POTN G-Series Speed Challenge #36 "Black & White" -- Winners

[mp2k-net]

Thanks to all who participated and congratulations to the winners. I look forward to seeing what BottomBracket comes up with for the next Challenge.




1st Place BottomBracket - "Street Shadows"
Such shadows! I love it!!Everything seems to converge in the upper left corner. What were the shooting conditions? Setting sun? Darkened street and passing car's headlights?





2nd Place MegaTrixel - "Turnagain Arm Mud Flats"
A very serene, peaceful scene. I wish there were places like that nearby...





3rd Place partridge9 - "Down by the Old Mill"
The weathered wood lends itself well to a black & white image. The crop is a bit tight for my tastes, it would have been interesting to see what was on either side. Was the river/water frozen?

[IainB]

Super photos. There's something about B/W shots and these are excellent examples with each capturing the mood of the moment really well. Very hard to choose between them (rather you than me!) and it seems a shame to have to. I'd like to mention Bryan Bedell's 'Dead can Dance'. Another fine shot which captures the (dare I say) 'noise' of the band. Good angles and level of contrast. The sharpness of the female singer contrasts with the blur of the drumming hands. Nice. It would be good to see further BW comps narrowed down to specific subject matter. B/W provides opportunities to complement the subject matter when colour sometimes is a distraction.

[King Size]

I would like to echo fellow Aucklander IainB about this challenge. Black & White can enhance a photograph where colour can be a distraction and where you have a scene with high contrasts. In addition to Bryan Bedell's great shot of 'Dead Can Dance' I think that Marie also deserves recognition for her picture. Not only does the subject jump out of the photo far more than if it had been colour (imagine the distraction of the red bus in the background) but it also reminds me of early street scene photos.

[mp2k-net]

In addition to Bryan Bedell's great shot of 'Dead Can Dance' I think that Marie also deserves recognition for her picture. Not only does the subject jump out of the photo far more than if it had been colour (imagine the distraction of the red bus in the background) but it also reminds me of early street scene photos.

I was more distracted by the odd grey area in the man's dark shirt and pants. I'm not sure where that came from, possibly from post-processing or what?

[BottomBracket]

Congratulations to co-winners Mega Trix and Partridge, and to mp2k-net for hosting. I thought that several other photos can easily place in the top three, and my favprite was MT's "Mud Flats" - great tonal range and texture.

This picture was taken one late afternoon when long shadows were cast due to the sun plunging down the horizon. My wife was shopping, I was bored and stood on the sidewalk and was captivated by the long shadows. I just held my G6 at waist level, pointed the camera in the general direction and blindly took a picture of everyone who came down the sidewalk. Shooting this way takes a bit getting used to, but it's great because people don't realize you're taking pictures of them and thus act naturally. I took around 40 pictures.

In PS CS, I converted the image from RAW, and tried out a new plug in I downloaded, Nik Color Efex Pro, specifically the BW Dynamic Controller. I usually use Channel Mixer for BW conversion, but this time I tried Nik out. I went the high contrast route, darkened the image a bit to reduce the picture to its black and white elements. Nik was easy to use, with sliders and everything, and the results are pleasing. I cloned out some distracting elements like extra shadows and some cigarette butts lying around, and then cropped the image to give a more pleasing aspect ratio.

Ok, that's it! Give me a few hours to think about the next challenge. Thanks!

The original shot:

[marie]

see the pictures here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=104432

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:)

congratulations to the winners

# 1

Bottombracket

# 2

Mega Trixel

# 3

Partridge 9


Congratulations to all who entered
l enjoyed all the pictures very much


many thanks for hosting the competition Mp2k-net

[marie]

I would like to echo fellow Aucklander IainB about this challenge. Black & White can enhance a photograph where colour can be a distraction and where you have a scene with high contrasts. In addition to Bryan Bedell's great shot of 'Dead Can Dance' I think that Marie also deserves recognition for her picture. Not only does the subject jump out of the photo far more than if it had been colour (imagine the distraction of the red bus in the background) but it also reminds me of early street scene photos.
thank you KingSize

I understand what you say
I think the bus is either red or yellow , but it's not important
just to say that the buses in London are red. not over here.
they are mostly green.
the tour buses are mostly yellow ( I think)
:)


I have the original picture somewhere
I know what you mean about the bl/wh

the full picture was fairly nice in colour too
I had it broader with a lot more showing and going on in it
(originally posted on the forum)

the original told a story , more or less
group of students to the left of the man , a very busy background , people walking by the entrance of the college, tour bus outside the gates

city life going on behind and around .....
while the man just strolled calmly through it all

that's why I like both pictures, the cropped one (here )
and the original
because of the content in each , the story seems completley different

thank you again
:)

[marie]

I was more distracted by the odd grey area in the man's dark shirt and pants. I'm not sure where that came from, possibly from post-processing or what?

I was wondering about that when I entered as some of the pictures aready posted were not completely bl/wh
so I presumed it was ok

I see a lot of grey in shots everywhere ,
I mean all over everywhere
(for bl/wh )

I happen to like it
I guess it's a grey area
:lol:

many thanks again for hosting the competition mp2k-net

it's never easy
before or after

[txfirebug]

Congrats to the winners, and to the judging. I believe I would have picked the same 3 pictures had I been judging.

[Boutty]

Great effects everyone! I really enjoyed seeing all your pictures. Congratulations to the winners - BottomBracket, Mega Trix and Partridge for their well deserved pics and thanks the judge mp2k-net for hosting another interesting topic! I'd enjoyed converting the old pic (http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=531465#post531465) for the competition.:p See you next time with your hats on!

[Bryan Bedell]

I was more distracted by the odd grey area in the man's dark shirt and pants. I'm not sure where that came from, possibly from post-processing or what?

Not sure if you're talking about my photo or marie's... I don't see anything 'odd' in either, the shirt and pants on mine look a little solarized maybe, but i think it was mainly the crazy lighting and the fabric (kind of silky?) I don't have the original here, i'll take a look later. Maries looked like it had a very subtle duotone going on, but that didn't bother me.

I always use my macs at work and home, which are calibrated pretty much the same, but this weekend i looked at POTN on my in-law's PC and everything looked really different, for instance I could see JPG compression in a lot of the challenge photos, where i'd never noticed it before. It also seems like web stuff I do always looks darker on PC. We're all getting the photos looking good on our own monitors, but with all the different platforms and resolutions and settings, who knows what they look like elsewhere?

Congrats to all the winners, well done!

Bryan

[marie]

Not sure if you're talking about my photo or marie's... I don't see anything 'odd' in either, the shirt and pants on mine look a little solarized maybe, but i think it was mainly the crazy lighting and the fabric (kind of silky?) I don't have the original here, i'll take a look later. Maries looked like it had a very subtle duotone going on, but that didn't bother me.

I always use my macs at work and home, which are calibrated pretty much the same, but this weekend i looked at POTN on my in-law's PC and everything looked really different, for instance I could see JPG compression in a lot of the challenge photos, where i'd never noticed it before. It also seems like web stuff I do always looks darker on PC. We're all getting the photos looking good on our own monitors, but with all the different platforms and resolutions and settings, who knows what they look like elsewhere?

Congrats to all the winners, well done!

Bryan



I thought your photo was the perfect bl/wh Bryan

[Belga]

Marie,
just wondering what kind of post processing you did on your photo. Al the other photos entered was sort of dead and did not have any life, while yours (i see a kind of greenish cast on my monitor) looks much more alive and the picture really jumps out.

[MegaTrixel]

Marie,
... Al the other photos entered was sort of dead and did not have any life...

Belga, I agree with you about Marie's photo. I really like it! But I disagree with you about the rest of the entries. I enjoyed many of the photos entered this week. As a collection, I thought they were very strong.

