I don’t do much monochrome work, but these white tulips seemed to be appropriate for it.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
I admit that I really don’t know how to post-process monochrome images very well. I used Lightroom for this. I do have Silver Efex Pro 2, but I rarely use it. Is Silver Efex a better way to go?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Was this a good choice for a monochrome treatment? (More generally, what constitutes a good candidate for monochrome?)
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Taken with a Nikon DSLR at 66mm, 1/125 sec., f/8, ISO 100. Post-processing in Lightroom, with just basic adjustments to exposure, highlights/shadows, clarity, etc.
When I choose to convert to b&w I use the formula - lines, textures and tonal range. Because of the mass of tulips and lack of darker tones I probably would not have chosen this for b&w. Would love to see it in color for comparison or another version with only a few tulips. Great subject to experiment with.
Mark, this does a good job of conveying that there’s a massive grouping of these tulips. This has me thinking of a crowd shot at a concert, with the way that all the flowers are leaning to the left. This also has a nice touch of a high-key look. It would be interesting to see what more contrast in the darker tones would do in terms of possibly adding interest to the lip regions.
All three follow up images are significant improvements over the original for my taste, Mark. I think the cropped b&w is my favorite. A much simpler and cleaner composition that gets rid of most of the extraneous background clutter while keeping the feel of the tulips from the original.
Mark: I was travelling for a couple weeks so I’m late to this party but I agree with Dennis regarding preferring the cropped version. BTW, there’s no problem with posting comparative shots. I’ll edit your title to reflect that there are reposts. Its always a good idea to let others know that you’ve reworked an image. >=))>