Pitcher in black and white

[Marie Hass]

Hello, everyone.

I am working on expanding my use of black and white. Is the work flow different than color? I shot this at midday, in color, in the shade - lower f stop (shallower DOF - background was just grass), lower ISO, shutter speed I think was somewhere around 300. PP included BW layer, contrast and some sharpening. I also cropped a bit tighter.

C&C as always, welcomed.

[MiniChris]

I was bothered by two things in this shot. First, the base tabletop is way blownout white and it has two immediate effects. The first is to draw the eye away from the flowers and two to make the flowers appear to be dull in comparison. Doing a little selective toning, cloning, and other layering tomfollery, I strengthened the base, not to compete, but to compliment the vase and flowers. I also lightened the flowers a bit so they could stand out against the overall gray values presented by the leaves.

[Marie Hass]

Much better, Chris. Thank you, my friend, as always, for your input.