IainB's idea to have a more specific b&w challenge sounds like a good one to me.

Thanks, mp2k-net, for hosting the challenge!

[MegaTrixel]

Boutty, Your conversion is awesome!!!! (you even brought along the shadows under their feet)

and yours too BottomBracket!

[marie]

Marie,
just wondering what kind of post processing you did on your photo. Al the other photos entered was sort of dead and did not have any life, while yours (i see a kind of greenish cast on my monitor) looks much more alive and the picture really jumps out.

thanks Belga and all
I have done the picture again to try and remember what I done the first time Belga

it may or may not be correct.
doing something different every time with each photo it's always slightly different
with this one I am not too sure until I post it here if it has the look you mention, 'colourwise'
too late by then I will have it posted


I have the picture in colour to start with
I bring down the contrast , then use 'levels' ( in elements)
image: mode :greyscale
then in psp9
normal/bold in enhancement
bl/wh points
palette index 55 grey
then when resizing in Irfanview
I add red + 8
green + 8
and minus 5 (-5) blue
use brightness adjustment
then gamma correction
last.. sharpen

the ground was hard to watch with just a little sharpening
the rest looked ok but the ground looked over sharpened because of the glare of sunshine which was coming towards me as I took the shot, along with rainwater left on the ground after a heavy thunder shower

I am not sure if this is exactly like the other picture as regards 'shading' of the grey bl/wh 'colours'

this is the complete picture without cropping anywhere

hope I have not been too messed up in explaining
as I am not great at it

edit
few minutes later

I just checked back and the other picture has a different shade,
like you mention
I will watch out for what I done exactly when doing others shots
it may come up again like that.
sorry



http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100543/101659/IMG_6643copyblwh17486.jpg

[Boutty]

Boutty, Your conversion is awesome!!!! (you even brought along the shadows under their feet)

and yours too BottomBracket!

MegaTrixel, Thanks for your kind words.:lol: I really enjoyed mimicking the photo of the great. (http://www.ekmpowershop.com/ekmps/shops/telecincouk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=222)
Of course, more work should have been done! ie, more shadows under their feet...:p IMO Your pic's foreground is a killer & the conversion was spot-on! ;)

rpolitsr, can you please tell me know how did you setup for your apple tree shot? I loved the dark background and great exposure of the shot! Was is infra-red filter that you used to get the effect?:o

[Belga]

But I disagree with you about the rest of the entries. I enjoyed many of the photos entered this week. As a collection, I thought they were very strong.


Ok, let me rephrase, i really wanted to enter a b/w photograph this time and spend an entire day taken shots, but none had the life that Marie's photo had. Must admit that i only use ps to resize and adjust basic levels. Although the other entries all had great composition (much better than mine), i just think that b/w photos should bring something to a picture that colour can not do. Marie's did excactly that. I do not enter photos very often, but sure had learnt a lot from the entries and comments on this thread.

Marie, thank you for your explanation your technique. I can see that ps opens up a whole new world of possibilities to make photos look really decent.

[rpolitsr]

Long shadows are interesting subjects for me, and your picture captured them very well, BottomBracket.

I like the light and texture of the sand in the foreground and the composition of your picture, MegaTrixel.

I would be glad with the water wheel of your Old Mill in my wheels contest some time ago, partrige9. I like the light gray texture of all that old wood in your picture.


Digital Black and White is a hard matter for me, I learned a lot from all the entries, thanks to mp2k-net and to all of you that posted a picture in this contest.

[rpolitsr]

rpolitsr, can you please tell me know how did you setup for your apple tree shot? I loved the dark background and great exposure of the shot! Was is infra-red filter that you used to get the effect?


I like your picture Boutty, and soon I will read about the method you used following the link provided.
I didn’t saw the conversion until pointed out by MegaTrixel. Well done! Perhaps I will test the process in this picture of mine (http://sites.google.com/site/rpolitsr/r_polit/varios/onthenet/lustrabotas3856.jpg).

