any and all; still learning how to convert to black and white
any and all
iso100 105 mm f22 1/6 sec
Beautiful clouds and scene. I would bring in the white point and get some more contrast. The scene looks a bit gray to my eye and the added contrast would really pop it. Really stunning!
Frank this is a great composition, and a perfect subject for B&W conversion. That lenticular cloud is simply spectacular, and rightfully deserves to be the star of this show. And I think you included just the right amounts of sky above the cloud, and in the landscape below. This is a great composition but I think @Harley_Goldman is right, it would be made even better by bringing in the white point, and adding some vitality to the highlights. If you were to look at a levels adjustment layer histogram of your original post you will see a lot of empty space to the right of your histogram.
By simply pulling the Levels right triangle to the left, you will add contrast in the highlights without clipping. I also think you could accentuate the cloud a little further by darkening the blue parts of the sky further. You could have done this in your original B&W conversion, it depends how you did it. In Lightroom you can play with the B&W Mix by color, and darken blues. Nik Silver Efex also has a similar functionality. Here are two reposts, the first showing the effect of only pulling on the levels triangle to change the white point, and the second includes some burning of the blue portion of the sky via luminosity masks (the way to do it after the fact of the B&W conversion). In the second I also bumped overall midtones contrast a little via LM’s. This may be more contrast than you want, but tweaks in this type of direction will help take a good image up to great.
thanks!! great comments and suggestions.
frank
Frank, I am not usually a big fan of cloud scenes but this one is exceptional. Beautiful work and the suggestions given help improve upon it!
Frank,
Wow! What a grand scene with one awesome and dynamic set of clouds. Amazing how the clouds dominate over the mountain range - and we can surmise how massive the mountains are… making those clouds even more impressive.
B&W looks great and the great thing with b&w is the freedom to push things as far as you want. I like where Ed is taking the clouds - although in the second example I think the landscape went too far.
For me b&w processing seems to be trial and error. I’m still learning as well. You didn’t mention what you’re doing to convert? LR, PS b&w layer or some plug-in like Nik. I’d say you’re doing well already!
Lon
I would combine the sky from the Ed’s 2nd image with the land of his first image. I like the drama of the 2nd image but the darks in the land have gone too far. Of course, I’m critiquing Ed’s work without offering a rework of my own, which is kind of weak.
That’s okay @Igor_Doncov, in my own reply to @Frank_Forward I said that I may have taken the contrast too far, because I did my rework quick and dirty to give him a directional sense of how using the full tonal range would look. I do think you are right, my rework helps the sky, but added a bit too much to the darks in the landscape. I do think my second rework helps the mountains, its the foreground where it went too far.
