The Good Stuff.

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2.25.2013

I liked MIchelle's portrait in color but I wanted to see how it would look in Black and White.


Most of my earlier images of Michelle were done in black and white so I decided I wanted to play with the photograph of her I put up on the blog earlier today and see what it would look like if I'd been shooting it on my old favorite, Tri-X film.

I've resisted buying Silver FX Pro for years thinking that I could do just as good a job in channel mixer or the black and white adjustments in Photoshop. I downloaded the SilverFX a few minutes ago and gave it a trial run. Darn. It's good. Now I'll need to buy it. Yes.....it's better than I am at hitting the old Tri-X film feel.

I like the portrait so much more in black and white. No extraneous information, just Michelle and those beautiful eyes.

SilverFX is a plug in for PhotoShop, Aperture and Lightroom which helps make easy and (apparently) wonderful conversions of color files into black and white. It's built by Nik software and you can go to their site and download it for a 15 day trial. At some point you will become addicted and they will send you serial numbers to plug in and free the program for long term use.....after you send them the credit card info. You can go the more expensive route and keep shooting film...


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7 comments:

  1. Timothy GrayFebruary 25, 2013 at 3:43 PM

    Beautiful image of a striking lady, Kirk. Color keeps her contemporary but black and white makes her a timeless beauty...what do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2013 at 4:01 PM

    I could not live without Silver Efex Pro.
    Like the dark background here.
    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michael MatthewsFebruary 25, 2013 at 5:08 PM

    Hate to swim against the current. But I guess that makes one stronger. I'd vote for the color original.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kirk, Photographer/WriterFebruary 25, 2013 at 5:40 PM

      We love any swimming metaphor here..

      Delete
    2. Wolfgang LonienFebruary 25, 2013 at 10:39 PM

      I'm with Michael, for this one, tho I really don't swim that good anyway.

      Delete
  4. Tom JuddFebruary 26, 2013 at 11:18 AM

    I prefer the black and white, but only slightly. But both look better in the square thumbnails on the main page. You have stated a liking for the square format.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2013 at 10:56 AM

    You have the advantage of knowing what a Tri-X film image looks like. Experience with Tri-X. Plus-X, Acros, etc. in 35 to 4x5 is obvious in many conversions I've seen. Those who don't have any B+W film + printing experience may produce some "interesting" results. Maybe a museum/gallery trip or two may help?

    -salty

    ReplyDelete

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