Sharing B/W Workflows

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Sharing B/W Workflows

eric kim
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p.1 #1 · Sharing B/W Workflows

I thought it would be nice to share our B/W workflows here after being inspired by Alan showing his B/W HDR workflow. I guess I'll get the ball rolling (or continue it):

1. Always shoot in RAW
2. Import photos in Lightroom 2
3. Look at what photos I like, then open it in Photoshop CS3's Raw Processor.
4. Add vignetting, sharpening, toning (if i want to), as well as clarity, contrast,etc.
5. Adjust tones of B/W by turning it to greyscale and adjusting specific color channel levels. (Adjust until it looks good to my eyes).
6. Open in CS3 and further add contrast, adjust shadows/highlights.
7. Sharpen using USM at settings at around 1.5 radius and 60-70%.
8. Export to web by resizing with bicubic sharpening.
9. Re-sharpen by using radius of around .5 and 50-60%

Side note: A method I like to use to make B/W's pop more in Photoshop is the following:
1. Taking an image and making a duplicate layer of it.
2. Then I choose the top level and change it to "Overlay" mode.
3. Go to the shadows/highlights mode and then add shadows to 90-100% with highlights at around 10-20%.
*You can change the opacity of the top layer to decrease contrast.

Hope this helps someone out there with their B/W workflow

Jan 23, 2009 at 12:55 AM

rattymouse
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p.1 #2 · Sharing B/W Workflows

eric kim wrote:
I thought it would be nice to share our B/W workflows here after being inspired by Alan showing his B/W HDR workflow. I guess I'll get the ball rolling (or continue it):

1. Always shoot in RAW
2. Import photos in Lightroom 2
3. Look at what photos I like, then open it in Photoshop CS3's Raw Processor.
4. Add vignetting, sharpening, toning (if i want to), as well as clarity, contrast,etc.
5. Adjust tones of B/W by turning it to greyscale and adjusting specific color channel levels. (Adjust until it looks good to my eyes).
6. Open in CS3 and further add contrast, adjust shadows/highlights.
7. Sharpen using USM at settings at around 1.5 radius and 60-70%.
8. Export to web by resizing with bicubic sharpening.
9. Re-sharpen by using radius of around .5 and 50-60%

Side note: A method I like to use to make B/W's pop more in Photoshop is the following:
1. Taking an image and making a duplicate layer of it.
2. Then I choose the top level and change it to "Overlay" mode.
3. Go to the shadows/highlights mode and then add shadows to 90-100% with highlights at around 10-20%.
*You can change the opacity of the top layer to decrease contrast.

Hope this helps someone out there with their B/W workflow

Why dont you do steps 4, 5, and 6 in Lightroom?

Jan 23, 2009 at 12:10 PM

glyons
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p.1 #3 · Sharing B/W Workflows

ok, I'll have a go, I'm using Apple's Aperture (for better or worse) with Silver Effects Pro (SFX) plugin. But I guess it's the same for Lightroom or Bibble

1.) Check Histogram, if I need to increase the black or recover any highlight I might have blown.

2.) Make a white balance adjustment, if needed. (I like to get it right in color first, I rarely use output color, unless it works better, some Landscapes are that way though.)

3.) Try B/W with different filters Red / Blue / Green etc. Turn off B/W filters, just to get an idea how it might look like.

4.) Open SFX, first thing I do, is tweak the Tonal curve a slight 'S'

5.) Boost the Structure, Brightness, Contrast depending on the image.

6.) Save it in SFX

7.) Back in the RAW Editor, I do the toning and sharpening. I like it this way, as I can switch them off if I need to.

8.) Check again the highlights and shadows and adjust if I need to.

