Creating a gritty urban monochrome - image Minutes

Transcription

1 Given the demise of many darkrooms, both amateur and professional, we may think that monochrome images would slowly begin to die out in favour of glorious colour. However, nothing could be further from the truth and we feel monochrome images are now even more popular because of the availability of software like Photoshop. Photoshop and Elements gives us some great black and white tools that in turn feed our creativity and allow us to create sparkling black and white prints. Photoshop CS3 Raw has had some great black and white tools added that allow us to make a near perfect monochrome images directly from a raw file. Even if we shoot high resolution jpeg images the black and white tools that we see in the raw palette are repeated in the main body of Photoshop. Whats more, these tools give us some great presets too, such as simulating an image shot through a red, green, blue or yellow filters. In addition, we have an Infrared setting too. These presets can be used as the final end result or as a jumping off point for further manipulation. When we add the six coloured slider controls also available in the Black and White palette to the presets provided we have all the control we need for great monochrome images. Colour is not always the most important feature in our images and in some cases it detracts from what would be a good monochrome image. We can also introduce sepia tones and in fact any other tones we think are appropriate. On this DVD we have gathered together images and techniques to explore the making of monochrome images with impact and appeal. We have included a number of images for you to use in following our tutorials or you can apply our techniques to your own. The copyright of our images remain with Beckham Digital and they should not be used whole or as part of another image. Enjoy the DVD Creating a gritty urban monochrome - image Minutes We also use layers, masks, blend modes and a filter to finish the job. Our image has some other problems that we need to deal with too, which are quite apart from the monochrome conversion. We take you through all the stages of this manipulation including cropping, cloning and ending with the dodge and burn tools. As usual these small examples hardly do the finished 24*18 image justice as the small size hides much of the impact and quality. What we are looking for here is to take our coloured original file and create a gritty urban monochrome with impact that would print with a border to 24 inches accross. We start in Adobe Raw 4.1 and use the full scope of its exposure latitude to hold detail on the brightest high lights, while adding as much contrast as we can.

2 A Monochrome Pointer Minutes Apart from creating a sparkling monochrome image we had a number of other problems to fix with this dog. We actually got a little too close taking this picture and the result is that the dog is too close to the picture edge. We really needed a little more space behind his head and in front of his nose. In this video we demonstrate that with a little patience we can add those pixels we need to improve the composition of our portrait. Like much of the work we do, it is difficult to hold detail between the high-lights and darker toned areas, but we demonstrate ways of doing just that. These techniques are what makes good quality images that will print comfortably to 24 inches on the long side or even bigger in some cases. We use a variety of Photoshop tools to create an animal portrait that has impact, appeal and quality. East Coast Fishing Boat Minutes Here we have an image that we call an almost image. Its almost there, but not quite. The colour adds little to the image, we have a curver horizon caused by a wide angle lens and no sky whatsoever. This images is a perfect candidate for a monochrome conversion, but here we kill two birds with one stone by replacing the sky too. To get those sparkling monochrome tones on the fishing boat we often damage other areas of our image so we need to make sure we use all the tricks in the book to ensure that doesn t happen. The tricks are layers and layer masks and our burn tools, plus a few others along the way. The result is an image that will print comfortably at 24 inches on the long side. We also demonstrate how we can selectively sharpen our image to get the maximum impact, but without any detrimental effects on even tone areas like the sky.

3 An Old Sepia Car Minutes Here we take this old car and through Adobe Raw 4.01 we get the best quality we can from our original image. We reduce the image to black and white in the raw palette making sure we get good crisp contrast and bright mono tones. We also take a look at the new Clarity slider that is a part of the new Adobe Raw When we convert an image to monochrome and adjust it for good contrast, it is inevitable that we then cause problems elsewhere with highlights showing up where they didn t in the original. This is where our careful techniques need to be applied to ensure we get the contrast we want, but without any unwanted effects too. We can make our black and white image first and when that is safely stored on our computer, we can turn our attention to the sepia tone. A sepia generally needs to be applied to the right image and this subject fits in with a sepia tone perfectly. Historical Monochrome Minutes Here we take on a historical image to covert to monochrome and once again we work from a raw file starting point. The most obvious problems we needed to deal with was lack of detail showing in the background of the old shed and also weak tones on the foreground. However, as we begin to create the sparkle needed for our monochrome we tend to make those problems worse. The good news is that we can hold those tones and contrasts using good solid Photoshop techniques. Follow along with our tutorial video to create a sparkling monochrome.

4 Monochrome Landscape Minutes. Quite often colour adds little to a landscape and a change to a monochrome image can often transform the picture. In fact when we view the thumbnail on the left especially when it is among many others in Photoshop Bridge it would be easy to ignore it and pass on by. That would be a mistake, because all the tones that we need for a monochrome with impact are all there. In a small area where those tones are a little weak we can fix them. This is an image of two halves where getting a sucessful image completed from just one raw file would be impossible. We use a variety of techniques, but they are not difficult or demanding to achieve. The end result when compared with our starting image speaks for itself. The Partial Colour and Monochrome technique Minutes There are a number of ways this can be done, but for the best results we need to pick the right image. We also need to make sure that the work we do to the monochrome image maintains that essential black and white sparkle. It sounds obvious to say this, but a monochrome image without good tones, contrast and detail lacks impact and appeal. Another great monochrome technique is where we convert the image to monochrome, but allow just a little of the original colour to show through. So, although we will be adding interest to our image with the partial colour, our attention to detail in the original black and white is still vital.

5 Tiger Tiger Minutes This subject may seem an unusual one for a monochrome conversion, but the grass surrounding the Tiger is not very flattering and the green colour is reflected into the Tigers face giving a strong green cast. Now, I am sure we could have used the tools of Photoshop to do something about that, but the graphic markings also lend themselves to a monochrome image. This is a simple yet striking monochrome conversion. We do have to make a repair of some weak tones caused by the glass we were shooting through. This is a common problem with captive animals where glass is fast replacing wire and bars. We need to be able to repair these weak tones quickly and easily. The other problem is dull eyes, but we have a neat way to deal with those. Scotland Revival Minutes It wasn t our intention on the DVD to manipulate images that were clearly underexposed, but here we have a subject worthy of a little revival and redemption. We are pushing the boundaries here a little even using Adobe Raw, but as long as we are measured in what we do and work carefully the image can be salvaged and a monochrome conversion helps no end. We needed to increase the exposure around 3 stops in the shadow areas and do some extensive work both in the sky and the water. As usual we offer lots of tips and tricks as we go through the tutorial and also offer advice on the subtle changes that need to be made. Finally we demonstrate three different ways to finish off the image.