One more for good measure. I'm still trying to master the conversion, but the lighting wasn't exactly how I would have wanted it either. These shots are all three months old (except for the very first) so the lighting could have been a bit better, which in turn would have resulted in better photos for the end product.
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Thanks everyone who's responded and left a comment. I'm really happy that these have been well received because to be perfectly honest, I've spent so much time mucking around with them that at some points I wasn't even sure what looked good or not, or which changes actually constituted improvements or not
*Bill wrote in post #2075216
Nice Jack Nicolson imitation in #2... Anyone else seeing it?
Didn't realize it at the time, but yep. Definately.
AlexisG wrote in post #2075234Looks like staying up late all those nights really paid off! I love your BW conversion.
Thank you. I'm at a phase right now where I'm trying to learn and perfect as much as possible, and I'm hoping in a few more months I start doing TFP/TFCD model shoots, and a few more months after that open a photo studio professionally. There's still some way to go, but hey I'm getting there 
Statement wrote in post #2076522Your work is
amazing. Every post I've seen you make has interesting, unique, and truly awe-inspiring shots. Do you have any recommendations for something for a beginner like me to read on studio work, or maybe some of the urban stuff you do?
Thanks so much, that's incredibly kind of you to say. As for stuff to read, there's a few things that have helped me a bit. I think the basis of my photographic knowhow came from the book by John Hedgecoe "John Hedgecoe's New Manual of Photography". You should be able to find it on amazon.com and it is about as comprehensive an introduction to photography as you can get. It covers basics like metering, field of view, DOF, selective focus, and then gets into elements of composition like form, shape, colour, leading lines, frame within a frame, etc. It also offers tips on colour balancing, and various kinds of photography like portraiture, landscape, action, spots whatever. It's over 400 pages long, fully illustrated in colour photos and will take you from clueless to knowing more or less all the tools and skills you will need. From there it's only a matter of perfecting those skills, which takes alot of time (I'll let you know HOW much when I've done that :lol. Anyway, it's strongly recommended.
For studio work, light placement is everything, and learning how and where to place your lights will completely 100% change the look of a picture. This is the basic that got me started, the rest is experience honestly. http://www.vividlight.com/articles/1615.htm It's not that broad a topic, but the subtle changes and combinations you can make are incredibly huge. It only takes maybe one page to explain the basics, but I would imagine it takes years to perfect those basics into something really impressive. That's why I spend at least two nights per week shooting self portraits which are pretty boring subject wise (except when I try and get creative that is) and just play around with my lighting and my post processing. Both take a long long time to master, and that work does eventually pay off, although you'll have many nights where you "close without save" after a few hours and feel discouraged.
The other big help, is inspiration. It helps so much to have better photographers who's galleries you can look through. If you can sit down and look at their photos and say "THIS is what makes this photo interesting or good" you can learn more than you would from straight instructional articles. If you can say "the way the shadows give shape to the face" or "the way the background frames the subject" then you can start to understand what really makes a good photo. If you can be just as honest with your own work, you can say "my photo would have been better with more shadow detail" or "this photo would have been excellent if the lighting provided more shaping and modelling". From there, is where you really learn and really grow as a photographer.
It also helps an awful lot to shoot in the studio and really learn lighting, and then go back outside and do landscapes/urban shots or whatever. You come at it with a whole new understanding and it helps immensely. This is a recent photo of mine I took without using the viewfinder for an experiment, and what makes it work is the lighting. http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/67167133 What allowed me to see that lighting, was my studio knowledge. The two go very much hand in hand.
The other thing, is don't be afraid to be creative. If you come up with something crazy and it doesn't work, don't say "oh, haha, this sucks and I shouldn't try that again" say "ok, this doesn't work because there isn't enough texture in that chair, if I did it with more texture though, this might work". Don't be afraid to experiment, when I take photos I'm not just making photos for the time being, I'm also learning things for the next set of photos I make. With that attitude, no experiment is ever a waste.
And back on the topic of inspiration, look at some of Dave LaChapelle's work if you get a chance. He completely redefined what I thought was possible with photography after I saw his work. I bought his book "Hotel LaChapelle" (one of only two collections of photography I own) and it completely changed my outlook on photography, and I've been much more creative as a result because I've realized there really are no limits to what you can use subject wise, or thematically.
If I missed anything, let me know, or please feel free to ask any more questions you might have I'm no expert or professional yet, but I'm working my way towards those goals, so maybe I can help someone along the same path I'm headed down (hopefully).
whiskaz wrote in post #2076561Love these b&ws! I'd also love to hear an explanation of your conversion technique if you feel like giving it away
It's not too too tricky really, it's another one of those "basic tools with lots of time into mastering them" kind of deals. The base image I start with is usually pretty nuetral, I'll convert to black and white using channel mixer with alternating amounts of red or blue channel depending on what I want (roughly, red channel produces smoother skin and brighter highlights, blue channel produces sharper details and darker shadows). When I get my black and white out of the channel mixer, I try to avoid having any really bright highlights or too many dark shadows (in fact, avoid them as much as possible) because it is in the next steps you will add in your highlights or shadows. I use alot of layer masks to edit selective parts of the image (ie, just the cheek, or the hair, or the background) and use curves and levels and a very little bit of dodge and burn depending on how things are going. Using this technique, I selectively darken, or lighten the parts that need changes. So for instance, the shadow on the side of the face may need to be darkened alot, so I'll use one layer for that and darken it. The eyes on the other hand, might not need to be darkened so much, so I'll use another layer and adjust it accordingly. It's alot of work and I'm telling you now that your first few images you'll be unsatisfied with, but just keep banging away at it and you'll start to see some real improvements over your old images.
It also can't be stressed enough how important it is to LEARN THE CURVES TOOL. It really is the most powerful tool in photoshop, and most people only treat it as a quick way of changing contrast. However, whether you bring up the highlights near the bottom of the curve, or the top of the curve will have a massive difference on how things turn out, and it's important to learn how to work with that.
Most of all, it's important to keep practicing at it because the most important tool is to have your eye get developed for what you want to see your pictures turn out as, and what your pictures need to do to get there.
And studio lighting helps an awful awful lot. I don't think I could have this kind of effect at all without controlled lighting, since the light determines how the shadows fall on the face and how they look.
Art Rodriguez wrote in post #2076965Great work. I'm a big B&W fan but have yet to master it myself. I tried it once and deleted them. If only mine can be half as good as these.
Art
I've tried at least 50 times and deleted them There's alot of practice involved but I figure if I worked things out (and they're not 100% as good as I want them yet mind you, they will be eventually) anyone should be able to. I only seriously picked up photography in september of last year, it's just perseverance and practice that helped me get this far, and will hopefully help me go farther.
Thanks again everyone who commented, I really appreciate the comments alot.