Gavin

Jan 23, 2009 at 01:06 PM

eric kim
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p.1 #4 · Sharing B/W Workflows

rattymouse wrote:
eric kim wrote:
I thought it would be nice to share our B/W workflows here after being inspired by Alan showing his B/W HDR workflow. I guess I'll get the ball rolling (or continue it):

1. Always shoot in RAW
2. Import photos in Lightroom 2
3. Look at what photos I like, then open it in Photoshop CS3's Raw Processor.
4. Add vignetting, sharpening, toning (if i want to), as well as clarity, contrast,etc.
5. Adjust tones of B/W by turning it to greyscale and adjusting specific color channel levels. (Adjust until it looks good to my eyes).
6. Open in CS3 and further add contrast, adjust shadows/highlights.
7. Sharpen using USM at settings at around 1.5 radius and 60-70%.
8. Export to web by resizing with bicubic sharpening.
9. Re-sharpen by using radius of around .5 and 50-60%

Side note: A method I like to use to make B/W's pop more in Photoshop is the following:
1. Taking an image and making a duplicate layer of it.
2. Then I choose the top level and change it to "Overlay" mode.
3. Go to the shadows/highlights mode and then add shadows to 90-100% with highlights at around 10-20%.
*You can change the opacity of the top layer to decrease contrast.

Hope this helps someone out there with their B/W workflow

Why dont you do steps 4, 5, and 6 in Lightroom?

Lightroom seems to run really slow on my computer... and dragging that little slider lags a little as well. CS3 runs a lot quicker... so I do all these steps there.

Jan 23, 2009 at 06:17 PM

rattymouse
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p.1 #5 · Sharing B/W Workflows

eric kim wrote:
rattymouse wrote:
eric kim wrote:
I thought it would be nice to share our B/W workflows here after being inspired by Alan showing his B/W HDR workflow. I guess I'll get the ball rolling (or continue it):

1. Always shoot in RAW
2. Import photos in Lightroom 2
3. Look at what photos I like, then open it in Photoshop CS3's Raw Processor.
4. Add vignetting, sharpening, toning (if i want to), as well as clarity, contrast,etc.
5. Adjust tones of B/W by turning it to greyscale and adjusting specific color channel levels. (Adjust until it looks good to my eyes).
6. Open in CS3 and further add contrast, adjust shadows/highlights.
7. Sharpen using USM at settings at around 1.5 radius and 60-70%.
8. Export to web by resizing with bicubic sharpening.
9. Re-sharpen by using radius of around .5 and 50-60%

Side note: A method I like to use to make B/W's pop more in Photoshop is the following:
1. Taking an image and making a duplicate layer of it.
2. Then I choose the top level and change it to "Overlay" mode.
3. Go to the shadows/highlights mode and then add shadows to 90-100% with highlights at around 10-20%.
*You can change the opacity of the top layer to decrease contrast.

Hope this helps someone out there with their B/W workflow

Why dont you do steps 4, 5, and 6 in Lightroom?

Lightroom seems to run really slow on my computer... and dragging that little slider lags a little as well. CS3 runs a lot quicker... so I do all these steps there.

That's a shame you cant use Lightroom to it's full capacity. I only have Lightroom version 1.4. Like you, I have a slow computer. I prefer to put all my money into lenses, not cameras or computers. Version 1.4 runs pretty well on my G4 Macintosh. I am scared to upgrade to 2.0 though.

Jan 23, 2009 at 06:52 PM

Ubuhle
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p.1 #6 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Rattymouse,

What are your tips for using B&W in lightroom 1.4? I have had mixed success with it and think Photoshop gives me more control over the output.

I have heard good things about Lightroom 2 and will be upgrading soon.

Thanks, BLR

Jan 23, 2009 at 08:23 PM

Ubuhle
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p.1 #7 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Eric and Gylons,

Thanks for sharing your tips. I shoot in raw and then convert in CS2 using the channel selections. Sometimes I use Lightroom 1.4, but with mixed success.

Regards, BLR

Jan 23, 2009 at 08:25 PM

rattymouse
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p.1 #8 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Ubuhle wrote:
Rattymouse,

What are your tips for using B&W in lightroom 1.4? I have had mixed success with it and think Photoshop gives me more control over the output.

