Tweaked my black and white conversion a bit

[elTwitcho]

Taking a different philosophy on the curves tool on these shots, it's a different look but I see alot of potential in the feel it gives. These are older shots, I'll try this method on some new shots hopefully tommorow.

Opinions welcome

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/66733173.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/66694383.jpg

[Mgdh]

The guy in the first picture makes me think of Jaques Villeneuve!

They look very good to me. There's a couple of areas that look blown on my monitor, but that may be the effect you wanted but personally I would have liked to see a little more texture on the skin.

[AirBrontosaurus]

These look fine, but I've always been a huge fan of your "Portrait Freakshow" series. The contrast and detail is amazing, and the faces look so... surreal!

Also, the grotesque-ness of the "freakshow" shots are amazing. Sorry, I'm rambling.

Anyways, keep up the good work!

[Titus213]

#1 is about one of the best B&Ws I've seen here. Very nice work on an excellent photo to begin with. I don't think #2 carries it as well mostly because of the eyes.

[elTwitcho]

Mgdh - Thanks. There shouldn't be any areas that are blown in the sense that there isn't any detail, at least there aren't any on my monitor or when I print. There are alot of areas that push right up against being pure white though, so it's close.

Brontosaurus - Thanks dude. I'm big on that set too and I'm probably going to add to it in the next little bit, for now though I'm trying to diversify my skill set so I can tackle as many looks as I want.

Titus - Thanks dude. The face on #1 came out excellent, if I work with the lighting and background a bit, it'll work for a really killer shot.

I wanted to do another set with a better background tonight but fate intervened and I was called elsewhere. Unfortunately this is from an older set with a pretty ugly background but I'm trying to nail down things I can do with this workflow. I'm really happy with how it's coming together, my next set I'll venture to do a real proper shoot and I think the shots will really be excellent when that time comes.

http://static.flickr.com/92/242188701_31187a8a23_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/76035068@N00/242188701/)

[Unreal_Nature]

I have the impression, from comments in previous postings, that you are aiming to get into commercial photography? If that is so, you might want to be evaluating your images in the CMYK, or Grayscale 20% Dot Gain space that might be used for a commercial press. What works on a desktop inkjet printer is quite different from a commercial press.

To see how your images hold up under such conversion, use Photoshop's Soft Proof command, found in the View > Proof Setup > Custom... dialog. Turn on the Simulate Paper White checkbox.

It is strongly advised that you not look at your picture as you are switching to View > Proof Colors (Ctrl-Y) as the Paper White jump can be pretty shocking if seen as it happens.

[I am taking all of this from Bruce Fraser's various excellent books on color management and Photoshop. I have no direct experience with commercial press work.]

-Julie