B&W shark pic w/Fuji S2

Hello,

I was inspired by Jonathan Bird's new "Shadows and Light" book to try some black and white photography. (In photoshop of course!). I think the shark pics look pretty cool. What do you think? I want something dramatic to enlarge and frame.

Taken with Fuji S2/Ikelite housing/DS-125 with 17-35mm. No cropping or other manipulation aside from "greyscale" button.

Thanks for your input,

John

Shark pix do tend to look pretty nice in B&W. You might look into some of the more advanced ways of converting from color to B&W to gain a little more control over the resulting photo, but this is great.

Tom

Hello,

 

I was inspired by Jonathan Bird's new "Shadows and Light" book to try some black and white photography. (In photoshop of course!).  I think the shark pics look pretty cool. What do you think? I want something dramatic to enlarge and frame.

 

Thanks for your input,

 

John

Nice,

I (personally) like to add a little grain to the background images when shooting B&W. I think it adds a little 'feeling' the image. The sharp monoton background in this image doesn't quite do it for me - I think it needs a little prodding :-)

Nice sharp shark though - very nice. You could also crop the image closer and rid yourself of a little of the background if you liked.

M

Really dramatic shot - very nice. I second the opinion that cropping some of the left side would be a positive thing.

A better way to convert to B&W (PS):

1. Convert the image to 'Lab color' at 'Image->mode'

2. At 'Channels' delete the 'A' & 'B' channels and keep only the 'Lightness' channel.

3. At 'Image->mode' save as 'grayscale'

Most of the times that process produce a frame with more saturated colors of B&W and its look like the frame was shot originally by B&W film (sensor )

...and from a constructive point of view...

It is a common mistake by photographers to line up the eye with the centre of the frame - As in this case.

I would have liked to see the whole shark in the frame, as it was possible.

Digital tail fin is also evident in the shot.

Most photographers turn color images to BW because the color version is lacking. This especially applies to wrecks and shots with excess murky background.

The image as it is would work with a page of writing on the leftside.

Hello everyone,

Thanks for the comments, especially on how to convert from color to B&W. I figured merely pressing "greyscale" was way too easy. I'm not sure I like the cropped version better.

I didn't intentionally place the eye in the center of the frame but was rather trying to get the whole shark in the frame as recommended (the shark was not cooperating). The resultant pic does make a great screensaver though with room for icons on the left.

Bob, what do you mean by "digital tail". I thought the tail was just extending beyond the depth of field.

Suggestions on making the backround more "mottled"?

I'll post the cropped B&W and original.

Thanks again,

John

B&W

Color

Hey John,

In this instance the Color version is better because of the graduations in the blues, adding dimension and depth.

Whilst the shark itself is quite dramatic in BW the depth of the background is lost and looks flat, and why blue water (albeit greys) should be avoided.

BW works better with fish if you are looking upwards so that you get the full greyscale effect, and the main subject then pops out of the image.

Yes, your tale fin only suffers from SDOF, on the smaller one it looks like motion blur.

Adding noise to the background in my opinion turns the image into a graphic.

Bingo! Bob, you sure know how to use PS for someone who never needs it!

Bob: can you tell us what you did in PS...

Simon

Thought I'd got a shot somewhere that might emphasise what I was saying about the greyscale graduation in BW. Not the best shark shot, but that's beside the point.

Bob: can you tell us what you did in PS...

 

Simon

I jusy hit 'Auto levels' - 'Edit' 'fade auto levels' and then sharpened a little ;o)