Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/05/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Bob, Yes, I think I tried a little too much. Here is one with less drama in the darks: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/kcarney/_MG_2525BWTX2.jpg.html Probably I need to quit being so cheap and buy that Leica 246 and a couple of lenses, if they haven't ruined it with that shitty new sensor :). Somewhat seriously, though, from what little I know it does seem odd that less information would equal a better image? Ken On 5/5/2015 3:40 PM, Robert Adler wrote: > Hi Ken, > Good job controlling the whites! Definitely can see the improvement. > Included in Tony's curves are videos by another photographer (forgot his > name) on how to use Tony's curves. In one of them he shows a great way to > bring out details in Zone2/3 blacks. I've tried it on a couple of images > and it works very well. May be a good way for you to bring out more detail > in your blacks: at least on screen it looks like its a very sudden drop off > to black. > Best, > Bob > (and congrats on finishing your last tax season!!!) > > On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 1:30 PM, Ken Carney <kcarney1 at cox.net> wrote: > >> In looking over some recent threads on critiques and b&w printing, I >> thought it might be worth while to have some discussion on converting >> files >> to b&w. I'll post my approach, and maybe others can suggest improvements >> and describe other approaches. Here are the files in color and as >> converted to b&W: >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/kcarney/_MG_2525-Edit-Edit-Edit.jpg.html >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/kcarney/_MG_2525BWTX.jpg.html >> >> I opened the file in Nik Silver Efex Pro, but could have used Photoshop or >> Lightroom b&w tools. I have Nik, Alien Skin, Topaz and DxO packages but >> don't care for them for adjustments. For example in SEP the tones >> affected >> by the sliders are pretty broad. Instead, I used Photoshop masks as sold >> by >> Tony Kuyper (thanks again to Bob Adler). My camera has a range of about >> six stops, somewhere between slide and negative film, or in Zone System >> terms say Zones 2 through most of 8 as I measured it. In this image I >> thought the brights needed some contrast so I selected a Zone 8 mask and >> used an adjustment curve to pump up the brights a little. There is some >> spillover, but the curve mainly only affected the brights in Zone 8. Then >> I did the same thing with masks for Zone 2 and 3 to get the blacks down to >> taste. Finally I added a little grain (TriX) with TrueGrain. This >> software uses drum-scanned film stock for the grain, as opposed to digital >> interpretations of grain. >> >> So there you have it. Because of the flexibility of using Photoshop >> targeted masks and adjustment curves, it took about five minutes. >> >> Ken >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > >