Skin tones in black and white

[purplepixie]

I recently did a black and white photoshoot for a pregnant lady, but I was a bit dissappointed with the skin tones - they appear a bit flat. I suppose it's kind of flattering to her to see soft skin tones, but I felt it needed a bit more contrast.

Any tips or suggestions?

(I used a very bright (old) photographic lamp and a small desklamp, both with white cloth to tone down the light a bit.)

I removed the image.

[jiminyClickit]

purplepixie,

Beautiful, effective diagonal (something wulf has got me noticing), and if tones seem off, it doesn't show here. Separation from background is fine. Added contrast would be tough without losing highlights, especially on stomach.

[jdepould]

Did you mess with exposure at all? Seems like you're losing a little bit of highlight detail, just a tiny little bit. Underexposing could bring out some more tones. Also, how did you do the grayscale conversion? Any filters on the lens?

[purplepixie]

JiminyC and jdepould: Tx for the lightning responses :)

Jim: Tx for the compliment :)

jdepould: I tucked in the histogram a bit on both ends, no filters, converted to BW from Raw in Photoshop. I did try underexposing a bit on some shots, not sure about this specific shot :confused:

EXIF:
1/20 sec, f/4, 200 ISO, 28mm

I've attached original colour image as it was shot in RAW format. The client requested black and white photos. I prefer some of the other shots from the shoot, but I don't think she would appreciate me uploading identifyable images onto the web.

I've removed the image.

[ELAY]

I think you could try different conversion techniques to achieve higher, or at least different, contrast levels. The technique can make a huge difference.

I tend to use channel mixer for conversion when I am shooting skin tones. Apart from being able to mix the info from the different channels, you can also play a bit with lighting by changing luminosity (just go over or under 100%).

There was a tutorial on BW conversion on the DPS blog a while ago -- here (http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/digital-black-and-white/) .

EL

[jdepould]

Did you just click convert to grayscale? If so, try using the channel mixer.

edit: elay beat me to it :p

[wulf]

Attached is my take on the process. I converted the colour original into black and white by decomposing into "YCbCr_ITU_R470" using The Gimp. No, I don't know what that means either... ;)

Actually, I tried several types of decomposition and this one gave the best results. I blended the three layers it yielded - one was almost what I wanted and the other two were applied as very translucent overlays. Once flattened, I then used a touch of curves adjustment to fine tune.

However, the whole process is very subjective. Two important questions are:

1. What is the final output (if printing the pictures, that may suggest different choices to onscreen display)

2. What does the client prefer (it might be a good idea to present several approaches on the same image as a test run, making a note of the rough settings for each).

Wulf

ps. the main difference from your version is that mine ranges from very dark grey to very light grey so looks a shade more subtle at the cost of lower contrast.

[ELAY]

I tried channel mixer with OK results -- not so much an improvement as to be worth posting. I still suggest you give it a whirl though, as you may stumble on a mix that looks right to you.

One additional thought. The colour photo as posted was a bit grainy/noisy on the belly and the effect is exaggerated when trying to boost contrast. I don't know if the noise/grain is due to compression or resizing for the site, but I ran noise reduction on a duplicate layer and masked so that only the belly was affected -- I found the difference noticeable. Might be worth a try.

EL

[clockdoc]

One other variation would be to use Picasa2's Filter Effects. Open the color original than view it as if it had been shot through any number of color filters on black and white film. I think you will find that skin probably responds best when shot through a green filter (or the equivalent using the Picasa2 software).

[purplepixie]

Tx for all the input and advise everyone - I will have to go through each suggestion and give it a try.

[purplepixie]

Ok, so I played a bit and tried out the methods you guys mentioned and the tutorial (tx Elay).

Here are the results:
1. Channel Mixer
2. DEsaturate
3. Gradient Map
4. Lab
5. A tonal experiment

I'm leaning towards the Channel Mixer and Lab methods - they seem to allow you some more control.

Tx again everyone - your input always helps and I find that I learn a lot on this site.

I've also managed to find a course on studio lighting in Cape Town which I'm planning to attend, so hopefully that will also help me a bit.

I removed these images.

[Nicole]

Can I just say that I actually like that last one the best? :)

[purplepixie]

Hi Nicole
I kind of agree with you - I like the subtle colours for the subject.
(The whole black and white saga is because that is what the client requested, who by the way was ecstatic, but I'm just being nit-picky about the quality.)

[Nicole]

Well, you've got to do what the client wants. I think it's something about the subtle colours as you said that really makes it for me. Glad to hear that the client was ecstatic about your shots. I think that it's an excellent picture to start out with. The posing is wonderful as is the lighting. I can see why she'd be happy with it. :)

[purplepixie]

Tx for the compliment Nicole :)

[purplepixie]

I asked nicely and my model agreed to let me post some more pics. Here they are:

I removed these images.