B&W Conversion Question

I've been experimenting with B&W conversions in CS2, but not with much success. I'm never happy with the skin tones in particular. The image below was converted by adding a gradient mask and then playing with the sliders in color mixer. I also tried a LAB conversion, calculations (ugh!), simple grayscale, and various combinations of same. Anyway, this is the best I could come up with. My hope is that someone can tell me/show me a better conversion method and thus a better picture. Or, maybe it's not the conversion but something I've overlooked in the color original? Please feel free to have a go at it yourself. I would really appreciate it.

EXIF: 1/25th @ f/4.5 ISO 100, RAW

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I like your conversion. I have made up an action for my bw conversion, which has a slight toning adjustment in it, and interestingly when I ran the action, I got the same conversion as you manually did. so it must be good.
here it is

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I used your conversion and fine tuned it just a bit..Your conversion is good.. I played around with curves to flatten the print just a tad,,I found it a bit too contrasty..I also burned in the highlights a bit..

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The original conversion by Walkingmanblues is the best, in my opinion, because the later two are rendered somewhat lighter and thereby are losing some of the detail in the highlights, especially in her forehead.

One of the things I do like in the one by Kevindar is what looks to be a slight Sepia toning which brings out a richness in the mid tones.

I personally just pull the saturation all the way down and run a curves adjustment (or two or three if necessary).

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Jesus Christ on a bicycle! (my apologies:oops Its the tonal adjustment. The sepia gives it what it was missing. Thank you Kevindar, Yogestee, RL and Griptape! Thank you one and all. Don't suppose you'd be willing to share the settings on that action, would you, Kevindar?

This is one of my first forays into this virtual community, and I must say I'm impressed. I only wish I knew enough to help others as I have been.

PS: I would have gotten back with you sooner, but Deutschland is in the European Championship finals tonight. One must have his or her priorities, after all

Walkingmanblues wrote in post #5815482
Jesus Christ on a bicycle! (my apologies:oops Its the tonal adjustment. Thank you so much one and all. The sepia gives it what it was missing. Thank you Kevindar, Yogestee, RL and Griptape! Thank you one and all. Don't suppose you'd be willing to share the settings on that action would you, Kevindar?

This is one of my first forays into this virtual community, and I must say I'm impressed. I only wish I knew enogh to help others as I have been.

PS: I would have gotten back with you sooner, but Deutschland is in the European Championship finals tonight. One must have their priorities after all

I can email it to you. It has three parts. a b&w conversion, a high pass sharpening with a black layer mask, and a usm sharpening with a black layer mask. the top layer on the conversion is a level layer which no adjustments to it. I put it there just in case I want some final tweaks.

Easy Walkingmanblues..

1. I used your original conversion.
2. Using curves I "flattened" the image somewhat,,I found your edit a bit contrasty.
3. I burned in the highlights using the burn tool with a rather large brush especially where the highlights lacked detail..
4. I dodged the shadow area of her nose slightly.

Hope this helps..

yogestee wrote in post #5817180
Easy Walkingmanblues..

1. I used your original conversion.
2. Using curves I "flattened" the image somewhat,,I found your edit a bit contrasty.
3. I burned in the highlights using the burn tool with a rather large brush especially where the highlights lacked detail..
4. I dodged the shadow area of her nose slightly.

Hope this helps..

Thanks for the help, Yogestee. I see what you mean about the contrast. Perhaps I was a little too agressive in curves.

kevindar wrote in post #5815645
I can email it to you. It has three parts. a b&w conversion, a high pass sharpening with a black layer mask, and a usm sharpening with a black layer mask. the top layer on the conversion is a level layer which no adjustments to it. I put it there just in case I want some final tweaks.

Kevindar--

Email has been sent.

Walkingmanblues wrote in post #5818918
Thanks for the help, Yogestee. I see what you mean about the contrast. Perhaps I was a little too agressive in curves.

Walkingmanblues,,you are welcome,, glad to help..A very common mistake .. Increasing the contrast in a portrait to a point where the midtones are compressed can lose the finer tonal values and burn out the highlights.. Its not really flattering especially with a female portrait..