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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Trying out this black and white thing

the long roadMy friend Lisa has started a new weekly photo challenge called Black and White Wednesday (actually it's not really new, I'm just scared of black and white so I procrastinated forever). Anyhow, this week I decided to participate. I was playing around with the daunting Manual setting on the dang camera today, trying to figure out how the heck "real" photographers get that breathtaking exposure and perfect white balance. And these ended up being the photos I used. The girls were separated for a little quiet time and Ree, bored by her sister's absence, agreed to sit (relatively) still and let me try out a whole bunch of settings on the camera. It was a cloudy, dreary day, so we didn't have much light and I had her by the window because I was trying to wring every drop of luminance out of that weak little sun. I think I'm blathering on because I'm afraid to put these photos out there, so I'll shut up now and post my black and white pics. Fine, here they are... DSC_3297LR_2 (Lightroom editing stuff: converted to grayscale, increased the blacks a tiny bit, adjusted a bunch of the color levels, applied the Cold Tone preset, adjusted the exposure/saturation/vibrance down a little bit, tried to desaturate the blues that snuck into the eyes) DSC_3306LRs (Lightroom editing stuff: applied the B&W High Contrast preset, pulled the saturation levels down, increased the blacks, bumped exposure up a little) DSC_3325LR_2 (Lightroom editing stuff: converted to grayscale, bumped blacks up a little, applied the Cold Tone preset, decreased saturation a little, tried to desaturate the blues that snuck into the eyes) Well shoot, these ended up being kinda fun. Maybe I won't be so scared next time! I don't ever do black and white, so while I added the editing details on what I did underneath each photo, please know that these are by no means the "right" ways or "expert" ways of doing things. Basically I took the photos in color, then converted to black and white in Lightroom and played around with different things until they looked good to me and had slight underlying color tints (because I don't like stark gray faces). For camera setting stuff: I used Manual mode (gasp) on my Nikon D300, and ended up using the 18-200 lens, 1/80 sec at f5.6, focal length 150mm, and ISO 500. And I used spot metering for the exposure, although to be honest I don't even know if that metering choice works in the Manual mode. Heh. I guess I'll either have to check the manual or bribe TubaDad to read it for me. DSC_3325LRsOh, and here's what the original colors looked like, in case you're curious. To see all the other fun Black and White Wednesday entries, check out Lisa's post today.

26 comments:

  1. Beautiful!! Really well done!
    The lighting on their faces is breathtaking!
    Whatever you did to those settings... DO SHARE!! :)

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  2. Oh Stefanie you are so sweet!! Your photos are some of the ones I always die over with those perfect exposure/white balance/skin tones! Anyhow, I'll add the settings info to the post.

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  3. I would love to hear your settings info as well. Just beautiful and I love the eye catch lights.

    Hugs
    Lori

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  4. Those pictures are so gorgeous. You've already got the whole black and white thing down pat!

    I do have one photography-related question for you. You mentioned using Lightroom, and I've been researching that program to possibly buy for myself! I'm trying to decide between either Lightroom or Photoshop, what would you recommend? I'm not a professional photographer by any means, just interested in it as a hobby.

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  5. These are gorgeous...and yes I believe you can spot meter in manual. I have a Nikon and I do sometimes. Anyway, I love the color wash, makes a softer look.

    :) Gail

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  6. i really like the 1st one!

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  7. They are stunning M3! I can't wait for next week to see what comes out of your camera!

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  8. You're so funny - I can't believe you tip-toed around this. Your b&w's are stunning. They're perfect (you silly).

    I really love that you have a tint of color to the skin. I'm going to try that too. Sometimes the grey skintone just doesn't work.

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  9. Anonymous3/31/2010

    Great, but take the blue out her iris. The first photo is a gem but the blue in the iris took some of the beauty away (for me, obviously)

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  10. Thanks anon, I'll try! If I can get any blue out, I'll repost that last photo.

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  11. I think it worked! I'm such a beginner in Lightroom. I didn't even notice there was any blue in the eyes (particularly that third photo) until I blew them way up. Better now?

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  12. M3...all the photos are GORGEOUS! The girls are so dang precious! LOVE your blog as always!

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  13. These are breathtakingly beautiful and I hope you blow them up and put them on a wall! I hope you participate every week in B&W Wed!

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  14. Great job! I've always loved black & white photos, these turned out great!

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  15. black/white pictures are beautiful!! So are your girls too!

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  16. You did great! I really love lightroom too. Don't know how I survived without it all these years!

    :)

    Donna
    Our Blog: Double Happiness!

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  17. Anonymous4/01/2010

    Gorgeous! Simply gorgeous!

    Smiley Always!

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  18. Anonymous4/01/2010

    Blue is out of eye in 1st photo! Gorgeous!

    The B&W may be a new direction for you :) as you have done a great job here!

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  19. Hi Kendall: Tough question, I guess I like both programs for different reasons. Lightroom is great for big changes -- it makes black, clarity, exposure, etc changes really easy to make and also apply to a whole bunch of photos at once. For really detailed stuff, I find that Photoshop can't be beat. There are things that are so easy to do in Photoshop (like changing out a background, having multiple layers to a photo, fixing one area of skin or color, etc) that I have real trouble doing in Lightroom. The pros can probably do it easily, but I can't. Anyhow, you probably can't go wrong with either program, and if you can take a basic class in it you'll be thrilled with the stuff you can do.

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  20. Oh my goodness. What is wrong with you? In a nice way I mean : ) Your pictures ARE so awesome. Wowza. These are just lovely. I think the light is perfect. Overcast days truly bring the best light don't they? : )

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  21. I love black and white stuff! Your photos are amazing.

    Have a wonderful Easter weekend!!!!

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  22. You should have no fear, your piccies are always lovely.

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  23. Wow, way to set the bar high for yourself right out of the gate!! lol. These are great shots!!! You should do b/w more often. As in weekly... at least every Wednesday. ;)

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  24. Hey there M3!

    I just got back home from trip number two and hope to catch up with everyone after an almost two week blogging hiatus:( Just saw that you played along this week and was so happy......... YOU ROCKED the black and whites!! You have been holding out on us girl!!! These pics are AWESOME!!

    Hope you guys had a fantastic Easter Holiday....... I will have to scroll back through all of your posts to see what I missed!! Have a wonderful week and I hope you will play along again:)

    Lisa

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