Melbourne in B&W

[dje]

I don't do much B&W but I thought I'd try it on these two shots I took in Melbourne recently. The first is a tree in Kew and the second was taken just near the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).I thought they brought out the mood of the scenes. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Dave

[Shadowman]

Very nice, the first works as is. The second could lose one or two of the posts in the foreground. Difficult crop without affecting the sign post though. Technique of conversion very good, did you use photoshop filters?

[Mike Buckley]

I like your conversions, though I do wonder whether the signpost in the second photo would stand out more in the color version. That depends on the color of the sign.

In the first photo, moving closer to the tree, shooting more upward, and positioning yourself so the tree would be rising from in between the two groups of trees in the background probably would have improved the composition. Try tilting the current version to the left.

In the second photo, I have a difficult time determining what the subject is; is it the signpost or the building? I would crop at the bottom just below the bottom of the rear set of posts.

[Donald]

I really like this because of its wonderful contrasting textures. And I think we can concentrate on these more because it's in B & W.

I suspect a colour version would be very colourful ....... and that is the perfectly legitimate reason for making a colour image. But, I'd bet that the textures and clarity of light that makes the building really 'pop', would not be so dynamic in a colour version.

[dje]

Thanks John, Mike and Donald for your comments.

John I tried the B&W conversion using Channel Mixer and the Black and White Adjustments in PS but I was not happy with the results. I don't have enough experience with these and nor do I have any specialised software such as the Nik software. In the end I did the conversion using the standard B&W converion option in FastStone viewer and then increased the contrast in the same software. The Contrast adjustment in FastStone Viewer works particularly well IMO.

Mike point taken about the signpost competing with the building. My primary aim was the building but when composing the shot I thought it might be a bit dull by itself and decided to add in the signpost. They both capture something from an earlier era (and are "very Melbourne").

Donald the original was quite colourful but I thought the B&W just added something extra in terms of mood with the contrasting textures. You probably would have seen it as a B&W when shooting but in my case it was an after-thought !

I'll have a look at the crops suggested.

Dave