B&W Help Sought

[flechtight]

Looking for CC, This is a Stone Bridge down stream of Whatcom Falls. It is also a 4 shot Pano shot vertically.There is alot going on in this picture and My question to all you is , What would you do?Dodge, Burn Crop, throw away????

Jon

[Mike Buckley]

This is a wonderful photo, so stay very far away from your Delete key.

I think the treatment depends a lot on whether you want the subject to be the bridge or the waterfall. Currently, I see the bridge as the subject with the waterfall playing a supporting role. If you want the waterfall to be the subject and the bridge to play a supporting role, you could perhaps brighten the waterfall so long as you don't lose any of that delicious detail and remove some of the contrast in the bridge. If you want the bridge to be the subject, try reducing the contrast in the river and the trees to help the bridge stand out a bit more.

Whatever you decide about the subject, try removing some of the contrast throughout the entire image if for no other reason than to determine which style best tells your story. I understand that you may have already done that before deciding upon this version.

[flechtight]

Thanks Mike. I should have said that I started the process in Silver Efex2 and did raise the contrast only and at that point I just started drawing a blank as to what I feel needs to to be done to create a mood that will draw the viewer in. I am working on it little by little and have reduced the overall contrast as well as contrast in the river. I guess I am leaning toward the bridge as the main attraction and the waterfall as supporting but pulling you past the bridge. So dodging and burning are in order but as to where and how, not sure. Vignette sure.

Is there any opinion out there as to removing the tree branch in the water ( lower left ) or leaving it alone?

Thanks

[Mike Buckley]

The tree branch that you mention isn't important one way or the other for me.

[Donald]

Looking at the picture and then reading the questions, I had compiled my response. And then I read Mike's first post.

I think the treatment depends a lot on whether you want the subject to be the bridge or the waterfall.

That was my response exactly.

In the reply to Mike's post, Jon has referred to use of the contrast sliders in Silver Efex Pro 2. I also use SEP2. For me, in addition to, yes, the use of copntrast (though think about using 'Amplify White's and 'Amplify Blacks', instead of 'Contrast' and/or 'Soft Contrast', which I find a much more subtle tools that the main 'Contrast' slider. And ..... if you do that with the Control; Points, rather than making global adjustments (which I very rarely do on any image) then you are in total control of where you focus the attention in an image.

Before I used SEP 2, a practiced understanding of how to use and apply Local Contrast Enhancement (LCE), in addition to Dodging & Burning skills, were my main weapons of attack! But all of that is now so much simpler for the B & W photographer with SEP2. But the software doesn't make the imge. You do. So you've still got to practice using it to get the best from it.

Also - I'm not sure what post-processing you did prior to the B & W conversion. Was it tone-mapped? I wonder if the colour needed to be slightly de-saturated before B & W conversion? Or you could use the filters in SEP2 to adjust tones (the 'Sensitivity' sliders under the 'Film Types' heading can make subtle, but effective changes).

[pnodrog]

Try burning the highlights strongly and mid-tones mildly of everything that is not water. The falls will then be much more dominant.

[flechtight]

Thank you, I will continue to play with this scene to see if I get something in B&W out of it.
Don I used Color Efex 4 Detail enhancer filter at 22%, does that qualify as tone mapping? Do you know of any god reading on B&W Imaging and conversion from color to B&W?

[Mike Buckley]

Do you know of any good reading on B&W Imaging and conversion from color to B&W?

From Oz to Kansas by Vincent Versace. His quote displayed in my signature came from that book.

[Donald]

Do you know of any good reading on B&W Imaging and conversion from color to B&W?

Michael Freeman, 'The Complete Guide to Black & White Digital Photography', ILEX, 2009.

My photographic bible.

[flechtight]

Thanks Mike and Donald, both books on order, looking forward to reading actual "physical books" as we settle into the rainy season here. Maybe then I start to understand how to "see" the world in B&W versus luck of a conversion