B&W conversions?

[KD_89]

I shot some photos for my brothers girlfriend and her family. The only problem was that although i'm comfortable doing portraits, she asked for all the photos to be black and white. Ive done a few black and white photos before but I normally just desaturate them. I'm no good at pp so this is the 1st time i've really played with it.

My question is...Does this conversion look ok? I've got a few more in my flickr but I want to know how they look before I do too many. Any help appreciated.



Camera: Nikon D60
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.3
Focal Length: 46 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Fired, Return detected

[SusanH1970]

It's a little too contrasty for me...I think. The blacks are super black and the whites are super white, but the skin tones are muddy. Also, be careful of shadows. The two older girls have really odd looking dark shadows right under their noses (and in the case of the girl camera left, her lips and chin, too). Diffusing your flash can help this.

[KD_89]

I found the girl's hair quite hard to work around as they both have jet black hair and alex(in the middle) has very bright red hair. I think this was my main stumbling point. And thank you for the tip about the shadows, I wasn't sure how to get rid of them