Tag Archives: Black & White

HDR – Variations on B&W Conversions – CM

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Many HDR images are being converted to Black & White to present typically tone mapped shots in a more “artistic” way.  I’ve seen some beautiful work and, since I originally started with black and white photography, darkroom and all, I am particularly drawn to it. It’s obvious that many photographers are doing very simple conversions using Adobe Photoshop without taking advantage of the great variations that are available as presets. An interesting thing about the software is that there are many ways to convert color photos to black and white. I am going to present a couple of different ways to do the conversions.

This post will deal with using the Channel Mixer presets. You will see what seem to be identical images at first glance. But, looking closely, the variations will be obvious.

I’ve started with this High Dynamic Range image that has quite a bit of tonal latitude; extreme light to very dark and everything in between. It was initially processed using 7 images loaded into Nik HDR Efex Pro for tone mapping and control point enhancements on certain areas. Final modifications were made in Photoshop.


I will now present and describe the Channel Mixer Preset variations for B&W conversion in Photoshop.

  • Channel Mixer – Startup

The Channel Mixer tool is accessed using Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer as shown below.


The initial display defaults to “Preset = None” with the Output Channel set to red at 100%. The variations that I’m presenting are the “out of the box” presets in Photoshop.

Not all of the presets do well without further modifications of the RGB color sliders.  But I’ll let you be the judge.

  • Channel Mixer – Presets at a Glance


The nice thing about the presets, as you can see in the comparisons above, is that they can satisfy just about any preference. Kind of like “clicking according to taste.”  But, some of the presets do more harm than good to the overall tonality of the image as I’ll describe below.

Infrared

As expected with the Infrared preset, certain areas are lightened beyond reality. Notice the plants along the wall on the lower left. If this shot had been taken in summer, the trees would show more of a whitish cast and any reds would be black. Notice that the light orange mulch area in the lower left is very dark and much of the contrast for that area is lost.

 Blue Filter 

This filter causes much higher contrast but in the wrong places. The lower left area is similar to the Infrared effect but the lighter green plants lining the wall are now too dark to be noticed. The shadow and sunlight areas on the lawn at right are now merged into darkness with very little contrast to show that the sun is shining through. If you like more surreal effects for black and white, this filter and the Infrared preset are what you will want to work with.

Green Filter

The green filter seems to get pretty close to “real life” for this image.  A bit of depth is lost in the lower left but the contrast with the wall, plants, shrubs and mulch is enough to keep things separated. The green lawn areas have a natural look as do the sky, clouds and Washington Monument in the distance.

Orange Filter

More contrast in all areas. The shrubs at lower left stand out much better and the shadows and highlights on the lawn and sidewalk are more distinct. But, notice that the plants along the wall get swallowed up in the tone of the mulch.  And the top of the Washington Monument gets lost in a darker sky. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed in further post-processing though.

Red Filter

This filter gives even more contrast but sacrifices some of the lighter areas. And the red stripes in the flag (look closely) are almost too light to be seen. But, I must admit that this is a more dramatic representation of the scene.

Yellow Filter

This is another almost “real life” filter. The results are very close to the Green Filter but with less contrast in some areas and more in others. The image gains more contrast by sacrificing some of the natural tonality of the original Color image.

  • Channel Mixer – What’s your pleasure?

All of these presets have strengths and weaknesses. And personal preference, what I would also call “subjective perspective”, makes each a good selection. It depends on what you want. I find that I’m most drawn to the “real life” examples with the Green Filter being my favorite. Here it is in Living Black and White.

 

HDR – Quite a Curve HTDS

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One of the many effects in Adobe Photoshop is the Curves tool. Not many people seem to use the presets to “redefine” the tonal qualities of an image. I’m going to explain how I got the above image using, first a monochrome conversion of the original and then applying some of the Curves variations. I’ts pretty amazing what can be done by just using a preset instead of trying to find that perfect curve. :-)

This is the original post processed, High Dynamic Range image. As you can see, I softened the overall image and used some sharpening and luminance in Adobe Camera Raw. This gave me the crisp edges along with a smooth texture on the rose petals. And it almost looks like the real thing, doesn’t it.

  • Quite a Curve – Black and White

By moving the image into Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and choosing a more high key preset, I got a nice, smooth monochrome version . . . interesting but not very punchy, if you know what I mean.

Using a Curves layer back in Photoshop, I chose the presets that affect Contrast the most and also added my custom version that I’ll use for the RGB preset transition.

Yes, at first glance, they seem to look very similar. But if you look closer and notice the variations in the curves in the histogram, the differences are clear.

