Black and White Conversion

[Xipha]

Another picture of my son that I converted to black and white. I tried multiple conversions with the black and white converter in Photoshop, and used layer masks to build them up on top of each other to adjust different parts of the picture differently. Am I on the right track? Does having a bit of a low key feel suit the mood of the picture or should I have brightened up the skin tones more? How about the overall composition? Still a newbie, anything constructive is helpful!

Aperature: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/1250
ISO: 1250 (forgot to change it down from being inside earlier oops)
Focal Length: 105 mm (on the Nikon 18-105 mm kit lens)

This was my first time trying out my new DSLR in daylight so I took my son to the park. Eventually I had to tell him it was time to go, and this was his reaction. My husband thinks I am mean for taking pictures while he was crying, but I couldn't help it....

[scootermcq]

Nah, not a meanie... cute kid & cute picture.

B&W looks fine, tones are good. Needs just a little "pop", Vince wrote a quick tutorial here that would help that:
Want your B/W's to POP?...a quick and easy tutorial

The composition bothers me a little. He is dead center and looking into the smaller part of the frame. I would change the crop so that it is closer to the back of his head, taking him off center and having him look into the dead space, on the left side of the frame.

Not too bad at all for your first kick at the cat

[Xipha]

Is this better?

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by Xipha

Is this better?

Yup... that works better for me