Monday, January 19, 2009

Black & White Portrait

I sure don't feel like I should be giving a tutorial as I am such a novice. But for what it is worth, I'll give it my best shot. The above photo is SOOC. I'm a huge fan of black and white and have had lots of fun playing with photos in Photo Elements 6. Learning it has at times been extremely frustrating to me and there is a ton about it that I have yet to learn. BUT, it is so rewarding when you finally do figure out a technique.


To get this effect I first cropped the pix. Then, I put it into black and white by clicking on the 'Enhance' tab and then 'Convert to Black and White'. Often I will go back into the Enhance tab, click on 'Adjust Lighting', click on 'Levels' and move the black arrow in 'Input Levels' to the right until I get the desired intensity of black that I want. That feature is way cool and I love using it. Next I did Vignetting. I have had to go back OFTEN to Carin's excellent tutorial on 'Vignetting' which is in the 2008 archives and dated October 6th. I found out you can use all kinds of colors with awesome effects to frame your subject with. Anyway, I'm sure this is all elementary to you, but hopefully helpful to someone who is learning the beginning basics like I am! Have a great week everyone!

2 comments:

Carin said...

That is really a fantastic picture, you captured such a tender moment. I think you did the right thing by changing it to black and white, there is a certain innocense to it.

Anonymous said...

Keep it up!! nice photos!

Lineman