Creative or pants?

[NicolaB]

Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO Speed 1600

Does is work, or is it just plain odd (I am trying to be more creative) All cc welcome

[MD135]

Nice photo, love the black and white, DOF. I think I would have preferred to see the entire face, though.

[Rentham]

I don't know but I love your BW conversions. On a second look, this somehow reminds me of a book cover.

[NicolaB]

This is a more conservative version.....

[Tito87]

I guess I must be conservative because I like the second one a lot better. I also agree with a previous poster about your B&W conversions: they look so good. Would you mind explaining your method for those of us who love B&W, but still struggle to get a decent conversion without a darkroom. Thanks for sharing.

[Doug Sundseth]

FWIW, I like the first one better, even though (or perhaps because?) it's a style that I've never considered using.

Very characterful portrait.

[Kbaby]

I like both, But the first has my vote! =)

[NicolaB]

Cool! Thanks everyone. I am glad that some people prefer it, because I decided when I woke up this morning that I do like it too. It is amazing what a visit to an art gallery can do to your thinking - I strongly recommend it

Originally Posted by Tito87

....... Would you mind explaining your method for those of us who love B&W, but still struggle to get a decent conversion without a darkroom. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you Tito

I use two methods for b&w conversions.

1. For those images that are perfectly exposed with a good balance of light and dark:
Clean process in LR
Export to CS5 and add soft light layer (normally at 20%)
Add gradient map and click sliders (add another white and another black by clicking) at either end to make the darks black and the whites white.
(If someone can tell me how to add screen shots I will add a proper tutorial if it will help?)

2. For images with less contrast:
Clean process in LR (ACR does the same)
Export to CS5 and add soft light layer (normally 20%)
IMAGE> Calculations
play about with the settings here. For portraits I normally land on Red in the top box and Gray in the middle with the third section set to Soft light, Screen or Multiply about 20-30%. You will need to play with this as each image is different. See what works for you.

REMEMBER you now need to discard the colour information so;
IMAGE > Mode > Grayscale - click to discard info and layers
IMAGE > Mode > RGB (to get back to colour space)


If I want a soft image I stop here, or for more depth, I add a Gradient Map as before BUT lower the opacity until it looks good.

[MargaritaH]

I sometimes like the half-face portraits when they are beautyshots but for this cute picture I definately prefer the 'conservative' version.

[BigFuzzy]

I hope he's wearing pants, but the image is nice!
Yeah, would like to see a bit more contrast in the b&w conversion as it feels a bit grey, but I do very much like the half face crop seeing as it's less conventional and 'conservative'...

Though not instrumental to the image itself, I'd move the watermark off his body, it drew my attention away from him. I'd suggest upper or lower left corner if it were me.

Love his serene look. Well done!