A Photo a Week Challenge: From Color to B&W

With so many photo editing programs out there, it’s really easy to manipulate and change images on the a computer. One of the basic changes we can make is to change a photo from color to black and white. However, true old-school b&w film is processed in a completely different way than color film, and most of us have watched a colorized movie that makes us go “Eh, not what I expected.” Because the medium and process for color and b&w are so different, it can be challenging to make a color photo really pop in b&w. I’ll use a picture from Baby R’s photo shoot to demonstrate.

Here’s the color version:
(I just have to take a moment to say just how cute this little guy is.)

Now, here’s the image in greyscale with no manipulation:
(Yes, he’s just as cute in black & white.)

And here it is in black and white with contrast, saturation, and exposure edits to really make it feel more like it was taken on b&w film:

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT YOU’VE CHANGED FROM COLOR TO B&W.

The sky is the limit on this one (or maybe even higher). Get creative with your camera software (so many cameras have photo editing features installed), Adobe® Photoshop® software, Apple® Aperture®, or whatever software you like to use to edit your photos.  Then blog them and post a link to your masterpieces here.

(All products and services that are referred to in this post are or may be trademarks of their respective owners.)

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.

3. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.