The Medium Contrast setting has very little curve and just a subtle variation in tone. With the Increase Contrast setting, a little more depth is added by darkening the tone shift in the petals and almost eliminating the details in the background. Strong Contrast gives a sharper definition between light and dark which gives a lot more definition to the edges of the petals. But, by lowering the bottom end of the curve in the Custom setting, I brought the petals back to a more realistic look and added more depth in the shadow areas.

The beauty of Monochrome in it’s more contrasty glory!

  • Quite a Curve – RBG

The most interesting preset for Curves is the RGB preset. The variations are infinite for color/tonal shifts when starting with a Monochrome image. The possibilities with color are also pretty mind blowing. (I’ll do a post to cover that later.)

By starting with my Monochrome beauty above and initially applying my own creative curves to the individual red, green and blue curves, I came up with the image on the left below. Then, I added a little more depth to the bottom end of the curve for the image on the right.

I thought I’d add this larger view of the initial RGB conversion for a clearer comparison to the one that I started this post with. Even though these images are not even close to reality, as artistic expressions seldom are, I enjoy going beyond reality for a change.

pseudo-HDR – Kinda Chicken

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Quite colorful for poultry, this pseudo-HDR image of chickens should brighten up this otherwise dreary time of year. I found this couple in one of those shops that has just about everything that you don’t need but lots of things that would be fun to have. You know, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, or something like that. :-)

Processing: single image processed with Adobe Camera Raw using Sharpening and Luminance along with a bit of contrast. Adobe Photoshop for dodging and burning to emphasize the subjects a little more. I used Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 for the image below and added a lot more drama for more of a menacing look. Angry birds?

Equipment used: Nikon D100 with 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 lens at 35mm (effective-52mm) f/5.6, 1/6 sec, ISO 400. Handheld.

HDR – A Plethora of Nandina

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While walking around my backyard for some High Dynamic Range(HDR) imaging, I decided to get up close and personal with some of my Nandina bushes, aka, Heavenly Bamboo. Since we have at least thirty of these prolific plants (they grow like weeds), I chose this macro shot where the color of the berries is just about half way to full red.

Processing: Five images were loaded into Nik HDR Efex Pro where I modified the structure for additional depth.  I used a Control Point on the berries to enhance the color and contrast. With Adobe Photoshop CS6, I worked with Shadows/Highlights to further balance the tonality, Hue/Saturation to get realistic colors and then Curves to add more depth to the total scene. I finally used High Pass filter for a small amount of sharpening. With the Nikkor 105mm Micro lens being so sharp, I didn’t need much help with crispness.

For the monochrome version below, I popped the image into Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and brought the overall exposure down a bit. Then, with a Control Point on the berries, I added more detail and lighter exposure to help them stand out.Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 105mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor lens. f/32, ISO 800, Bogen/Manfrotto 3221 tripod with Manfrotto MH054M0-Q2 ball head.

HDR – Last Azaleas for The Season – An Artsy HTDS

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My wife and I are really enjoying our last color punch for the year with these beautiful azaleas. This is a High Dynamic Range(HDR) image of our hybrids that bloom from spring till autumn. And the flowers are about 3 to 4 inches across. . . a little larger than the rest of our azaleas. As you can see, the day was rainy which added even more visual interest to these beautiful blooms.

After I finished the realistic image above, I decided to include a few variations with more of an artistic perspective. So, this is another “How To Do Stuff” post. My goal is to show how the variations that are available in our software tools can lead to just about any artistic expression that we can imagine. If you’re interested in how I produced these images, read on. If not, I hope you enjoy the pictures. :-)

  • Pushing the Range

My first modification required additional HDR Toning in Adobe Photoshop. I started by creating a monochrome layer using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. Then I blended the layers at about 70% fill. Just enough to retain a hint of color.

Going back to Photoshop, I used HDR Toning to pull the details back and re-saturate the image. Setting the Gamma to about 1.35 gave me a nice vibrant look with deeper shadows and tones. The image below is the product of this process.

Sometimes a subject benefits from a “Just Beyond Reality” HDR look.

  • Pushing the Range – Toward Monochrome

Playing around more in Photoshop, I decided to do a selective color version using Hue/Saturation. But instead of color over black and white, I kept a very small amount of the green/yellow color pallet. It’s almost indiscernible but gives a warmer appearance to the overall image.

  • Pushing the Range – Variations on Full Mono

To finish up, I did a few variations in monochrome for a more conservative, artistic expression.

The first shot on the left was the original Nik Silver Efex Pro transformation. Using a softer contrast, I only used Control Points on the flowers to get more detail without pushing the highs and lows too much. I like this kind of milky grey look for monochrome HDR images. For the view on the right, I used Curves and some dodging and burning in Photoshop to add contrast and more tonal drama.

The last black and white shot below is an even more extreme example.

This is what lots of people like in b&w monochrome. Tons of contrast and deep blacks.

