Project: Black and White

12/8/2012

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Exercise: Colours into tones 2    

For this exercise I need use the chanel adjustment to create a specific effect: a portrait making the skin lighter but without altering the rest of the tones. I used Lightroom to make my adjustments.

Using the basic conversion the skin is very dull and mid- grey toned.


I  increased the red and orange sliders to change the tone of the skin and additionally used a tone curve adjustment to darken the blacks.


Basic conversion                                                                        Skin lightened 

Exercise : Colours into tones 1 

For this exercise I need to choose a colourful image with contrasting hues with the aim of creating two different Black and White versions. For one image I need to lighten the grayscale tone of one colour whilst darkening the contrasting tone of the other , and then do the reverse.

 My mum has a rather bizarre collection of hats and I took this image of her wearing one of them , which has bright orange and blue tones , additionally her blue top contrasts well with her lipstick. 

This is the default Black and White conversion using Lightroom.
The skin tones look mid grey -not a really good conversion, the hat is not too bad though.  

Version 1                                                              Version 2

My first conversion shows the effect of using the Black and White mix slider in Lightroom increasing the saturation of the  red, yellow , and orange tones , whilst decreasing blue, purple and magenta. The blue top Mum was wearing has become markedly much darker , black in fact , as have the blue areas of the hat. The orange and yellow colours have become much paler varied tones of grey to almost white—some of the pattern seems to have vanished. This conversion has had a detrimental on the skin tones creating loss of depth and textural detail , her lips have become paler (she was wearing a red/ orange toned lipstick) , creating a rather strange facial appearance.


My second conversion was the reverse making the orange tones darker and the blues lighter. I increased the blue , magenta and purple saturation and decreased the red .  Her top is now practically white , her lips and have skin are darker creating a greater range of tonal and textural detail. The hat now has more varied shades of grey from darkish black to light almost white  , the pattern completely different.


It is fascinating to see just how much  the colour channels can be used to alter the appearance of a Black and White image—that almost sounds like an oxymoron. 

Exercise : Strength of interpretation

This exercise looks at the effect aggressive processing has on an image and how it is possible to use it to greater advantage when converting to black and white . I used Lightroom to process each of my chosen images , one portrait and one landscape.

Simply by quite drastically altering the contrast and Curves using the LR tools there is more leeway when processing a black and white image than colour. I attempted an S curve to create greater contrast  and as can be seen the hues have become quite garish in both colour versions. In comparison the mono versions (although I find the skin in the portrait perhaps a bit too darkly toned ) are both acceptable. When reversing the process to create a much lighter version once again the black and white images suffer least from the post-processing.
Picture
Original Raw file .


 The processing caused clipping in the shadows when I applied an S Curve tone adjustment but this is much less of a problem for the mono version , it creates a dramatic scene. Whilst I prefer the greater contrast of the low key mono version the  high key treatment is still perfectly acceptable , how the final image is interpreted is very much a personal choice. 

Exercise : Black- and –white

Why is Black and White photography so popular and what makes it so unique? One of my favourite photographers , Jane Bown, works exclusively in black and white, her portraiture is inspirational. She comments “Black and white is quiet , where colour is noisy and distracting, and I feel that it allows the personality of the sitter to come through” Pg. x Introduction Observer Books “ Exposures Jane Bown” , Guardian Books , London 2009. She succinctly describes the great beauty and attraction of black and white photography , stripped of colour black and white imagery relies on tone , texture , shape , and key tones. I frequently convert my portrait shots to mono as I find them visually and aesthetically pleasing. I don’t have a particular method of working but sit and “tweak” the various slider controls--- hue/saturation , tone curves , contrast , clarity etc. until I am happy with the result. Its probably a really haphazard way of working but it suits me .

For this exercise I need to think in mono—not something I consciously do when taking photographs. This is an interesting concept as I usually take my shots and decide after shooting which will work better in black and white. I decided to use my long-suffering Mum as a model yet again , but the difference this time was to try and visualize how the tones and textures would look before converting to mono. Having photographed mum lots of times I know that her hair and skin can create great textural detail so important for successful mono conversions. For this exercise I chose to shoot her hands. Old hands , such as mum’s , translate well to black and white. 


