More B & W

More black and white images showing the wide variety of looks you can get from this format.

Water droplets on a leaf.

Debris on a beach.

A smile on his face.

Black and White

I thought I would share a few pictures that I converted from color to black and white using Silver Efex Pro and Topaz Labs plug in filters in Adobe Lightroom 2.5. First I have to say that the videos that you can see and use to learn how to best use Silver Efex Pro in Adobe Lightroom are very helpful. They explain the tools, interface and how to use them. They also explain how to apply old darkroom effects to your pictures.
I thought it might be helpful to see my results as a first time user and maybe to spark your interest in trying some of the techniques provided by these specialized filters. You can try these filters for free and they are worth the look. You might just enjoy using them.

This picture I cropped from a larger photo then applied the Efex Pro filter and adjusted the brightness, contrast and structure. I then used the topaz filter to smooth out the details before applying light to the lower right side of the picture.

This picture I used a preset filter in Efex Pro and smoothed out some of the detail the Topaz Labs filter.

A Sunday morning add on. I just thought that this black and white picture which has been processed to give it a look of antique solarization.

This picture was processed with Adobe Lightroom 2 and Silver Efexpro Filters. It took a rather plain photograph that I had rated as 2 stars and transformed it into a interesting 4 star picture.

Birthday Fun

The family went out to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate 1 October and 2 November birthdays. We sat outside on a partially lite patio with the outdoor heaters blazing away. I took several pictures and posted them in my web album and if your interested please feel free to take a look.
Here today I'm going to feature some of those pictures that I have played with using Adobe Photo Shop Elements 8 and Topaz Labs filters. The first picture is cropped from a larger image of my grandson either trying to eat, bite or stick the balloon up his nose. It was adjusted using Topaz Labs filters to make the picture more dramatic.

Now I did say it was dark outside and here you see my youngest grandson trying to climb over the railing to get a better view of the pool below. This picture was adjusted in Photo Shop Elements using the Stylize filter.

This picture is of my lovely daughter in law and was first cropped and then adjusted using Topaz Filters to give the picture a smooth look while still keeping the essential details of the picture.

This last picture of me my son and two grandsons was adjusted with Adobe Photo Shop Elements using the Colored Pencil Filter. I hope this has encouraged you to play a little with your pictures.