I always like to work with monochrome colors as well. And after playing with a variety of tones, I decided to use this simple sepia tone for my final photo. Again, using the same monochrome image that I produced in the Nik software, I used Photo Filter layer settings in Photoshop to get the exact tone that I wanted.

For this one, I did very subtle burning of the leafy areas around the flowers to get just a bit more tonal contrast.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 105mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor lens. f/22, ISO 800, Bogen/Manfrotto 3221 tripod with Manfrotto MH054M0-Q2 ball head.

HDR – Just a Little Sunshine

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After a day of clouds and rain, the sun started to break through on a chilly, March afternoon in Washington, North Carolina. This HDR photo shows the before (clouds in the background) and after (beautiful sunlit buildings). Washington is one of my favorite places for casual shooting. With the older architecture, beautiful river walkway/boardwalk and (always) stunning cloud formations, there’s never a dull photographic moment.

Processing: Five images from -2 to +2 ev shot at 1 ev intervals loaded into Nik HDR Efex Pro. I used the blended file with only minor changes for selective structuring and overall sharpening. I used a few small Control Points to lighten up the interior areas and get a more realistic view.  In Adobe Photoshop, I used Curves for more contrast to bring out the sun on the buildings and Hue/Saturation to take out the blue in the clouds. HDR Efex Pro seems to add too much blue most of the time.

And, continuing with my new love of Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, here’s a monochrome version.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/11, ISO 800.

HDR – Windy On The Mall with Nik HEP2

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Despite the very high wind at the time of this shot, the new version of Nik HDR Efex Pro really did a fantastic job of freezing the action of these flags around the Washington Monument.

This was taken last December on a very windy and cool day and as much as I tried to create an acceptable HDR image, the movement was just too extreme. I included it in a previous post with multiple images of the monument as a single exposure.  But now, with the Nik update, it’s a breeze! :-)  Love this stuff!  I hope to revisit lots of past, failed attempts at bracketing because of too much movement between frames.

I’ve added some monochrome drama for this scene using Adobe Photoshop CS6.

Equipment: Nikon D700 with 28-70mm f/2.8, f/22, ISO 400.

Barrels of Blue

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Art can be anywhere. I found a stash of large blue barrels behind a rusty old metal fence and decided to frame this, kind of abstract, photographic composition.

Here’s a monochrome version for a little more of an artistic expression.

Both of these images were produced using a single exposure form a scanned Fuji Velvia slide loaded into Adobe Photoshop. The color version is straight out of the camera and the monochrome was created using Channel Mixer, black and white with an orange filter.
Equipment used: Nikon N90s with 28-70mm f/2.8 lens.

HDR – A Bit of North Carolina History – Daniel G Fowle

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Eastern North Carolina has an interesting history that is marked and recognized in just about every town and city.  I got this HDR shot while strolling around Washington, North Carolina on a cloudy, rainy day earlier this year. This was part of my “Poppin a few with the Nifty Fifty” photo walk.

Not knowing anything about Daniel Gould Fowle, I decided to do a little research to go along with this image. He was the first governor of North Carolina to live in the current executive mansion and is best known for his work toward establishing a college for women that later was called University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more information on Mr Fowle your can check the “North Carolina History Project“.

I’m throwing in another monochrome conversion today. This was done using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 with the # 27 preset, Soft Sepia. I boosted the Structure to 17%, set the yellow filter to hue = 60 and Strength to 50%.

HDR for Real and More

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Dreary days are perfect for HDR transformations. Even though I prefer to keep my High Dynamic Range images as realistic as possible, the weather sometimes gets in the way and I will take a flat image and try to liven it up. I’ll do this by taking it a little beyond reality.

With all of the tools available, it’s pretty easy to develop a few quick methods to transform an image into a unique work of art. Just look up HDR in an internet search and you’ll see what I mean. Of course, not everything that is called HDR is the real thing. Some photogs just apply a few extreme tone mapping processes to single images and call it HDR.

Processing: This image is the result of a blending of five exposures in Nik HDR Efex Pro for realistic tone mapping, then using HDR Toning in Adobe Photoshop CS6 (see below), and finally applying Shadows/Highlights in Photoshop to take it to the beyond reality stage (image above).

 So, sometimes a lifeless shot can be enhanced with just a little bit of artistic enhancement.

What do you think?

Just for fun, and since I haven’t posted a monochrome for awhile, I decided to convert this image to a pseudo Kodak P3200 TMAX Pro version using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. I thought the gritty graininess would work with the gritty subject matter. Even though the Nik software has a preset for this type of film, I decided to apply the # 24 Full Contrast & Structure preset and then add some grain.

Equipment used: Nikon D700 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens, f/1.8, 800 ISO.