Step sister to black and white

[sftl99]

Original:

Edit:

-Canon G9 (don't own anymore)
-f/2.8
-1/60
-ISO 200

She was way too tan for this to look good but I liked the angle/composure so I wanted to make it look decent.
All edits in Aperture (and using Aperture terminology)...
-Exposure down just a tad -0.06
-Recovery up to .38
-Black point up to 5.39 (from 3)
-Brightness down just a tad -0.04
-Contrast boosted to .21
-Saturation up to 1.31
-Brought up highlights to 4.2
-Monochrome with Red Filter
-Slight Sepia tone .2
-Sharpened a tad
-Vignette

I like the way it turned out, what do you think? Any thoughts to improve further?

[Darth Marty]

I like the original and personally dont think its her tan thats the issue, its the backdrop thats a bit busy. The b&w is a better overall image but I feel that its a bit bright on her face. Other than that its really nice.

[sftl99]

You're right. I didn't think her tanness was bad, but it seemed to clash with the other colors in the picture, red wall, the menu on the table, etc. I agree with the face being too bright. I did a BW conversion using the Color Efex plugin for Aperture and it looks better. But that software is in trial mode and way too expensive for me so I wanted to figure out how to get a decent shot with Aperture's settings. If I knew more about Photoshop I'm sure I could get it where I wanted it. Too bad they're charging so dang much for their plugins.

[kencaleno]

Here's my take in black & White"

Ctrl+J
Image> Calculations
Background layer
Red
Background Layer
Red
Multiply
New channel
Image> Mode> Greyscale
flatten/save

Regards,Ken

[RoyL]

Her face is a bit washed out but if, I don't know what software you have, you have a history brush tool then run it over her eyes and her lips to sharpen and bring back some moistness to the lips. You would need to use layers as you don't want to bring back the color.