I have heard good things about Lightroom 2 and will be upgrading soon.

Thanks, BLR

I am certainly no expert with software. But here is what I do with Lightroom. For b & w, I desaturate all colors using the various color sliders (not the single saturation slider). Then, I adjust the luminance sliders and look for what brings out the best of an image. I do this after general exposure, brightness, and contrast adjustments. I cant remember where I learned this. Maybe an instructional video over at Adobe's site.

Jan 23, 2009 at 08:27 PM

Ubuhle
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p.1 #9 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Ratty,

Thanks for the tip. I will give it a try in Lightroom and see if I get better results. I love many of your B&W shots, by the way!

Cheers, BLR

Jan 24, 2009 at 09:17 PM

Grenache
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p.1 #10 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Can't find the other HDR thread that you referenced (would not mind a link to it

).

I adjust overall contrast and saturation in ACR to get the color image to look good but not over the top.

In CS2 or CS3 (depends on computer used) I will use one or more Channel Mixer layers (or BW layers in CS3) with masks to get the look that I want.

I then use Curves layers masked to get the contrast that I like and may use another curves layer to create a subtle, asymmetric, non-corners vignette.

Final steps are selective blurring and sharpening. The blurring is usually via lens blur or inverted high pass layer. Sharpening is usually smart sharpen.

Couple example shots. Might have posted one of them before...sorry.

Jim

Edited on Feb 02, 2009 at 11:18 PM · View previous versions

Jan 26, 2009 at 02:29 AM

barP
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p.1 #11 · Sharing B/W Workflows

eric, if you're experience slowness with lr2 and haven't done so already, go download the 2.2 patch.

wp.

Jan 26, 2009 at 04:30 PM

Mason Galindo
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p.1 #12 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Following Grenache's example, I think it would be tremendously helpful if people contributing information would also post an example photo so we can see the effect.

Great thread, thanks for sharing all.

Jan 26, 2009 at 11:11 PM

MontyMo
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p.1 #13 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Grenache wrote:
Can't find the other HDR thread that you referenced (would not mind a link to it

).
Jim

I too would cannot find the above link, would someone please post it
Thanks
Monty

Jan 27, 2009 at 01:03 AM

CincoJoe
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p.1 #14 · Sharing B/W Workflows

anyone have the link? Maybe some more BW workflows?

Mar 20, 2009 at 05:00 PM

Ray Still
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p.1 #15 · Sharing B/W Workflows

I really don't have a standard work flow still very much in the experimental stages of processing but here goes. Oh and sorry but no samples I'm on my work laptop stuck in a hotel 5 hours from home on a Friday night.

1) Always shoot in Raw
2) open Raw in Adobe Camera Raw5 into CS4
3) run it thur Plugin ReDynaMix ( psuedo 1 exposure HDR program)
4) Here I have been experimenting adding a layer with Gaussian Blur around 47-49 pixels. Then reducing opacity to around 30-40% Then Flatten image
5) Convert in Nik Silver Efex Pro( I really like the high structure preset)
6) Then in Nik Color Efex Pro run a few filters such as Warm/Brillance, Graduated Neutral Density, Skylight, Tonal Contrast.
7) open image up in another plugin Topaz Adjust 3.0 a lot of great presets here to I usually just use Photo Pop if I use Topaz at all.
8) Open up in another plugin Topaz Vivacity and run Topaz Clean then Topaz Denoise.
9) if I still want more of a pop I will go back to CS4 create a layer in that layer pull down selective Color. From drop down choose Black and increase to desired amount. then back to color drop down and choose White and back off on the blacks.
10) if I want to darken or lighten certain areas I really like using Nik Viveza the control point really give you a good control on brightness, contrast, saturation.
11) resize sharpen for Web. I use Marc Adamus's method for web sharpening
12) Then save for web device in CS4 and get as close as I can to 800 on the longside and 300pixels

Like I said kinda stupid I never right any thing down. I'm experimenting all the time and really don't know what I will end up with but for me that is the exciting part.