It was relatively easy to imagine how the image I was going to take would look in mono as she was wearing a black skirt and I asked her to rest her hands on her lap to form a triangular shape. Shape and texture were easy to pre-visualize , the actual skin tones I found a bit more difficult to think about in black and white terms. However I knew her paler skin would provide a good contrast against the dark background. She will not thank me for saying this but I think old hands are so fascinating to photograph , the raised veins and wrinkles seem to become more pronounced when converted to black and white.


Original Raw file below prior to optimising and processing.

Converted to Black & White initially using the Basic conversion button in LR.

As I have said I do not have a particular method of working and assess each image individually as I process it. I used quite a strong tone curve adjustment , I wanted quite a strong contrast between the dark and light tones. I also experimented with the WB , Camera Calibration and HSL  settings tweaking until I was happy with the resulting tones. I also increased the Clarity by + 50.  I really feel the final Black and White image has greater visual impact than the original colour version. 
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Project: Creative Interpretation

8/8/2012

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Exercise: Interpretative processing.

I need to create three different versions of the same image and decided it would be fun to use one of my pinhole images for this exercise shot in Raw. Using an adapted pinhole lens cap on a digital body is quite a challenge! Unable to look through the viewfinder, the outcome is very hit and miss , but I love the way colour of light is captured and also I feel this type of image is open to various interpretations.


All three images adjusted using Lightroom. 

The original Raw image is rather flat and dull in appearance hence for the first version I wanted to create a more a colourful image to really enhance the different colours of light that become visible using the pinhole lens cap.

Steps: Clarity + 18.   Vibrance + 29 . Saturation + 5. Tone curve adjustment + 12 lights + 3 darks.

My second version is a black and white conversion starting with the Auto black and white conversion in LR.
The hues become tones ranging from dark to light. 

 Steps: Convert to mono. + 0.25 exposure . Clarity – 20 . Tone curve adjustment + 40 lights -26 darks. Grain slider + 25. 

The final version is my favourite, a split toned conversion with the aim of creating the old fashioned , almost antique ,  appearance of an original pinhole image.
 
Steps: Convert to Mono. Clarity -17. Tone curve adjustment + 47 lights -5 darks. Grain slider + 22. Post crop vignette -27. Split tone adjustment as below.

I have enjoyed this exercise , there is no limit to creative interpretation, only a personal choice on how far  to translate. 

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Project: Optimising tone and colour------ Exercise: Managing colour

5/8/2012

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This exercise looks at correcting colour casts.


 A major advantage of shooting Raw is the ease with which the WB setting can be adjusted post shoot -even  if carefully chosen it does not always produce the desired end result . I find this especially true for skin tones and much prefer being able to adjust and optimize  the colour on my computer than rely entirely on the camera settings. I felt  the portrait below would benefit from some adjustment to enhance the colour tones of the skin.  The skin tones look rather too pink and I wanted to adjust these to enhance the subject. For this image I used a custom WB adjustment , not too severe but just enough to improve the skin colour.  
Raw image using Daylight WB.



The landscape image below was shot early evening and I used a Daylight WB setting which has created a rather blue  cast over the entire image -including the grey concrete area.

Processing the Raw image in LR I was able to change the WB to Shade which removes the overall blue cast.

I reset the image again and also tried the  WB dropper tool to click on an area of neutral grey which altered the colour quite drastically. 
A major advantage of shooting Raw is the advantage of being able to manipulate the WB post -shoot. It is a simple step that can be taken to optimise colour --once shot in Jpeg the choice of WB is unchangeable. I like experimenting with the WB slider--it can produce some quite interesting effects. 
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Project: Optimising tone and colour---- Exercise:Managing tone 

1/8/2012

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I use Lightroom to process and catalogue all my images and tend to use what I think are very basic adjustments to initially improve them. I have the highlight and shadow clipping warnings activated  and use the clarity slider , tone curves , and occasionally the vibrance slider.  Using Lightroom I can also adjust the camera calibration setting. There are seven choices but I tend to use either the Adobe or Camera standard setting , or more frequently the Camera neutral setting. I particularly dislike the Landscape setting –it creates an oversaturated image that looks very unnatural to my mind.

Exercise : Managing tone

The purpose of this exercise is to improve the tonal appearance.

The Raw image I have chosen was , I thought , correctly exposed at the time of shooting but is a little underexposed and the mid tones need some brightening. The image is rather dull and although there is some slight clipping in the shadows that is actually not really a problem it’s the mid range tones that need attention. 

My first step was to increase the exposure by half a stop. This step alone had improved the mid tone range and the image now looks much brighter , the histogram indicates the shift from darker to lighter tones spread across the tonal range. 

My next step was to use the Tone curve slider.  Only making a very minor adjustment I increased both the lights and darks by a small amount of +8.  

I also tried adjusting the brightness slider , having de-selected the tone curve adjustments made earlier, as a comparison . The slider was set to +96. Again this has improved the mid tone range and contrast. However from past experience one problem I find using the brightness slider is the change that can happen to the skin tones, which can become too pale , and generally prefer using the tone curve adjustment sliders. Although very slight I feel the resulting image using this adjustment has made  the T-shirt and skin which look a bit washed out . 

Next I tried a combination of these  adjustments. The clarity slider was set at + 25 , the brightness + 81 , vibrance +13 , a tone curve adjustment of -14 to the lights and + 20 to the darks. The T-shirt looks (slightly) better to me now but there is not a great deal of difference between the two histograms but perhaps indicates slightly fewer lighter tones which is what i wanted. 

Finally I reset the image back to its original as shot settings. This is the real advantage of Raw being able to try out different ways of optimizing and processing the final image. For this final version I increased the exposure by half a stop. Set the clarity slider to + 16 and the vibrance to + 14. I then used a tone curve adjustment of + 20 lights and – 9 darks. 

Before                                                      After 

Comparing before and after it is very obvious the image is greatly improved. 
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Project:The value of raw

15/7/2012

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The purpose of  the following exercise is to look at some of the advantages of shooting Raw as opposed to JPEG. I have shot in Raw for some years now and even though I generally  keep processing to a minimum still prefer the flexibility offered. Being able to adjust exposure is a major bonus  although I do always try to expose correctly at the time of shooting but being  able to remedy any mistakes means I am able to correct any exposures not quite spot on. However I had  become lazy and left my camera on the Auto WB setting adjusting this at the time  of processing. Working through the exercises and projects in Part 2 forced me to  be more careful and alter the WB as I took my images, something I need to do for this exercise. As I use Lightroom to catalogue my images it makes sense to be able to see the Raw and Jpeg files separately. This is easy to do -- go to Preferences and tick treat jpegs as separate files. One of the great advantages of shooting Raw to me is the ability to make multiple versions of a single shot whilst still retaining the original. 

Exercise: Raw
I need to take three images in three different lighting situations setting my camera to RAW+ high quality JPEG.

My camera has a choice of picture style settings but I keep my camera set to Neutral as I find some of the settings produce really artificial and heavily saturated looking images . This is not a problem if shooting Raw because Lightroom has a camera calibration adjustment so I can easily change the look if no entirely happy with the result , not so for a Jpeg as the setting is embedded. 
1. Daylight 
Taken on a beach on a sunny day the histogram indicates more tonal values in the lighter range for both images  -- as might be expected due to the light sandy background. The Jpeg looks more saturated, the colours deeper,  but I am surprised at really how little difference there is between the two as I usually find Raw files very dull prior to processing. I made virtual copies of both images before making any further adjustments. I used Lightroom to process both images keeping it very simple as I only wanted to perhaps adjust the tonal range and improve the skin tones as felt these were too pale (Caitlin has a tanned skin which looks rather washed out) . 

Raw file as shot                                                 Jpeg as shot

Jpeg before                                            Jpeg after auto tone adjustment 

I am pleasantly surprised at how well the jpeg has turned out and needing minimal post-procssing. The histogram indicates  a slight increase in the range of mid tones  . 
Final Jpeg image below

Raw before                                          Raw after (see below for steps taken) 

Image too pale and bright hence exposure reduced by just 0.05  and a highlight priority negative vignetting slider adjustment applied. Lightroom camera calibration neutral adjustment.  

Final Jpeg                                              Final Raw 

Each image needed some minor post shoot adjustments and looking at the two both are perfectly acceptable versions . However comparing the histograms of each image the dynamic range of the Raw file shows a greater improvement in the mid tone range than than that of the Jpeg . 
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