Drum Set

[Sam W]

I was looking for a photo to practice B&W conversion so I found this one taken a long time ago with my point-and- shoot digital camera. C&C welcome. Thanks for viewing.

Original Photo


B&W Conversion

[Manfred M]

Sam - two very nice shots that give a completely different interpretation of the same subject. I like them both, but prefer the B&W. That backlighting of the smoke works really well.

I find that you got a bit too aggressive with the vignette in that version. I think a more feathering would let you do a heavy vignette and get away with it, almost as if the drums were being hit with a spot light.

I think the first one would work better if you crank up the contrast to add some grittiness. I think it may need a bit of leveling too as the image seems to slant up from left to right. There are a few filters in Nik Color Efex that could really grunge it up too.

[Sam W]

Sam - two very nice shots that give a completely different interpretation of the same subject. I like them both, but prefer the B&W. That backlighting of the smoke works really well.

I find that you got a bit too aggressive with the vignette in that version. I think a more feathering would let you do a heavy vignette and get away with it, almost as if the drums were being hit with a spot light.

I think the first one would work better if you crank up the contrast to add some grittiness. I think it may need a bit of leveling too as the image seems to slant up from left to right. There are a few filters in Nik Color Efex that could really grunge it up too.

Thanks Manfred - The color was just there as a reference. I don't have Nik but I tried a bit of my own grunge with Google Picasa:



I opened the vignette feathering all the way up. I agree I like it better and wonder how I did not think of that. Thanks.

[Mike Buckley]

It's difficult for me to compare the two images because the monochrome versions are post-processed so much more effectively in my mind than the color versions.

[Sam W]

Thanks Mike - I agree. I was not actually looking for a comparison but just wanted to see if the resulting B&W was liked from an artistic POV. I was using the original image as reference to show what I had digitally to work with. It was probably a mistake to do that but I thought it might be of interest to someone.

[Shadowman]

Nice conversions.

[IzzieK]

Hi Sam I like the original photo very much...subtler if there is a word to describe it for me...the edits are good too, but I still prefer the original because it looks natural without the processing. I think the B/W is over processed. Just my opinion or I am already tired for tonight...

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Sam,

I still find the vignette too heavy in B&W V.2, but that's just me.

In the original post, I didn't like the weak colours, the revised colour one is great.

Cheers, Dave

[Rob Ekins]

I think it may need a bit of leveling too as the image seems to slant up from left to right

Reminds me of the old joke....
How do you know when the drum riser is level?
Dribble will flow from both corners of the mouth..... BOOM TISH!

Sam,
Maybe a 16x9 crop would work, losing the guitar amp CL?

[Sam W]

Hi Sam I like the original photo very much...subtler if there is a word to describe it for me...the edits are good too, but I still prefer the original because it looks natural without the processing. I think the B/W is over processed. Just my opinion or I am already tired for tonight...

Thanks Izzie - I agree a lot of processing done in the B & W. Best regards - Sam

[Sam W]

Reminds me of the old joke....
How do know when the drummers riser is level?
Dribble will flow from both corners of the mouth..... BOOM TISH!

Sam,
Maybe a 16x9 crop would work, losing the guitar amp CL?

I like the humor Robbie! Thanks for the 16x9 idea. Best regards - Sam

[Manfred M]

+1 to Dave's comments. He sums up my feelings on the second set very well.

[bnnrcn]

I love the BnW image and I find the second version with less vignette better