Interesting B&W shots.. How?

[_Dobbo_]

Ok so I know you need a good photo to start with, but I still have scant few of those, and have been working with what I've got in lieu of what I would like to have!

I wanted a couple of interesting black and white shots to put on my wall, the bare walls of my new house were driving me mad.

I messed about in paintshop with a couple of images until I thought I had some interesting looking contrasty black and white shots.

Here's a before and after - sorry they aren't very good quality

What have I done "wrong" and would anyone have done anything different to get an interesting picture worth framing?





The original is here if anyone is bored and wants a play.

Does the phrase "you can't polish a turd" apply here?

[docevi1]

if you want to put an interesting picture up, have a look at Will's thread here. A mate printed a few out on 2x2 A4 and they've come up nicely!

[simpo two]

The effect looks alright, but I think the composition is letting it down. Composition is always important but even more so in b/w IMHO.

A humble snap:


>> Edited by simpo two on Wednesday 16th February 14:23

[beano500]

Well, I've taken your image and managed one which retains a bit more detail in the shadows. Quite easy to do.



I used the technique explained here: http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/b-w_better.shtml

Overall, I'd suggest that the image is lacking because there's an expanse of sky with nothing happening.

[beano500]

Then again......

[_Dobbo_]

I get the point about composition - choices were limited as I was on a boat at the time!

I'm just trying to make something out of nothing I guess!

[V6GTO]

This might help.

www.dustylens.com/great_skies.htm

Martin.

[CVP]

Skies are one of the key with B&W. A dull sky, such as an overcast day can really ruin a B&W picture.

One of the things you can do in PS is to mess around a bit and mimic the effect of shooting with a red filter if you were using B&W film. The effect here is a really contrasty picture, blue skies are darkened much more and it becomes much more dramatic.

A quick example from Iceland (with a bit of spot colour)

ORIGINAL


B&W REVISION


Chris

[simpo two]

_Dobbo_ said:

I get the point about composition - choices were limited as I was on a boat at the time! I'm just trying to make something out of nothing I guess!

Beano's red crosses are great

I know exactly what you mean about 'something from nothing'. You can have a good picture straight out of the box which, if you try poking it about, just spoils it. And conversely you can start with a 'nothing' picture and it will come alive with the right treatment. Sometimes what you think will be a great shot, turns out not to be, and vice versa.

I think that finding the hidden picture is one of the great things about digital.

[beano500]

simpo two said:

Beano's red crosses are great

eh? bl00dy links won't work? But why? I can see them?

[dcw@pr]

I just had a go with the original file, trying to get some feeling into the sky with the burn tool, but it looked pretty sh1te so I'm not going to post it! I don't think there's a lot wrong with your effort at the top of the page, just that the sky is pure white

[_Dobbo_]

I wonder if I could use the sky from another image to get some more life into the picture...

[CVP]

_Dobbo_ said:

I wonder if I could use the sky from another image to get some more life into the picture...

Yes, can be done.

Basic steps;

1. Select your bland sky and erase
2. Copy good sky from another picture as a new layer
3. Blend in new layer using % opacity slider

The difficult thing is making it look natural. Too often it does look fake.

Chris

[fatsteve]

Couple of simple things

1. Play with the colour a bit, in this case I've made it sepia since the general saturation of the original doesn't jump out at me

2. Crafty use of PS's cloud rendering (can work if it's very subtle)

3. Added a gradient to the sky to make it slightly more interesting.

Enjoy..

Steve

Sepia


BW




>> Edited by fatsteve on Wednesday 16th February 18:13

[simpo two]

beano500 said:

eh? bl00dy links won't work? But why? I can see them?

Soory ole bean, still nowt here...

[FunkyNige]

beano500 said:

simpo two said: Beano's red crosses are great eh? bl00dy links won't work? But why? I can see them?

I quoted you and pasted the link into my address bar to display the pic on my screen, now I can see it in the thread too. This has happened before with someone but I can't remember how they fixed it, sorry.

Maybe this will work,



I uploaded the pic to ImageShack.

>> Edited by FunkyNige on Wednesday 16th February 20:59

[te51cle]

Of course you could always have a play in Elements 3 and come up with something colourful...


...or maybe not...

>> Edited by te51cle on Wednesday 16th February 21:45

[LeoZwalf]

Contrast is waaaay too high in the original BW pic, I'll have a play and see what I can come up with.

Not promising anything though :P

My 2p worth says that 'render clouds' tool makes the sky look very fake, even when applied lightly.

Back in a while with something

edit - few mins later...


Just did 'desaturate' in Photoshop, cropped off some of the flat sky and bingo

>> Edited by LeoZwalf on Wednesday 16th February 22:33

[simpo two]

Daguerrotype!

[_Dobbo_]

te51cle said:

Of course you could always have a play in Elements 3 and come up with something colourful...

I actually really like that!

I realised the contrast was really high, but that was sort of the look I was going for. IT's just the empty sky that I don't like!