Ray Still

Mar 21, 2009 at 12:15 AM

eric kim
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p.1 #16 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Abiciriderback wrote:
I really don't have a standard work flow still very much in the experimental stages of processing but here goes. Oh and sorry but no samples I'm on my work laptop stuck in a hotel 5 hours from home on a Friday night.

1) Always shoot in Raw
2) open Raw in Adobe Camera Raw5 into CS4
3) run it thur Plugin ReDynaMix ( psuedo 1 exposure HDR program)
4) Here I have been experimenting adding a layer with Gaussian Blur around 47-49 pixels. Then reducing opacity to around 30-40% Then Flatten image
5) Convert in Nik Silver Efex Pro( I really like the high structure preset)
6) Then in Nik Color Efex Pro run a few filters such as Warm/Brillance, Graduated Neutral Density, Skylight, Tonal Contrast.
7) open image up in another plugin Topaz Adjust 3.0 a lot of great presets here to I usually just use Photo Pop if I use Topaz at all.
8) Open up in another plugin Topaz Vivacity and run Topaz Clean then Topaz Denoise.
9) if I still want more of a pop I will go back to CS4 create a layer in that layer pull down selective Color. From drop down choose Black and increase to desired amount. then back to color drop down and choose White and back off on the blacks.
10) if I want to darken or lighten certain areas I really like using Nik Viveza the control point really give you a good control on brightness, contrast, saturation.
11) resize sharpen for Web. I use Marc Adamus's method for web sharpening
12) Then save for web device in CS4 and get as close as I can to 800 on the longside and 300pixels

Like I said kinda stupid I never right any thing down. I'm experimenting all the time and really don't know what I will end up with but for me that is the exciting part.

Ray Still

Wow Ray thats quite a lot. I really am huge on the Silver EFEX "high structure" filter as well. it works wonders.

And to whoever asked.... I'll post some before/after images of some techniques to help out.

eric

Mar 21, 2009 at 01:27 AM

eric kim
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p.1 #17 · Sharing B/W Workflows

1. This photo is just a straight b/w image

This image is copyrighted by the owner

2. After I apply my "patented technique for pop:

1. Taking an image and making a duplicate layer of it.
2. Then I choose the top level and change it to "Overlay" mode.
3. Go to the shadows/highlights mode and then add shadows to 90-100% with highlights at around 10-20%.
*You can change the opacity of the top layer to decrease contrast.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

3. Silver EFEX pro's "Structure" filter. No settings touched for it.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Hope this helps someone out there.

Mar 21, 2009 at 04:39 AM

Tom K.
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p.1 #18 · Sharing B/W Workflows

I do the vast majority of my B&W conversions in ACR 4.6.
Open the photo.
Lower saturation slider to -100.
Hold down alt key while moving "blacks" slider to the right until the histogram looks the way you want it to and there are good solid blacks showing in the ACR window. The screen will turn 100% white but when you drag the slider to the right blacks will begin to show. Make sure you get some nice strong black in the photo.
Do the same thing with the "exposure" slider. The difference is that when you hold down the alt key this time the ACR window will turn black. Pull the slider to the right until white areas appear. The pull back until they just disappear.
Then adjust "temperature" up or down to taste. 9 times out of 10 I adjust the slider down....but....play with it to get the result you want.
If you wish you can fine tune by using the "tint" slider by moving it to the left or right. I rarly use it but sometimes it will help.
Go to the curves panel and slap a nice strong curve on it. If you are not well versed in curves then see this link and it will help you tremendously: http://www.chromasia.com/tutorials/online/curves/

A great curves move it THE most important ingredient in a superb B&W conversion.

I then take the image into Photoshop CS3 and sharpen it using Photokit sharpener. The best sharpening tool in world history.

Then size for web and do another sharpening.

Sometime I do some dodging and burning. Nothing too radical but subtle.

Then post to the FM forum for others to view.

