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08/08/2010 08:39:14 AM · #1
I've made my own black and white version. But I'm trying to learn new B&W color correction techniques and ideas. If you have the time please show me and briefly tell me how you edited the photo the way you did. Thanks!
Here is mine...

....Now I would like to see what you can do:


Message edited by author 2010-08-08 09:31:04.
08/08/2010 10:06:42 AM · #2
It's hard to work from the relatively small original, there's a lot of detail here, but here's a conversion using the different color channels to make the tones more luminous and better suggest a pale-skinned, freckled redhead.

This can be done with a combination of curves for contrast and PS B/W converter for color channels, but I did it with Topaz Detail's tone sliders and desaturation slider.



R.
08/08/2010 10:40:57 AM · #3
I took a little different path than Robert:

Notice the man in the background? In Robert's edit, his shirt is somewhat dark. In mine it is much lighter. This is because it is blue in the original, and I used more of the blue channel than Robert. I used Photoshop's Channel Mixer to convert, with settings of R=+27, G=+51, B=+54. I used one additional step; I applied curves globally to very slightly raise contrast in the lower mid tone areas, giving the image a little more depth.
The way I approached this edit was to look at each channel and note the brightness, detail and contrast present for the subject and surroundings. I used this information to imagine what channels I wanted to contribute to my final output. In this case, notice that the sum of the contributions from the channels was 132. This meant that the final image would be brighter than the source. I wanted this because the subject was darker in the green and blue channels where most of my information was coming from. Total editing time was about two minutes.
As Robert stated, it's difficult to work from a small original like this, especially one that is heavily compressed, however I think that you can see that there is no one correct approach, but rather a number of differing approaches that produce results that meet differing artistic visions.

Edited for clarity

Message edited by author 2010-08-08 10:42:11.
08/08/2010 10:47:43 AM · #4
Originally posted by kirbic:

I think that you can see that there is no one correct approach, but rather a number of differing approaches that produce results that meet differing artistic visions.


Absolutely. These three matching-but-different examples are a great illustration of how the mood of an image can be manipulated in B/W conversion.

R.
08/08/2010 11:47:52 AM · #5

Ok i did a fast edit for you :)

Started off, cloned left side of wooden boards over to the right. I thought the guy was too distracting for my liking.

Then channel mixer and played around till i was happy with the highlights.
Then selective colour to tone the image a bit and add some slight colour.
Applied a slight vinette (cant spell)
Adjusted levels and manually dodge and burn some areas.
Sharpened for JPEG purposes.

Superb shot though mate, really like it!
08/08/2010 12:03:12 PM · #6
Thank you so much guys! I love each one of your choices. And this is exactly what I was looking for. New things to try to broaden my understanding of photoshop and editing. I'm going to try replicating what you all have done. Thanks!
08/08/2010 12:25:19 PM · #7
This was done mostly in Lightroom playing around with some of the color (temp, hue/sat/lum, vibrance) and with the brush tool I went way down on clarity and brushed her skin and with a new one went up in clarity on her eyes. I did the crop because in my opinion the people in the background only distracted not added to the shot. I thought color was good so I didn't go the b/w route. I did a few more minor adjustments in lightroom then went to CS3 I did a couple of small spot healings and some blur tool on he skin and the wall then added a small border (20 px black).



ETA: Just went back a looked at your op and realized you wanted b/w.... hmm. I like it better in color personally but that isn't what you asked for help on is it? Oh well sorry. I can do some b/w versions for you too but I prefer to work in lightroom. Do you have that program? Or are you strictly working in photoshop?

ETA: Okay so here is a b/w version of the one I had already edited. I used only CS3 and did it in hue/sat. Selecting each of the channels/colors and taking sat all the way down separately so that I can adjust the brightness of each of them separately to what I thought looked good. then added another adjustment layer for curves and selected the "lighter preset then added a point on the top and moved it up some and one on the bottom and moved it down some (for some added contrast). flatten and save.


Message edited by author 2010-08-08 12:40:42.
08/08/2010 12:57:39 PM · #8
No sweat Sheryll, I like seeing the color version is well. Interesting take. Thanks! Is it just me or does this does the feeling of this photo remind you of Migrant Mother? Once I'd taken it, edited it and looked at her facial expression, eyes, etc. I was thinking "this reminds me of something" then it clicked. Anyone else? Here is a side by side.
08/08/2010 01:04:58 PM · #9
First off..What a photo!. The possibilities are endless.
My Take
First I fixed the background to remove the distracting elements.
Set black and white points in Levels.
In Levels> Lower contrast and add an "S" curve to the red and blue channels the bump up the green channel at the midpoint.
In Color Balance> Highlights add cyan and yellow, Shadows add red and yellow.
Bump the contrast/sharpness in the eyes.
A few other nit-picky edits..I can't remember all of them.
Add slight vignette.


B&W conversion with Channel mixer.. R +37, G +29, B +48, Constant -6


My Favorite
Put BW over Color set Blending mode to Overlay(I think)@ 50%.
08/08/2010 03:03:04 PM · #10
medication.... working.... resistance is not futile.....

I love all the edits, particularly this one:


It's a great photo - Hard to screw it up. ...although......... nope. I'm good.
08/08/2010 04:58:50 PM · #11
like the others have said... I think that this is a great photo. it really does have a lot of feeling in both the color and the black and white versions.

my stab would be as follows.

levels adjustment for each channel
topaz adjust simplify
black and white adjustment layer set to infrared
some various dodging and burning
08/08/2010 05:24:40 PM · #12
I like the glam edit...
08/08/2010 05:26:21 PM · #13
Wow - I wish I could capture images of people like this - just don't seem to have the knack. I'm in a similar situation myself, just learning the possibilities.

