Near Mansfield, PA
Jan 1, 2023 12:26:59 #
Jan 1, 2023 16:46:13 #
Jan 1, 2023 16:48:27 #
Architect1776 wrote:
A beautiful old house.
No, it’s a beautiful photo of a beautiful house 👍👍
Jan 1, 2023 16:53:26 #
Jan 1, 2023 16:53:33 #
Jan 1, 2023 18:30:30 #
Jan 1, 2023 18:40:17 #
Jan 1, 2023 18:55:24 #
Jan 1, 2023 18:56:37 #
RiJoRi wrote:
Nice tones; the house looks like it is glowing in the sunlight.
--Rich
--Rich
Thx
Jan 1, 2023 19:18:11 #
Jan 1, 2023 19:24:42 #
AzPicLady wrote:
That's a great house. And your B&W image is really nice.
Jan 1, 2023 20:11:06 #
Architect1776 wrote:
Thank you.
I am no paid pro but I heard about the zone system and try to incorporate full black to full white as I have heard.
It does make photos more interesting over those with just midtones.
Some subjects I cannot see the range and unless there is a good story pass on them.
Thx for the comment.
I am no paid pro but I heard about the zone system and try to incorporate full black to full white as I have heard.
It does make photos more interesting over those with just midtones.
Some subjects I cannot see the range and unless there is a good story pass on them.
Thx for the comment.
Could you give a quick thumbnail sketch of your B&W post-processing methods? I struggle on a regular basis with which methods to use, and then I can never decide whether I like the result or not. Sometimes I like more than one result, sometimes none look good.
Jan 1, 2023 21:08:25 #
Jan 1, 2023 21:55:52 #
terryMc wrote:
Could you give a quick thumbnail sketch of your B&W post-processing methods? I struggle on a regular basis with which methods to use, and then I can never decide whether I like the result or not. Sometimes I like more than one result, sometimes none look good.
Let me begin with, I do not follow rules in the "System of post processing. It is all visual and experimenting.
All this is done easily in PSE which is my only program besides DPP.
I shoot raw and in color.
I then adjust the photo to please me in color and save the JPEG.
I evaluate the photo for appropriateness of becoming B&W. First, is the subject worth making B&W, again, a judgement call, some subjects lend themselves well and others not. This is by seeing if there is enough dark to light to give me a full or near full range of gray tones from white to black. This is just my opinion and nothing scientific just a personal evaluation by vision.
Then I reopen the JPEG in Camera Raw and select monochrome.
I then add some Contrast as this helps get the light and dark range I want.
Then adjust the highlight and shadow sliders to again work on the tonal range desired.
Then add clarity to help pop some detail.
As each slider is adjusted the others including exposure are moved around as push one something else will change a bit.
I never use sharpening but add a bit of noise reduction and color noise reduction to taste, not much but it helps smooth out large empty spaces like skies and clouds.
After I like what I see I open the photo and adjust cropping, rotation camera distortion as I want my visual pleasure.
Cropping is never by pixels or ratio rules etc. I do it strictly by vision and appeal or if something needs to be cropped out, again a judgement call.
That is my process.
As you can see it is not as an engineer or one really into calculations or sterile "Rules" here on UHH does.
I just look and see what I like and want and then do it for my pleasure and hopefully others will like it.
PS I did photoshop out a funky background object on the left and added some funky trees using components elsewhere, it is just a very small corner though, Also I will remove power lines and poles at times depending on how I feel they relate at as times they are part of the historic nature of the photo.
I do not know if this helps as there is no formula, but purely experiment with sliders and such until I see what looks wonderful to me and then I save it on the computer/drive.
Thank you for asking. It might not be what you wanted to hear but give the steps a try and be possibly surprised, but remember not ALL subjects lend themselves well to being B&W photos with detail and interest. I have hundreds of B&W old family photos that would not become great subjects but their value subject wise far exceeds being good presentation B&W subjects for sharing with strangers.
Jan 1, 2023 22:34:03 #
Architect1776 wrote:
Let me begin with, I do not follow rules in the "System of post processing. It is all visual and experimenting.
Thank you for asking. It might not be what you wanted to hear
Thank you for asking. It might not be what you wanted to hear
It wasn't about what I wanted to hear, I'm just interested in what others do. I usually end up taking a little from here, and a little from there, and see what comes of it.
I use Photoshop and always start with a raw file if it is digital. I still occasionally shoot black and white film, and the process I use in Photoshop is similar once I have a good scan. For the raw file, I haven't been doing much with the color image before converting, but you're not the first to mention that. Something I should be considering more, perhaps.
Thanks for the detailed response. Always like to see how others get their creativity on.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.