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DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> Recent B&W Portraits
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 11/26/2004 03:55:28 PM · #1
I have been playing around with a B&W conversion technique created by Rob Carr, a printer who does a lot of work for Greg Gorman. The description I found on the web had a few gaps, so I've doing some experimenting I started with a couple of casual portraits shot in existing light and then worked with the converion. I would like some input if you have a few minutes.

Of course comments on the portraits themselves are welcome too.

Update: Added the Rob Carr B&W conversion process later in this thread.

Message edited by author 2004-11-28 16:51:21.
 11/26/2004 07:16:45 PM · #2
I like the first shot a great deal. The pose and eye position seems a bit more wistful and generally stronger - I like that I can see both sides of the whites of her eyes and the hands just aren't such a distraction as in the second one (though they are both good)

The B&W conversion seems good too - care to explain the approach you used ? Is there anything specific you are asking about ?

Message edited by author 2004-11-26 19:17:03.
 11/26/2004 08:19:12 PM · #3
nice photos. sharp, and good tones.

i might have cropped/framed them differently. the first one has too much at the bottom, would prefer more of the top of her head instead.

the 2nd one i would crop out the hands.


11/27/2004 12:32:20 PM · #4
Originally posted by Gordon:
I like the first shot a great deal. The pose and eye position seems a bit more wistful and generally stronger - I like that I can see both sides of the whites of her eyes and the hands just aren't such a distraction as in the second one (though they are both good)

The B&W conversion seems good too - care to explain the approach you used ? Is there anything specific you are asking about ?


I'll post the conversion steps (after I finish the post holiday drive). I thought that maybe the images appeared a little muddy, so I wanted to see if anybody else noticed.
 11/28/2004 04:49:25 PM · #5
First, thanks for the input on the portraits. I cropped the first to 8x10 which removed the hands and helps balance the fact that I didn't include the top of her head in the frame. I cropped the second a little tighter and then cloned out small amount of the hands the continued to show.


Now on to the more interesting part of this post. The following photoshop based B&W conversion routine was created by Rob Carr:
1. Make sure the image is in 16 bit mode (Image >> Mode >> 16 Bits/Channel)
2. Change to Lab Color mode (Image >> Mode >> Lab Color)
3. Select the Lightness channel (Channel Palette >> Lightness)
4. Switch to Grayscale (Image >> Mode >> Grayscale (Discard other channels))
5. Create a mask from the gray channel (Channel Palette >> Cmd-Click image icon)
6. Inverse the mask (Select >> Inverse)
7. Return to RGB mode (Image >> Mode >> RGB Color)
8. Add a fill layer (Layer >> New Fill Layer >> Solid Color (Use a dark rich solid color or black))
9. Adjust the opacity of the Solid Color layer to refine

I found another variation that also recommended using blending mode of Soft Light for the solid color adjustment layer.

The following version of the 2nd portraight also includes some haloed edges created by the following steps:
1. Select the Background layer
2. Duplicate the Background layer (Layer >> Duplicate Layer)
3. Run the High Pass filter on the Background copy (Filter >> Other >> High Pass > Radius 10)
4. Set the blending mode to Hard Light
5. Reduce the opacity of the Background copy to the appropriate level (start at 25%)



Message edited by author 2004-11-28 16:52:29.
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