B&w pets

[ClaudioG]

Hi all..i'm still very new to all this and i am posting an image of one of my pets..her name is Gizmo... i put her in B&W and the image is not as sharp and clear as i would've liked..but i changed my shooting method after a while and got some better images(went to Burst). What i'm really asking though is..how do i get a B&W pic to get more..."Punch"..that its not flat..id like to see sharper edges and more differences in the black whites greys and so on? I only have Photoshop ELEMENTS 10(Which i used to change image to B&W,i also added a bit more depth of field so her nose came out a bit more..seemed to improve the "flatness of the image a little")..can anyone recommend some good settings in general for B&W images. ie..so they not Flat ?





Nikon D5100 35mm lens ISO 400 ;SS 1/10 ;F2.8

[mknittle]

Hi Claudio, Cute doggie!
boosting the contrast using the clarity slider and play with the tone curve helps in lightroom. I am not famillar with elements though.

[ClaudioG]

Anyone else work with elements 10 and black and wgite images? Any info would be appreciated...also I could do with some crit on the image...always want to improve. Thank you

[Mike Buckley]

My experience is that placement of the black and white points using Levels and adjusting the curve is crucial when attending to the issues that you asked about. Remember that you can use the Curve tool both globally and selectively to enhance contrast. Last, consider adding Local Contrast Enhancement to the areas of the subject that you want to improve micro contrast. You can do all of that using Elements and probably Lightroom.

Dodging and burning is also important and can be done using various tools, depending on what your software offers. As an example, consider toning down the distracting brightness in the background of this photo.

[kdoc856]

When I'm sorting images after a shoot, the first thing I do is throw out the images where the focus is too soft- there's a lot you can potentially do with images in focus, but the work is all for naught when it's too soft- there's just not much you can do. This image is an "almost" image; it's got a lot of good things about it, but it's just too soft to salvage adequately.

You had really tough condtions for this shot. Needing to shoot at 2.8 and 1/10 handheld is pretty much doomed for sharpness. You did well to get it this close. I see you only used an ISO of 400. Kick it on up if you need- 1600 isnt outrageous-much more chance of salvaging a little noise than soft focus.

PSE 10 is a fine program and will serve you well. Mike's suggestions are good, and I'd be curious to see what LCE would do for his face. Setting the back and white points are the first thing I do, so you know exactly what your limits are for contrast without losing detail. Have a look at a trial of Silver Efex Pro- it's all I use for B&W now.

Hope this helps a little.

[ClaudioG]

Thanks guys...i will play around with Elements a bit and see if i can get that back ground darker and improve the image..and will definitely take more notice in raising the ISO...i will post the image in a day or so...thank you both its great help.