raztazor
23rd of March 2005 (Wed), 14:07
I thought a bit about which forum to post this article into and decided on this one as it's all about people.
I took this photo (one of many) on Saturday 19th March in London at the Stop the War March and initially I rejected the picture for my photoblog. Then I took a second look and decided that it might look good in black and white. The original is below the b&w version.
Initially, I converted the image using Rob Carr's B&W photoshop action (http://www.slower.net/slowerlog/files/rob_carr_bw_conversion.atn) and then applied a gradient map (b&w) to add some more contrast. Then I applied some burning at 50% on the sign to bring it back into the picture. Next I changed the mode back to RGB and applied a photo filter 81 (15%) and to brighten up the image used the Shadow/Highlight feature to bring out the features of the protestors followed by a resize and final unsharp mask. I'm still experimenting with b&w and I'm quite pleased about the result which I think has rescued an otherwise dull photo. If you want to see a larger version you can see it here (http://www.andrewor.com/2005-03-19/img_1534.htm)
About the march itself. I was there just to take photos and there was one moment when when the adrenaline was really pumping hard which was when some protestors tried to set light to the US Flag. I was crouched down low to the ground ready for the moment - however they failed so I didn't get an awesome picture just an ok one.
I used a Canon 20D + 70-200L f2.8 IS USM and a 24-70L lens. I had to swap lenses a few times and did I get some exercise that day running around London with a rucksack full of kit! Next time I shoot a public event I might take by 10D body as well with the 24-70 attached.
If you want to see the gallery of pictures of the event, including this one, then you can look at my gallery here (http://www.andrewor.com/2005-03-19).
I took this photo (one of many) on Saturday 19th March in London at the Stop the War March and initially I rejected the picture for my photoblog. Then I took a second look and decided that it might look good in black and white. The original is below the b&w version.
Initially, I converted the image using Rob Carr's B&W photoshop action (http://www.slower.net/slowerlog/files/rob_carr_bw_conversion.atn) and then applied a gradient map (b&w) to add some more contrast. Then I applied some burning at 50% on the sign to bring it back into the picture. Next I changed the mode back to RGB and applied a photo filter 81 (15%) and to brighten up the image used the Shadow/Highlight feature to bring out the features of the protestors followed by a resize and final unsharp mask. I'm still experimenting with b&w and I'm quite pleased about the result which I think has rescued an otherwise dull photo. If you want to see a larger version you can see it here (http://www.andrewor.com/2005-03-19/img_1534.htm)
About the march itself. I was there just to take photos and there was one moment when when the adrenaline was really pumping hard which was when some protestors tried to set light to the US Flag. I was crouched down low to the ground ready for the moment - however they failed so I didn't get an awesome picture just an ok one.
I used a Canon 20D + 70-200L f2.8 IS USM and a 24-70L lens. I had to swap lenses a few times and did I get some exercise that day running around London with a rucksack full of kit! Next time I shoot a public event I might take by 10D body as well with the 24-70 attached.
If you want to see the gallery of pictures of the event, including this one, then you can look at my gallery here (http://www.andrewor.com/2005-03-19).