This image does have many - as the previous posters said, there isn't a right or wrong - just different possibilities.

I saw a different possibility yet:



This was in Photoshop Elements 8
Took original picture, cropped to 4x5 ratio to pull out the right side.
Copied the image into a second layer and turned off visibility.
Using convert to black and white, set to portrait mode, bumped up the reds to 41, left greens at 39 and moved blues to 20
Turned on the copied layer and switched layer mode to soft light, adjusted opacity to about 70% - this created a slightly colored version of the image
Added an additional layer set to soft light, sampled the right cheek where the color was warmest and painted with a brush in the soft light layer over her body, face and hair while avoiding the eyes - this bought out a light glow to the skin and hair.

Hope you don't mind an amateurs take... - it was a beautiful picture to work with.

08/08/2010 05:28:25 PM · #14


I did something a bit different...

I created three layers...

The bottom layer was I kept in color went into topaz and pushed the colors up a bit.... removed the some of noise i created so it looked like this: . The second layer was all black and white... lowered to 78% opacity (which is why her color is toned down a lot but you can still see a hint of color on her - I use Xero's grayscaler because it allows me to fiddle with the contrast/brightness and levels all in one shot... its my fave way to make something black and white... the top layer was the same B&W except I masked it so the girl was not in the image. I cropped a bit of the excess stuff of... and blurred the excess business using Gaussian blur.... just to make it less noticeable.
08/08/2010 05:53:48 PM · #15
Normally I wouldn't post large, but wth..

Here's my selective desat version:


08/08/2010 08:02:18 PM · #16
Okay I had to play some more because the more I looked at my edits the more I didn't like them.... too far. So again using a combination of lightroom and CS3 I came up with this b/w version


And then I did something I've never done before but it was very fun. Probably not legal in any of DP's editing rules (not sure) but I put a soft light layer on top of the above b/w version and used the brush at about 18% and painted color back in. It was trial and error on what colors to use and I'm still not sure I like the tiny bit of blue eyeshadow I put on her but this was what I created...


She's such a beautiful girl and you've captured her so well it's hard not to try different things.

08/08/2010 08:48:01 PM · #17
08/08/2010 08:51:57 PM · #18
Originally posted by Sheryll:

And then I did something I've never done before but it was very fun. Probably not legal in any of DP's editing rules (not sure) but I put a soft light layer on top of the above b/w version and used the brush at about 18% and painted color back in. It was trial and error on what colors to use and I'm still not sure I like the tiny bit of blue eyeshadow I put on her but this was what I created...


That's perfectly legal in advanced editing, actually.

R.
08/08/2010 11:53:03 PM · #19
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by Sheryll:

And then I did something I've never done before but it was very fun. Probably not legal in any of DP's editing rules (not sure) but I put a soft light layer on top of the above b/w version and used the brush at about 18% and painted color back in. It was trial and error on what colors to use and I'm still not sure I like the tiny bit of blue eyeshadow I put on her but this was what I created...


That's perfectly legal in advanced editing, actually.

R.


I thought it might be but I wasn't sure.
08/09/2010 03:53:09 AM · #20
Wow! I can't believe the contributions I've received. Thank you all so much. And what impresses me more is how different each one is. So many new techniques to play with. This is exciting. And thanks for the compliments on the photo. This was a very spontaneous candid moment of my wife on our trip to the Grand Canyon. I just saw her sitting with this expression and had to dive for my camera. I knew it was going to be an "it" moment :) For anyone still interested, keep them coming!

P.S. Sheryll, my wife was very impressed with your makeup job! lol. It looks so real!
08/09/2010 05:21:09 AM · #21


Did tons of stuff...
I chose to leave the people in the background, because I felt it added purpose to her expression. I lessened their presence by using a gradient burn from the right.
There was much dodging and burning.
There was much masking.
I obviously did some Color Balance tweaking. I don't normally do this, so that was fun.
Some Hue/Saturation
Some Vibrance
Some Selective color to tweak skin tones mainly
Some cloning and smudging of shadows on the face
Selective sharpening (too much on the eyes, but I was too far into it to go back)
Levels
08/09/2010 07:30:49 AM · #22
Here's my version:



I think the girl has a lot of natural beauty and so didn't want to change too much about her face.

Kept the background people for context but darkened them to give her the focus
Created a B&W layer and changed to soft light, gives the shot some nice contrast
Created another soft light layer and masked, using low opacity brush used this to give the skin a touch of glow
Darkened the wood area slightly
Created a saturation layer, increased saturation and applied to the skin areas with low opacity brush to bring out a touch more colour
Added a brightness / contrast layer to bring out just a touch more shadow
Tones the hair up slightly and gave it a touch more colour
08/09/2010 08:40:12 AM · #23
As long as people are having a stab at color, here's my version. I wanted a little more luminosity, I wanted the red hair to pop, and I wanted to emphasize the freckles, which I think are integral to the beauty to this sort of redhead, without making them grotesque. The work was dine with Topaz Detail and a touch of Topaz Simplify. Again, it would go much better from a large original.



R.
08/09/2010 09:25:50 AM · #24


gradient map b/w
curves to get contrast
dodged and burned eyes


I placed the b/w image on the coloured one at a lighter opacity.
dodged and burnt
used an action called the editorial.
then saturated the hair with sponge

Message edited by author 2010-08-09 09:36:55.
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