Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I love the colors that the nature paints and for this reason I never edited a photo in B&W before now. I took this decision because in this particular case it seemed to me that colors hidden the splendid waves dips and designes that nature created on the hills of clay.
Therefore in this photo especially I would appreciate your comments and the suggestions about the B&W conversion.
Specific Feedback
I made the whole work in the colored photo and at the end I converted in B&W. Is this right?
Technical Details
Z7ii, Nikkor 70-200 at 170 - f/11, 1/350, ISO 400.
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Giuseppe, that is how I have done B&W conversions. I canât say if it is right or wrong. The experts will have to weigh in on that question. The absence of color makes every detail important and gives the eye much to study. I like the dark gullies that move the eye through the picture to the dark trees at the top which then moves me back into the picture. I believe you have accomplished what you wanted to do.
The conversion has changed what this is about (for me). I now see this as a form with folds in it. It could be a blanket on a bed for that matter. Yes, itâs the 3 dimensionality of it which is so fascinating.
Giuseppe, this is a wonderful image! Although I havenât seen the original color version (have you posted that previously?), I can guess at how the conversion completely changed the story of the image. To my mind, color is almost always about color (monochrome color can be an exception), while black and white helps the viewer to dive in to discover more about the subject, values, textures, etc., in the image. The undulating landscape here really pops in B&W. The leading line of the road (?) or trees (?), pulls my eye through the image, then back around through the rippled landscape. The texture of the land is beautiful! You did a great job pulling that out. Your title implies that this area is all clay? No grasses? Amazing!
One thing to know about black-and-white conversions is that you have to have a base from which to work â that means a strong color image to start. From there you can convert to B&W and have more to work with. I use the PSâs Black & White adjustment layer technique, which when combined with levels, contrast, and other adjustment layers can yield a strong B&W image. That combination gives you a lot of control over your conversions.
Nice job!
2 Likes
Thanks Igor. I like my image as it is but I think to understand what you have written and I will keep it in mind for the future.
Barbara and Susanna I am glad that you like the photo. I was beginning to think that it was only me that likes it. Thanks for the good suggestions about the conversion in B&W, I will try tomorrow to put them into practice. Tomorrow I will post too the colored version.
They are bushes and small trees Susanna.
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I have followed the tips received. For me the image is improved and for you?
The same image with colors. Taken at Midday the worst moment for the colors.
That is one approach but it is limiting as to what is possible of B&W. If I see B&W potential in a color image I convert to B&W then view it with the B&W presets to see if any of them improve on my vision. Then I make masks for the major components of the scene and usually leave the global setting alone until I am done with all masking adjustments. After addressing all setting for each mask, I often have to put the image into PS and do some fine tuned luminance masking - I find LR still doesnât suit my need for this. Then back to LR for sharpening and any little tone adjustment and Curves. See this for comparison of what is possible. The color version is half way down.
Giuseppe, I prefer the B&W image, but then Iâm an old B&W photographer. My one thought is that you consider increasing the contrast a bit. It might make it âpopâ a little more.
Lof of nice textures in this landscape, I think it lends itself well to B&W and I like what you have done here a lot. There is an interesting variety of the brownish tones in the colour image as well, but I definitely prefer the B&W version, it stands out.
Sometimes that works, sometimes not; I found when I first started to play with B&W that if you are after a B&W photo you are more likely to get a good result if you approach it from that perspective from the beginning, though perhaps this is lot more acute with B&W film. My observation has been that B&W relies heavily on structure, texture and variation of luminosity, but that what we often percieve as changes in texture and luminosity are merely differences of colour. There is a good example of this in this image, in the B&W the green part of the fields is very similar to the brown part, luminosity is near identical and textures quite similar. In this case that might be beneficial to you, as it accentuates the structure created by the stream, and with digital you have great flexibility in manipulating the colour channels in post as well, but having that sort of awareness on location helps in thinking through what it would take to get to the image you are after.
The one thing I always do with any B&W image is to fiddle with the black and white points, most B&W images benefit from having discernable pure black and pure white in the image. A tiny adjustment of the white point here might accentuate the sense of the midday sun in this image and could possibly emphasize the difference between the texture in the browns and greens as well, without detracting from the line of the stream.
Thank you very much. Your explications are very usuful for me. I will try the differents way for converting and editing a B&W photo. Thanks again.
Guiseppe, there are as you have now seen several ways to convert to B&W from color. I used to process in color and then convert, but I found that I was still having to make changes afterwards to make the black and white look as I wished; now I convert to black and white first, if I feel it is a strong candidate for conversion, and then I work the color channels in Lightroom - to bring out the various tonalities that are expressed by the conversion of colors. Regardless of how you got there, this image is lovely! I have been in Tuscany many times, yet only once in September, and the brown tones were definitely inspiring more black and white than color for me when I was there! Proof is in your color image - the green pulls the eye away from the core of the picture, but in the black and white image that doesnât happen. Well done! Regarding the position, if there was any way to get slightly higher position, so you could frame the fields and the tree without the trees in the upper edge, that would be an awesome photograph too, as it would simplify the composition even more. I took the liberty of cropping your image and retouching out the ULC since I couldnât get rid of all of it, just to show you what I mean. In my cropped version the tree is a little too âtightâ to the top of the frame, which is why I was asking if it was possible to get a slightly higher position, as then you would have more space to work with there. Just a thought!
Brenda I see only now your critique and I apologize for my late answer. Thanks for the advice about B&W conversion and the improvements of the photo. I like your idea of cutting the trees in tha top of the image. I am sorry I donât have a higher composition . Any way I love your re-work.
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