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<blockquote data-quote="BackdoorArts" data-source="post: 217035" data-attributes="member: 9240">I like the idea, but outside of the boat vs. everything else it's almost too flat for me - no differentiation of pieces.The key to true B&amp;W photography is understanding how color &quot;looks&quot; when you desaturate it.&nbsp; It's possible to take an extremely colorful photo, desaturate it and have something very one dimensional.&nbsp; Desaturate an image where colors are all the same lightness value and you have basic grey and nothing else.&nbsp; I see a lot of that in your photo.&nbsp; There are different things you can do to fix this in post (which assumes you don't shoot B&amp;W JPEG) depending on how your processing.&nbsp; Lightroom allows you to tweak the various color levels in B&amp;W mode to highlight and darken various colors.&nbsp; In doing this you can take what's simply a desaturated photo and make it pop a bit.Photoshop is a little more flexible, if more complicated.&nbsp; I did a blog post on it which you might want to take a look at as it shows a photo on water rather similar to yours in appearance.&nbsp; <a href="http://nikonites.com/blogs/backdoorhippie/149-better-b-w-conversion-using-multiple-hue-saturation-layers-photoshop-elements.html#axzz2kB26BDiH" target="_blank">http://nikonites.com/blogs/backdoorhippie/149-better-b-w-conversion-using-multiple-hue-saturation-layers-photoshop-elements.html#axzz2kB26BDiH</a>My favorite method is using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 as it allows the Lightroom-like methodology, along with a very easy to use and vary color filter option where you can vary how colors interact in B&amp;W by adjusting both the hue and intensity of a color filter.&nbsp; Simple to use.If you're going to shoot straight B&amp;W you need to be very aware of getting these post-processing tweaks accounted for before you shoot.&nbsp; If you're shooting RAW and coverting, do more than simply desaturate to keep the photos lively.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BackdoorArts, post: 217035, member: 9240"] I like the idea, but outside of the boat vs. everything else it's almost too flat for me - no differentiation of pieces. The key to true B&W photography is understanding how color "looks" when you desaturate it. It's possible to take an extremely colorful photo, desaturate it and have something very one dimensional. Desaturate an image where colors are all the same lightness value and you have basic grey and nothing else. I see a lot of that in your photo. There are different things you can do to fix this in post (which assumes you don't shoot B&W JPEG) depending on how your processing. Lightroom allows you to tweak the various color levels in B&W mode to highlight and darken various colors. In doing this you can take what's simply a desaturated photo and make it pop a bit. Photoshop is a little more flexible, if more complicated. I did a blog post on it which you might want to take a look at as it shows a photo on water rather similar to yours in appearance. [URL]http://nikonites.com/blogs/backdoorhippie/149-better-b-w-conversion-using-multiple-hue-saturation-layers-photoshop-elements.html#axzz2kB26BDiH[/URL] My favorite method is using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 as it allows the Lightroom-like methodology, along with a very easy to use and vary color filter option where you can vary how colors interact in B&W by adjusting both the hue and intensity of a color filter. Simple to use. If you're going to shoot straight B&W you need to be very aware of getting these post-processing tweaks accounted for [I]before[/I] you shoot. If you're shooting RAW and coverting, do more than simply desaturate to keep the photos lively. [/QUOTE]

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