In my apple tree (http://sites.google.com/site/rpolitsr/r_polit/varios/onthenet/appletree2726.jpg)I did not used fancy accessories or process. I shot the original picture (http://sites.google.com/site/rpolitsr/r_polit/varios/onthenet/manzano2726.jpg)at 7:00 pm, 30 minutes after sunset, with very dim natural light even for the human eye, and both the LCD and the electronic viewfinder of the Pro 1 were totally black.
I evaluated the distance, set it in the manual focus scale, aimed the lens roughly to the tree and pressed the shutter. All the light comes from a direct external flash.
The closest object in the background was far enough to be almost black.


The relevant EXIF data:

Shooting Mode Shutter Speed Priority AE (Tv)
Tv (Shutter Speed) 1/60 sec.
Av (Aperture Value) f 3.5
Light Metering Center Weighted Avg.
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 50
Focal Length 25.0mm (100mm for 35mm equivalent)
Flash On
Flash Type External E-TTL (420EX)
Flash Exposure Compensation -1
Shutter curtain sync 1st-curtain
White Balance Auto
AF Mode Manual Focus



The process in PhotoShop CS:
Image>Adjustments>Autocontrast
Image>Adjustments>Levels - channel: RGB; Input Levels: 0 0.90 255; Output Levels: 0 255
Image>Adjustments>Channel mixer - Red: 30%; Green: 70%; Blue: 0%; Contrast 0%; Monochrome Check
Image>Crop
Image>Resize
Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask: amount: 200%; radius: 0.3 pixels; threshold: 0

For those of you that do not use PhotoShop:
- I increased the contrast in the original picture just enough to push the brightest portions of the image to true white.
- Compressed the dark areas of the image a small amount.
- Converted the image to black and white after enhancing the reds and greens and deleting the blue content.
- Resized.
- Sharpened to compensate for the detail lost after the resize.

I was searching for a contrast similar to the pictures of teekay and Bryan Bedell already posted for the contest.

[Boutty]

Thanks sir rpolitsr so much for the most detailed setup and post-process for your apple tree shot! Were the apples red or green? [Oops! Sorry didn't see the post - okay, both red & green!] I noticed that you favoring Green channel more in PS CM parameters.

I told my G6 that for it's 1st anniversary with me(in November), I will get it an external flash like 420EX!:lol: :lol:

I am looking forward to see your 'Ecuador boys' B/W conversion!

[abat]

Some superb photos from this challenge - well done everyone and especially Mp2k-net for hosting and Bottombracket, Mega Trixel and Partridge9 for the winners circle. Marie, your shot would make Henri Cartier-Bresson proud.

[BottomBracket]

Thanks all! There were a lot of fine images in this challenge, any of which could have easily made the top three. Thanks to Marie, Boutty and rpolitsr for revealing their post processing work. There are different ways of converting images into BW, and most of these show more contrast/detail/texture than mere desaturation, whether in camera or in PS. The one I like best is Channel Mixer in PS CS, which effectively mimics the use of colored filters in BW film photography.

I find it unfortunate that one member found nearly all the submitted photos to be dead and un-decent. Don't worry, we will all strive to be better next time. :mrgreen:

[Belga]

I find it unfortunate that one member found nearly all the submitted photos to be dead and un-decent. Don't worry, we will all strive to be better next time. :mrgreen:

Hmm, i dont think ever mentioned "un-decent". I never critisized any of the photos. I just said that Marie's had much more life. I also said that a lot of the pictures were stacks better than i could ever takem reason for me not submitting a photo (mine looked horribly dead).

A good BW photograph should do more for a picture than what colour can. I'll leave it at that.

[BottomBracket]

I reread your posts in this thread and unfortunately my original opinion still stands if I base it on those two posts. However I understand that here on the net, it sometimes difficult to convey what you mean to say, and I will chalk this down as one of those times. Peace, bro.