My 1st B&W

[PatCouturier]

I'm new to photography and I bought photoshop elements 9.

I realy want to learn how to use it. So I'm showing you my work and I would like to know if it is any good and if you like it . I will pose more soon.


2011 04 14_kids.jpg by PatCouturier, on Flickr


2011 04 14_0039_BW_1.jpg by PatCouturier, on Flickr


I have use the B&W enhance and I added a old paper effect to get the old B&W filling to it.

[yulchick]

I dont know much about converting colored images into b&w, looks ok to me. The one thing that REALLY bugs me about the shot is the tree trunk. I would crop it out for sure

[PatCouturier]

I was reading about taking shot through tree, plant etc. So that is why I got the tree and the branches there. But I didn't know if I was going to keep it or not for the B&W.

Thanks for the reply

[gturner]

Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve every time you hit the shutter or process an image.

To me it looks like you are either stalking the kids (voyeurs view) or trying to frame them vie the plant life.

To start with, the image is over exposed (look how bright the highlights are. If you have the RAW file, dial the exposure back 1/2 a stop. If a jpeg, just use the sliders to darken the light areas. That will make a big difference when you convert it to BW.

Are the kids doing something particularly interesting? I can't tell, so either crop in tighter to show what they are doing, or recompose the shot some time to make it more exciting. I don't think changing it to BW helps the overall image.

[PatCouturier]

Originally Posted by gturner

Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve every time you hit the shutter or process an image.

To me it looks like you are either stalking the kids (voyeurs view) or trying to frame them vie the plant life.

To start with, the image is over exposed (look how bright the highlights are. If you have the RAW file, dial the exposure back 1/2 a stop. If a jpeg, just use the sliders to darken the light areas. That will make a big difference when you convert it to BW.

Are the kids doing something particularly interesting? I can't tell, so either crop in tighter to show what they are doing, or recompose the shot some time to make it more exciting. I don't think changing it to BW helps the overall image.

Thanks, good info.

[happyme]

Yes, you should crop it. Make it eligible for the rule of thirds, it'll look good.