Black & white photos help from peers

[Ljbadfan]

I have seen a lot of awesome photos on here. I'm asking for help, in that I want to enter a photo in a contest. It's due by march 31st. My wife says to enter it, but I'm not sure if it's good enough. It has came in 2nd during a photoshow. I'm asking from from my peers and this board, if they believe I should enter it, or not and things I can do better next time, or make this one better. It was edited in photoshop 11. taken with a d5000 Nikon dslr, with 50 to 300mm lens. All answers will be appreciated. Thank you for looking, and you opinions.

 

[SrisonS]

Looks pretty good to me. One suggestion.... can you maybe brighten those clouds just a tad??? They're a little more gray than I would personally like. But if they looked exactly like that in person, I guess it depends if you want to keep the total integrity of the scene. Great work though!!

So what other shots would you consider entering; just out of curiosity?!?!

 

[wbeem]

Black & White is about the tones. In places where you've lost detail because they are too black or too white, consider if you need that detail there or if shadow is appropriate. I don't really see too many blow highlights, but check the ice.

From a photographic perspective, what is your subject? Out of the entire scene, where do you want the viewer's eye to go? How are you directing it there?

 

[photo_chick]

To expand on what's already been said, black and white needs well defined midtones. You have a decent black and a decent white here, but you have really muddy mitones and it makes the image very flat and uninteresting.

A lot of people will tell you just add more contrast. But it's not really about more contrast, it's about better contrast. Just using the contrast slider won't get you there. You need to work with curves or color channels to really get a good tonal range.

 

[Ljbadfan]

thank you for the advice. and the day we were there the clouds were actually gray that day. it was dark, and a little bit of a rain drizzle. the subject i hope is people follow the flow of the ice in the bottom of the photo, to the mountain in the upper left of the photo

 

[Domo]

Looks stunning to me I am certainly a fan of black and white