Improving B/W's

[gagehingeley]

Hello, I took this image today of my good friend Justin. I new immediately when I took it that I wanted it to be black and white. How can I make this Black and White really shine and POP to the viewers eyes? Been into photography for about 6 months now but only been messing with Photoshop for about, 2 weeks, I was previously editing in Lightroom but discovered Photoshop and so much more customization is allowed.

Any classes you know of for Photoshop? I am not able to take classes in college or stuff with Photoshop because I am only 15. Let me know! Thanks!

Justin Wood | Flickr - Photo Sharing!



Canon 60d
50mm 1.4
Spl Water Housing
1/800 at f/6.3
ISO:100

Thanks!

[autofocus]

Gage, Your image was mostly mid-tones on the histogram, so I made a few adjustments to your image to give it a little more pop. I also cropped it for better subject placement and straightened the horizon. You can see the steps I took, and notice how the new histogram now gives you much better contrast across the tonal range. Hope this helps

[SusanH1970]

Nice edit, Vinnie!

[gagehingeley]

Thanks so much! I will definitly go in and tweek it again and make a better photo.

[forknuts]

my 2 cents: i prefer your original pic.

[Krusty79]

Nice shot! Vince has a nice edit, but I just wanted to tell you that there are multiple ways to convert to B&W. I don't think there is any generally agreed upon "best" way to do it. You can convert it at the RAW level, desaturate your jpg or convert it to greyscale. You can google other ways. Here is a DPS article about using Lightroom - Black and white in Lightroom

There are tons of PS tutorials on YouTube. The funniest ones are the You Suck at Photoshop ones. Informative and hilarious!

[shruggy63]

[/QUOTE]There are tons of PS tutorials on YouTube. The funniest ones are the You Suck at Photoshop ones. Informative and hilarious![/QUOTE]
They're brilliant aren't they!

[cyber3d]

ASk your parents for a subscription to Lynda.com. YOu can cancel your subscription anytime. And it has hundreds of hours on Photoshop alone.

I think you can get a free trial if you are a high school student.

[gagehingeley]

Thank everyone. I will definitly look into all of this. Thanks for the help!