what makes the perfect B&W shot?

13 years 1 month ago #35874 by C05Mo
I'm not talking about subjects, but the post processing...what makes a perfect B&W photo?


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13 years 1 month ago #35875 by Singa
I don't do alot of black and white. If I do, I just click on the black and white in photoshop. I don't adjust anything else.


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13 years 1 month ago #35884 by Savvas Proestos
I don't convert a photo into black and white unless the detail is perfect. I like colours in photos, the only reason I would convert into BW is if the colour composition looks bad although the photo is sharp as hell.

Try and sharpen everything up in photoshop using your unsharp mask. Make the details stand out since it's only BW, as well as the contrasts.

e.g the B/W photo in the first row of the page -> www.savvasproestos.com/portfolio.php

:)


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13 years 1 month ago #35905 by Baydream
Colour covers a lot of imperfections in a photo. B&W exposes them and contrast is the biggest of those. If you photo has a lot of middle tones (of various colours), converting to B&W will produce a very flat image.
Usually, when I convert to B&W, I have to increase contrast to make the shot work and sometimes that doesn't help. If stuck, I sometimes switch to Sepia and get a pleasant surprise.


Shoot, learn and share. It will make you a better photographer.
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13 years 1 month ago #35921 by Tuscany
Have any of you seen that software out by Nik Software for black and white conversions?


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