If I could describe my family and child photographs with one word it would be:COLOR! My family and child portrait work is always strongly characterized by bright bold colors. Not that I don’t like black and white, I really do. I just always feel like I have a more difficult time converting in Photoshop. It just isn’t my strong suit and because of that I tend to not share or sell as many black and white images.
I recently had the opportunity to test out the new Black and White Film Actions from BP4U: Photography Guides and More. I was really excited to try these because I love the look of black and white film and I really needed to boost the quality of my black and white images. I was also a little hesitant because I do not use actions with any of my work and I wasn’t too sure what to expect from these. I have to be honest, I was blown away with the results from these actions! There are thirteen different black and white actions and I couldn’t pick just one favorite. There were several from this collection that I will be using. I especially loved Dark Forest and Soft Vintage on my family shots, while Moody Monday was a favorite for my portraits. The results from these action are gorgeous, moody, film like black and white images that are so easy! All of the actions were simple to load and very customizable. They are set up to be tweaked to match your style and vision. I love that they also included “toppings” to the basic actions, so that I could include a heavier matte for a really moody look or really pour on the grain to make the image appear vintage. Below are a few before and after examples using the new Black and White Film action set from BP4U. See for yourself the stunning transformation into black and white film!
Along with trying out the black and white action set, I also test drove their Creative Blur Overlays. If you have ever taken a look at my child or family portraits you will see that my style utilizes a lot of blur in the foreground and background. This set really parallels my vision when it comes to creative blur. These overlays come with 60 different colors and sizes of blur that can be used to really complete the look of your photograph. I really loved that I was able to achieve the extra added blur boost to the photos that I wasn’t able to get it in in camera. The added blur was super easy to use and fun too! It was neat to test out the different colors and types to really change up the depth of field and look of the picture. Below are a couple examples from the overlay set, but I really could have played around all day with these. You’re likely to see them pop up in some of my future work!
If you’d like to try the new Black and White Film Action set or Creative Blur Overlays from BP4U: Photography Guides and More here is a special discount code for my fans: COZY90. This will give you 90% off making it well worth to give these a try! Just enter it at checkout and you will be amazed with the results from these sets! As always, thanks for taking the time to check out my blog and for reading my posts:) I really appreciate all of you that stop on in here and leave me a note. Please feel free to comment or share. I love hearing what you think!
Emily
Stunning family portraits, I love how the new style looks with your actions! Beautiful!!
Emily…i have always loved your work and i am so happy to see your actions and i highly recommend those action. Your outdoor photography is one of the most beautiful piece of work i have ever seen 🙂
Oh wow, completely in love with these actions! Especially the black & white conversions, these may be my favourite.
Color photos are amazing but black and white photography just has this amazing mood.It always feels more “artsy”. I think converting an image to black and white removes all the distractions and you can really focus on the tones and subject of the photos. What gorgeous black and white actions they really showcase your gorgeous photography.
Beautiful black and white conversions. THose children’s portraits are so sweet!
I agree with you…color is so amazing, and your color photography is gorgeous! But a great black and white can be just as spectacular. These actions do look awesome. There is a great variety to fit any feel you want. It may inspire me to go on a black and white kick for a while!
You are an amazing photographer and your color images are stunning. I love how these black and white conversions add some drama and mood to the images. thanks for sharing this review!
What a great group of photos. I loved seeing the use of the actions.
I always love when photographers do this showing Black and White and color versions of photos.
There is just something about black and white portraits that I absolutely love:) They have that timeless, vintage feel that is really fantastic. Great tutorial!
Lovely black and white actions!!
Wow! Your color really does pop. Gorgeous editing. And you did a really nice job with the conversions. I’m going to check out those actions. Thanks for sharing.
Love those B&W’s! beautiful!
loving these actions on your photos, especially the b&w “melody!” 🙂
Great selection of actions!
Thank you for this review! I have also struggled with black and white conversions. I will have to check these out.
Beautiful actions, can’t wait to get my hands on these!
awesome actions