First try on B&W Pictures

[marcelo_valente]

This was one of the first B&W shots I took with my new camera. Never tried B&W before, but I was reading some posts here about them and decided to give it a try during my niece's school party. This is a typical party of Brazil that happens in the month o June.
Please let me know your thoughts and any tips to improve the B&W shot. I think it came out preaty nicelly.



EXIF:
Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 194 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[Kate Howells]

Very cute little girl - I like the composition, the tight crop works well, and your subject has room to look into. image may benefit from a little more contrast.
Your shutter speed is a little slow for you focal length.

[marcelo_valente]

Thanks Kate! I 'm still trying to figure out the settings to take my pictures. I'm kind of new to the DSRL and thank to the Image stabilization of my lens I didn't get camera shake with that shutter speed! I was on aperture priority mode during this shot, with the widest option I had because of the low light conditions of the gymnasium we were in. The ISO was also manually set to 800.

[PeterArboinePhotography]

hi marcelo, i think your camera settings were spot on here, and yes adding some contrast in post production would definitely help, i took a look at your flickr, i love the toy car photo! keep it up!

[Lindsie Nicole]

I think it looks good but could do with a bit more contrast as everyone else has said. I think black and whites look good when they are brighter... makes them a little less gloomy as most black and whites look.


Lindsie

[marcelo_valente]

Hi Peter and Lindsie. Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I have a lot to learn still with my new DSRL and with post-production.
Thank you very much!!!

[indranil]

Nice moment capture. Like it. Yea, little PP require in contrast.

[marcelo_valente]

Hi! So, I've done a little bit of change to the contrast. I didn't shoot in raw so I had to do it using Picnic, but I think it does look much better. I underexposed it a bit to darken the background also. I don't know if my monitor setup will make it much different to you because it isn't calibrated but I hope you all like the result. Please let me know. Here it is.

[cowgrlsheart]

I agree that you need more contrast, and don't take my opinion as the ultimatum, but I do think you went too far with the updated picture. Her hair on the right side sort of disappears into the picture and her mouth is too dark now. Her eyes also have a solid look to them which I don't prefer. The most important thing though is that you love it.

[daddyoproductions]

Yep, I think a little overboard with the contrast, though it needed some. I too find it hard to know when to stop as I tend towards contrastyness. However, you don't want to blow out the whites, like the hair on the right side of her forehead, and you don't want her skin to look harsh, since she's a little girl. Sometimes you have to selectively change stuff, which you can't do in Picnik.

Such a cutie!

~C