[lolyton]

This is about my 5/6th effort at digital B+W, good to know your thoughts.

[Dabhand16]

For me, the tree has been lost against the background. Maybe a lower/closer viewpoint would have enabled the sky as a background for it? I guess you were using the path to lead into the picture, but as it stands, it puts the tree too close to the centre, and gets lost as it turns left.

The middle ground is a bit hot, and could do with more contrast and less brightness to give a bit more texture.

I think this is a difficult one for mono conversion.

I like the sky though!

[lolyton]

I agree with everything you have said, i am still finding it very difficult to "see in B+W", i am so used to just working in colour. Maybe i should spend more time trying to select the right images for B+W rather than just using the ones that don't look good in colour.

Cheers for the honesty Dabhand.

[Dave]

I will talk processing here , rather than composition of shot, as Graham has coverd that.

The sky is absolutely spot on !!! You have deep blacks , going through the tonal range to whites. So you can pat yourself on the back for that. Now the foreground is a different matter & I would say you have processed the whole shot as one. The foreground needs to be processed seperately from the sky & then merged together.

I would advise you create a duplicate layer of your original colour shot & then untick the top layer, so you are working on 1st layer. In this one convert as you have done already...you have a perfect sky. Now tick the 2nd layer so it becomes active & then process purely for foreground.....ignore what it is doing to the sky. When finished, add a leyer mask to layert 2 (top layer). Now mask back the sky below & you should have a decent overall converison.

If it helps, place the original colour shot in "PIMP THAT PHOTO" & in the descrition ask for a dramatic Mono converison & then members , including myself will have a go & share what steps we took

[lolyton]

Cheers for that Dave, and have put it for pimping!

[Dabhand16]

Originally Posted by lolyton

Maybe i should spend more time trying to select the right images for B+W rather than just using the ones that don't look good in colour.

You have hit the nail on the head here! When I used to shoot mono on film, I used to go into 'mono mode' as soon as the camera was taken out of the bag (or the mono back was put on the Bronica). I used to shoot to suit the processing, and the more you do it, the easier it gets. I was always a fan of Ansel Adams, who advocated a numbers system for grading tones.

You can certainly get really good results in converting colour images to mono, but if you think mono during the shoot, you usually end up with shots that will convert easier/better. Tones and contrast are the key, and it is a different mindset.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by lolyton

Cheers for that Dave, and have put it for pimping!

Added my PIMP here :- http://www.pixalo.com/gallery/showph...o/3437/cat/582

HTH