Dahlia in B&W

[rudi]

This particular dahlia grabs my attention every year. One can easily be overwhelmed by its very vibrant colors, but from the first time I saw this particular variety, I was more intrigued by the shapes and the lines present in the flower. Which I ‘tried’ to bring out in a B&W conversion.
The first version I made already in 2013. The second is a rework from a few weeks ago.

Honest C&C most welcomed.


1:


2:

[Urbanflyer]

I really like them both. I am ambivalent about the ghosts in the background. I think I want to see them a little less ghostly but am not sure. Would have to see it. Nice conceptualization!

[Tom Barry]

Nice in concept and execution. Have you considered rendering the background entirely black?

[DanK]

Nice. I have shot a few dahlias but hadn't thought of black and white. I too would get rid of the ghosts in the background. Also, I don't know how you processed these, but they seem overprocessed to me, particularly the first. Perhaps too much local contrast (or clarity) or sharpening.

[FootLoose]

Some flowers work really well in black and white. This is definitely one of them. Good work, Rudi.

[rudi]

Thanks all for the comments. Much appreciated.
I still have to find my way into B&W photography…..

As for processing: For nr 1&2 I started with a processed color image, a 'small' jpeg, as an experiment. Converted to B&W with an adjustment layer in CS6 and tweaked the individual colors to taste. The next steps involved some dodging and burning 'trying' to get out what I had in mind...

For nr 3, a rework based on the comments, started from the original raw capture , tweaked in camera raw, converted into B&W with an adjustment layer (actually2, one for center and one for the rest), and tweaked the colors to taste. The next steps were some dodging and burning, cloning…
I started over a few times, trying to find a good balance…...All input welcomed.


3:

[FootLoose]

Good work on the edit, Rudi, that looks like a wall hanger to me.

[MilT0s]

the all black bg is fantastic, I like the gradient brightness and fine structure details, but also the square crop

[Tom Barry]

Love the edited version.

[Rufus]

Love the edited version.

+1 to that!

[rudi]

Thanks all for the comments.

[billtils]

Another big "yes" to the reworked version.