Broadway Tower B&W/Colour

chris02

chris02

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Name
Chris
Edit My Images
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I have been trying to refine my LR processing as well as experimenting with B&W using Silver efex 2.

Can I please request your expert opionions on the following 2 pics.

Thanks for looking and many thanks

Broadway-9-L.jpg


Broadway-9-Edit-L.jpg
 
I am in no way an expert but do you have a shot of the tower that is central ?
 
I am new to B&W too and have just got my hands on SEP2, so take all this with a pinch of salt. But the original shot looks to be lacking contrast on the tower which means the conversion is a bit flat. The clouds and blue skie on the other hand convert well. In the B&W my eyes were drawn first to the sky and only later to the tower.

I think you need to put some local adjustments on the tower to darken it and to boost the contrast and structure. And you might try to brighten up the sky so it doesn't draw the eye so much.

Good luck - I really like SEP2 but it takes time to get on top of all it can do.
 
Hi Ian,

All valid points and as a fellow newby to SEP2 there is a lot to take in, maybe I should concentrate on trying to take good pics in the first place.

I have had another go:

Brightened the sky
Increased the contrast on the tower
Decreased the brightness on the grass.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for looking.

Broadway-9-Edit-Edit-L.jpg
 
Hi Chris,

I like the new version but to be honest now I've had another look at the first one I quite like that too! I think my views of B&W depends on the mood I am in.

I think the tower stands out better in the second shot but the colour version obviously makes this more apparent. Have you tried some of the colour filter presets as they can make a big difference. I'd have thought that with a brown tower and a blue sky you should be able to differentiate between them with a bit of fiddling.
 
Hi Chris,
I would prefer something between the two, knowing what you are using I would most likely start with full structure, then crank the blue filter down to add drama to the sky, use the point control to lighten the tower & then finish with a tweak in curves. The full structure wil bring out that lovely brick work
 
Hi Both,

Many thanks for your thoughts.

Peter I have updated as suggested.
Loads of blue filter, upped the brightness, contrast and structure on the tower. Also darkened the grass.

Broadway-3rd-Go-L.jpg


Is there any rule of thumb as to what color filters to apply to different types of photos, portrait, landscape etc?

Anyway 3rd go below thoughts appreciated?
 
Thanks Al, like your shot and others on Flikr, yours looks more dynamic than mine me thinks, I'll have one more play.

Lots to learn with Silver efex and just ploughing thru all the online videos at the moment, one day I may get their with my shots and post
 
Last go added small amount of grain and added s curve to curves and tone.

Broadway-5th-Go-L.jpg


I'll get there one day.

Thanks for all comments.
 
Hi Dave,

I assume you have adjusted the perspective in Photoshop as well as adjusting the contract?

C
 
Nice edit Dave- I did note the tower was leaning a little :D

good old "ruler tool" :LOL:


Les (y)
 
Lez325 said:
Nice edit Dave- I did note the tower was leaning a little :D

good old "ruler tool" :LOL:


Les (y)
Click to expand...

The tools in LR are somewhat limited when it comes to perspective, lens correction is on and the crop tool was used to get the tower as vertical as possible, but maybe I am missing something in LR?
:thinking:
 
Last edited:
chris02 said:
Hi Dave,

I assume you have adjusted the perspective in Photoshop as well as adjusting the contract?

C
Click to expand...

Hi Chris,

Your coloured shot was made in a B&W Infrared in PSE9 and the brightness/contrast/perspective tweaked.

D in W
 
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