B&W Retouching Driving Me BONKERS!

[cyeh01]

Hi guys,

I would much appreciate your feedback on how to make this image better. I spent hours on it just playing with the color channels in grayscale (Lr2) to make it pop. I think in PS I might have almost blown out some skin tones with curves and levels. In retrospect they were too bright so I toned them down in Lr2. I don't know. I am frustrated with this picture. Hours spent and it still isn't "there" IMHO.

Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2646/...a45d11b5_o.jpg

[MiningArt]

I used a gradient over the whole image, black-black/white to make the image black and white. The skin texture on the shoulder was used as a guide until the hair looked jet black.

[cyeh01]

Thanks for the feedback. It does have more pop. Can you tell me how you did the gradient? Thanks

Oh and the coloring in my original picture was accomplished via split toning in Lightroom2

[cyeh01]

MiningArt, thanks for the response again. I googled the gradient technique and combined with the Channel Mixer I achieved pretty good results. More "pop".

[MiningArt]

Pretty straightforward, I adjusted by eye so not much sense in detailing the steps in applying a gradient. I am a beginner, so the first thing I do is look for a tutorial or an example. The search box here has loads of tips. Another way to add some POP is to do HDR on your image. I have seen some that turn out well even though using one image. A case of six of one and a half dozen of the other, many methods.