B&W Conversion Ok?

[rachb]

Hi all,

This is a photo that I took from a family shoot the other day- of their 3 year old daughter, Angel. The original was color, but I converted to black and white in pp. I see a lot of comments on here about conversions being too grey- can anyone offer their opinion on this one? Does her bow look way too blown out? And last, is the grass in the foreground distracting? Thanks!!



Exif:

Camera Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 154 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[TNH]

The B&W looks fine to me.

The bow doesn't look too blown out, but I admit, the grass is distracting to me. I think it is distracting mainly because it's covering up half of her face.
There are three sections of the grass that are a bit brighter than the rest, that really distract me. (I circled them in red in this attachment... ) Maybe if you toned them down a little, I think with the 'dodge' tool, it would help. Then, I don't think the grass would bother me as much. It's just those two main spots.

And I know that you can't fix this now. but it kind of looks like one of the blades of grass is going up her nose...

I think it is a cute shot! Cute kid!

[Tito87]

If you want to darken the bright spots, don't use the dodge tool: use the burn tool.

[TNH]

Originally Posted by Tito87

If you want to darken the bright spots, don't use the dodge tool: use the burn tool.

Duh! Silly me, I get so confused sometimes. Tito is exactly right, use the BURN, not the dodge tool. The Dodge tool lightens, the Burn tool darkens. Sorry about that, LOL!

[soulmike 58]

I really like the conversion . . nice tones rich and well defined how did you do it ? . . nice pose BTW !!

[rachb]

Thanks all, this was actually the last photo of the shoot. Her baby brother was crying, and her parents were getting ready to go, but she just had that look on her face and I had to lay down next to her and get this last shot. Something about it screamed innocence to me. TNH- I used the burn tool to fix that grass and it definitely helped the image.. no helping the grass growing from her nose though, without some messy cloning I also noticed when it's enlarged, the eyes are a bit soft. Have to get better with focusing- the focus is more on the sweater. Soulmike- I converted to B&W in photoshop, then adjusted curves and saturation until I got the color I wanted. I'm glad you like it- I love black and white images, I just felt like this one might not have been such a great conversion... thanks for your comment!