The black and white converter lets the user determine how
red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, and magenta each contribute to
the brightness of the gray scale output. I used these to set the
darkness of a green locomotive and bring out white clouds on
a blue sky (17) and (19).
In the past I used the saturation control to remove color from
the image. The black and white converter is much more sophis-
ticated and produces much more satisfactory output.
How did I do in the contest?
I did pretty well! I picked three color and two black and
white photos to enter. I came away with the Best of Show
Photography (20), a People's Choice photography, and a couple
of other prizes.
If you have the yen to enter a photo contest I'd urge you to do
so. With modern digital cameras, photography is easier then
ever. Take your time. Think about what you're doing and work at
it. Be honest with yourself and when you see things that don't
seem quite right, don't say "they're good enough," go fix them.
Pay scrupulous attention to lighting, and white balance your
camera to match the lighting. If you find a few little problems
like a flecks of crud on the background, a particularly large
chunk of ballast somewhere it should not be, a crack in the sky,
or a bit of fascia showing, go ahead and edit them out.
Good luck!
