[air] Spirit of Nebraska - B-2

Salmo22 has been bothering me with his insanely awesome b&w conversions, got me thinking... This is one of the few times i'll post a non-standard aspect ratio photo, they generally dont appeal to me but that's what i had to work with this the time.

What do you guys think? It's only my 4th b&w conversion, be mean, I dare you.

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Matt - In general, I like both this conversion and your Tigercat. I can't really comment fully on your B-2 crop/composition without seeing what the original uncropped image looked like. Maybe you could post that also (i.e. a before and after). Once I could see the original, I could possible suggest an alternative crop. As far as aspect ratio, I don't think this image lends itself to a "pano" type ratio as you've currently cropped.

For me, monochromes are about contrast and tonality. I try to have the primary elements separated from the background via differences in detail, structure, exposure, etc. Often this means I must dodge or burn various areas within the image. That can be accomplished numerous ways and requires that you experiment and find what works best for you - something I continue to refine with each image I convert.

You've made a great start - keep at it.

rammsteinmatt wrote in post #13655438
Salmo22 has been bothering me with his insanely awesome b&w conversions, got me thinking... This is one of the few times i'll post a non-standard aspect ratio photo, they generally dont appeal to me but that's what i had to work with this the time.

What do you guys think? It's only my 4th b&w conversion, be mean, I dare you.

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Abstract Spirit of Nebraska by The_Shinny, on Flickr

Ive gone back and redone some B&W conversions 3,4,5 times because of Jeff haha.

good start on this one! I saw a B-2 years ago through a window of a tranining school once. It was in for a rest and fuel in Northern Quebec.

Ok Jeff... First off, thanks for all the help you've given so far - whether you know it or not - looking forward to what you come up with

I saw Mikekelly's Nellis static thread a while back (https://photography-on-the.net …=1115270&highli​ght=static) and really liked the abstract look his photos had, so I attempted to apply that same principle here. You'll see the original picture is fairly rubbish in terms of uninteresting clutter - specifically the NLG and all that assorted unpleasantness and the cars in the BG. I think im in the "simpler is better" phase of photography right now - in terms of subject - although that's probably the "right" attitude to have when going about things Perhaps, level along the LE and include the engine intake as well as sort of an aircraft bodyscape principle? I'll defer to your judgement.

As you'll see, with my crop high megapixelage on the body was fairly convenient. Processing was done in PS CS4 (along with the simpler is better theme) there is only a desaturation and some radical curves tweaking, then leveled to the wing LE (maybe you can see a little barrel distortion?) and a crop. I'm really trying not to buy silver efex, but i know the individual sliders are what separate your shots from everyone else, and i'm not exactly excited about a ton of masks in PS.

Again, thanks for any insight you give. To think I probably sat next to you on the bus and at dinner at El Centro and didnt even know I was sitting next to an encyclopedia...

OOC

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I like the direction you're heading and have one suggestion that I think would work. Crop the deadspace on the left out. In fact, try a crop line that slightly cuts just the tip of the nose off, but keep the right hand crop line about the same. Then it will look like a plane-scape.

Slightly more contrasty. Cropped to nmcgrew's specifications I'm liking this better already

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Yes! That's the crop I was talking about. I would like to see it with the blacks pulled up a tad. The areas that should be dark are a bit grey to me. Talking about B&W conversions, there is a trend these days to use maximum black conversions a lot and blow out the highlights. People end up killing or not caring about the mid-range when they do that.

Oh yeah, that's nice!

rammsteinmatt wrote in post #13683747

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/mattshinavar/6​677256093/
Third Times a Charm by The_Shinny, on Flickr

OK, I reckon we've got true blacks with the generally accepted best crop. I think im liking this a lot now. Thanks for all the help guys

well done