Screaming to Get Out_Self Portrait_B/W

[mwatson]

Camera Pentax K10D
Exposure 0.022 sec (1/45)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 22 mm
ISO Speed 100

Okay, this is round three… I was deleted by the mods for two posts in 24 hours. (I am my own worst enemy).

After being urged by Bigfuzzy to switch it to black and white, I did. The thing is, I realized I don’t know how to do it properly. While I was playing with the contrast and exposure I was watching the histogram. The histogram says this is properly exposed but it feels a little dark. Did I get it right? Or am I over the top? What should I look for when making a black and white?

What I do know is he was correct, the B/W did wonders for the picture.

To get this shot correct, I have to reshoot and correct my background. I had to blur it out in post and it just isn’t working around my head and right shoulder.

[BigFuzzy]

"he was correct"....oooo, say it again! Say it again!

Yes, I like it much better in b&w. Yes, it seems a bit dark to me here on my lap top.

Thing I noticed without even clicking to see the bigger version is the very obvious edging where the smoothed background ends. Maybe you didn't care because you wanted to get feedback on the b&w conversion, so if that's the case ignore me, if not, it definitely needs work.

I'd consider that instead of using a brush or whatever you use, creat a layer where the whole layer is blurry to the degree you want then do what you did to merge the two faces together to get the edges better. Though, to be honest, i totally avoid b/g blurring as I always think it kind of sucks so I can't really help you do that better. Maybe someone who does it well can help here because that person is not me.


PS yep, everyone, when he said "he was right" that was about me.. suck it punks!

[mwatson]

Yeah, I probably should have fixed it before posting it but I decided I wanted ask how to do a proper B/W conversion first.