Bringing out the best of B&W

[ALwin]

I've always had some difficulty making nice B&W photos, on average 50% of the time I get something I like and the other 50% of the time I get what I consider 'just so-so'. Especially when I do the conversion and adjustments manually. E.g. the first photo



I'm not really fond of using presets and plug-ins but I sort of like Nik Silver Efex. e.g. second photo



Anyone have any suggestions on how to improve my B&W? What I want to be able to do is bring out the punch without relying on presets or plug-ins. Am I wrong to feel this way?

[RedEyes©]

Silver EFX Pro is superb for mono conversions. You might want to try tweaking the sliders abit more and using the control points for more fine tuning. This can sometimes give a fair bit of noise so it might be worth checking out a noiseware filter and when you are happy sharpen to finnish

rgds
Dave

[4colourprogress]

As Dave said, using plug-in effects more often than not will produce a lot of noise within the image. It's a good idea to look at an aditional plug-in dedicated to reducing noice such as Noiseware Professional. http://www.imagenomic.com/nwpg.aspx

[RedEyes©]

yeah that's the one i use, it's excellent, although the noise reduction in CS5 camera RAW is probably the best it's ever been

[ALwin]

Much appreciated advice, I have Noiseware in Photoshop and Dfine in Lightroom, both of which I use often (but didn't in this instance). I like them but one thing I like about having some noise in B&W is that it gives it a grainy feel, vs adding grain using either Lightroom or Photoshop.

How about this one (Lightroom+SilverEfex+Dfine):

[RedEyes©]

yep, like that one. A great conversion, here's one of mine CS5 and Silver EFX Pro

[ALwin]

Thanks, finally got the photo processed the way I liked.

[RedEyes©]

thumbs up from me

[ALwin]

Thanks RonSutton, I appreciate your comment and like you I believe that the image is important. I knew that the second image was too harsh as I was applying a preset without changing any values. For the first I thought it looked flat and that's why I sought advice. I always ask myself these questions whenever I am taking photos "why am I doing it? what am I trying to say?" For me, as photography isn't a profession, all I can do is put my feelings into it.

The only editing/processing I do is to bring out what I want my photos to tell and what I want my viewers to see/focus. In this case I love the sky and clouds and I wanted to show their tranquility, their zen nature.

The photo was taken at a spur of the moment from my office window after just having lunch. That day it was raining and very overcast in the morning so instead of going out to be a photographer I had decided to go to the office and work when the afternoon weather improved (I'm still regretting going to work that day, since then the skies have either been very clear or overcast) I just got my camera out and took a quick snap. It's not in any countryside or any beautiful landscape, I just framed it so that none of the buildings show, not the American Embassy which is just behind the trees in the photo nor the ICRC HQ which is just to the right, nor the WHO HQ which is to the left.

[skyy38]

I just like shooting in B&W when I want it.

You can wear yourself out editing.....

Or you can just get the shot that you want.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45413264@N04/5440394414/