but am hoping for one of those days where the sun is out in one area, and snowing in another, with big flakes the size of dinner plates. Then I think I could pull if off...maybe.
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