Same Thing . . . Only Different

[Chip]

That's one of m favorite Yogi Berra type quotes, and I hope it's a good lead in for this thread.

Last week's B&W Portrait contest has me hooked on trying to get better at B&W conversion. And I tend to learn most by experimenting . . . the "what happens if I click on this" method of learning post production.

So, I thought I'd take the same original shot and see how different it could be made to look. Here are the 2 results:

Subtle:



Not so subtle:



Anyone else ever played around with the same type thing? Making one shot look very different through post? If so, I'd love to see your shots posted in this thread.

Thanks for looking.

[jack russell]

hang on, you gotta tell us what that is first! salt shaker?

[gottasnap]

I think it is a door knob. But whatever it is, the PP is interesting.

[Heaterguy]

Second shot is very interesting. Looks like there is some noise added into the shot.

[CarlyHarrison]

I like the second one!

I tend to like the high contrast, sharper pictures. The subtle can work for some situations, but the sharp one will catch people's attention.

[Chip]

Originally Posted by jack russell

hang on, you gotta tell us what that is first! salt shaker?

It's a . . . It's a . . . .

If I'm not being too insensitive, would it be O.K. to let the subject matter be open to interpretation? Sort of like looking up at clouds?

(But if you really wanna know, I'll of course tell you. )

Originally Posted by gottasnap

I think it is a door knob. But whatever it is, the PP is interesting.

Thanks, gottasnap - Glad you found some interest in the PP.

Originally Posted by Heaterguy

Second shot is very interesting. Looks like there is some noise added into the shot.

Heaterguy - Thanks for the feedback. On the 2nd one, using GIMP, I used one of the pre-loaded plugins to make this B&W (the "c2g" option, under tools, found in "CEGL Operations"); the "noise" was a byproduct of altering some of the many settings.

Originally Posted by CarlyHarrison

I like the second one!

I tend to like the high contrast, sharper pictures. The subtle can work for some situations, but the sharp one will catch people's attention.

Thanks very much, CarlyHarrison. I'm glad you like the second one.

[harsh.kataruka]

That's quite an idea Chip.

I'll see if i have some pic which i can tweak heavily in PP and still get something decent out of it ( highly unlikely though with my PP skills )

Anyways, like this shot n PP.. esp the 2nd one... this is gonna get me scratching my head as to what the original must've looked like

[paulq]

nice. might try that too. like the pp on the second picture btw!

[fstopMike]

I vote for not so subtle!

[Chip]

Originally Posted by harsh.kataruka

That's quite an idea Chip.

I'll see if i have some pic which i can tweak heavily in PP and still get something decent out of it ( highly unlikely though with my PP skills )

Anyways, like this shot n PP.. esp the 2nd one... this is gonna get me scratching my head as to what the original must've looked like

harsh.kataruka - As for your PP skills, maybe just play around? It's what I did to get these 2 different images. And even if you don't like the results (happens to me all the time), at least you're building your skills by learning what not to do.

All I did to the original was flip it horirzontally, then do the B&W conversion. No crop.

Originally Posted by paulq

nice. might try that too. like the pp on the second picture btw!

Thanks, paulq. Glad you like the pp on the 2nd one.

Originally Posted by fstopMike

I vote for not so subtle!

It's unanimous! Many thanks, Mike.