Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/05/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks for the kind words, Ken. Jim Nichols Tullahoma, TN USA On 5/5/2015 4:32 PM, Ken Carney wrote: > Very nice! Obviously SEP is working well for you - beautiful tones. > > On 5/5/2015 3:46 PM, Jim Nichols wrote: >> Ken, >> >> Nice job, but you are doing a much more sophisticated job than what I >> am attempting. I have abandoned Adobe, so the plug-in approach >> doesn't work for me. I open a RAW image in Picture Window Pro, make >> adjustments and end up with a reduced-size TIFF file. I take these >> to Focus Magic and/or Neat Image, as need be, saving the image as a >> TIFF or JPEG as the mood suits me. I then take that to Silver Efex >> Pro 2 and use its tools to change to B&W. >> >> Recent image: Original TIFF >> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/P5054571.tif.html >> >> Final Converted Image: >> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/More+Rhody+Blooms.JPG.html >> >> Jim Nichols >> Tullahoma, TN USA >> >> On 5/5/2015 3:30 PM, Ken Carney 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 >>> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >