BW Bird

[davemills]

Playing with B&W, any suggestion on improving or what are best B&W conversion methods.

[Radtech1]

I absolutely love this shot.

I love the dynamics. I love the back-lighting, the way it hits the feathers of the wings, and the way it plays off the splash. I love the daring conversion - blacking out the bird to a silhouette. I love the little ripples.

This is the kind of shot that makes me turn green with envy.

BUT - the digital noise kills it. (those vertical lines). Try THIS TECHNIQUE (http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/n_Digital_BW/a_Digital_Black_and_White.html?page=5) to hide them.

Rad

[StingerDL]

i think its great, to me, it blurs the line between digital BW and traditional Film BW, if you dont mind, can you post the original, id love to see how daring the converstion was.

[davemills]

This is the orginal picture. Thanks for the comments I'll have a go at reducing the noise and re post.

[davemills]

Another go in B&W converting in Lab colour mode which seems to keep the noise under control. Tried to add some grain back but was not happy with result. On reflection I like the first attempt with the noise, just a bit different.

[StingerDL]

i love the first attempt, much more dramatic, and the noise doesnt really bother me, the second attempt looks a bit too grey..

[Ryan93se]

i was able to get something very simular to the original without alot the noise (if you decided to get rid of it) using level adjustments after doing a BW conversion via Lab color. I think i could get rid of it all with the original sized photo.. but you get the point.
http://img422.imageshack.us/img422/1963/untitled1kg5.th.jpg (http://img422.imageshack.us/my.php?image=untitled1kg5.jpg)