Mar 21, 2009 at 05:31 AM

pixelpics
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p.1 #19 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Nice post here. I will add my workflow. I am using Apple's aperture as well. I am still in the process of getting comfortable with it. Hope you all don't mind me posting images as well with my workflow. Here is one I just posted not too long ago.

1. I import raw images into Apple and add keywords etc. This is an image with no adjustments.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

2. I adjust exposure, levels, sharpening, highlights and shadows if needed.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

3. I edit with silver effex pro which turns it into a black and white image with no adjustments.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

4. Using silver effex pro aperture plug in I adjust contrast, brightness, structure, burn in the edges if needed, and then add a slight coffee tone if I feel it goes with the image. There are many presets in this software and I usually do see what different effects they give me but most of the time I go with my own adjustments. I then save the image and continue in aperture.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

5. I export for web using border effects to add a white border around the image to sort of represent a white matte and also add a black line around the image. Like this.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

That about sums up what I do. I try to keep it to a minimum using digital tools that replicate what I used to use in the traditional darkroom. Any questions or if you want more details, just shoot me an email or PM me.

Mar 22, 2009 at 04:18 AM

CincoJoe
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p.1 #20 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Thanks for sharing everyone.

Mar 24, 2009 at 12:21 AM

Mike Condax
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p.1 #21 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Does anyone have the link to HDR + B&W Tutorial by Alan?

Mar 24, 2009 at 06:38 PM

eric kim
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p.1 #22 · Sharing B/W Workflows

If Alan doesn't mind...... from his website: http://www.ay-photography.com/

Trade Secrets #2
http://image3.photobiz.com/184/20090109154850_18457.pdf

1. Process a single raw image in Photomatix into a Pseudo HDR picture
2. Save as a 16 bit Tiff
3. Open in Photoshop
4. Create a new layer and apply Shadow and Highlight
5. Reduce noise with Noise Ninja
6. Adjust Curves with blending mode set to luminosity
7. Adjust Levels with blending mode set to luminosity
8. Create a Hue/Saturation layer, blending mode set to colour. Also on the default drop down
select sepia
9. Brush through the mask on the hue layer with 20% opacity to reveal some colour
10. Sharpen with high pass and overlay blending mode

Trade Secrets #3
http://image3.photobiz.com/577/20090109152032_18456.pdf

1. Select a Raw/Tiff/Jpeg file
2. Open In Photomatix
3. Click on “Toning”
4. Apply the following settings [The image will look very washed out]
5. Settings
Strength 25
Colour Saturation 46
Luminosity –5
Light Smoothing No2
Micro Smoothing 30
Highlight Smoothing 68
Shadow Smoothing 0
Shadow clipping 0
6. Save as Adobe RGB and 16 bit Tiff
7. Open in PS
8. Create a new curves layer with the blending mode set to “Luminosity”
9. Double click on the black point eye dropper [This will bring up a default settings dialogue]
10. Set the three lower box levels R G B to 7.0 exit and save.
11. In the curves dialogue box click the black level eyedropper once.
12. On your picture select the area, which will have the darkest curve level i.e. a shadow area.
[This should make the blacks pop, click in different areas to achieve different results. The
opacity slider can also be moved to affect the overall look
13. Duplicate your background layer and apply shadow and highlight to these settings
Shadows
Amount 18%
Tonal width 19%
Radius 30%
Highlights
Amount 0%
Tonal width 0%
Radius 0%
Adjustments
Colour Correction +20
Midtone Contrast
14. At this stage I merge all visible layers or flatten.
15. Duplicate your background and reduce noise with “Noise Ninja”
16. Optional process create a new layer and apply B/W gradient
17. Using Alien Skin exposure II apply a film finish to your taste. Grain etc.
18. Merge all visible layers again.
19. Duplicate your background layer
20. Apply a high pass filter at about 1.8 and set blending mode to soft light.

Mar 24, 2009 at 08:41 PM

Justin Huffman
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p.1 #23 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Ill throw my hat in

I used to use all the gadgets and sliders and color modes until I read this guys' tutorial. If your even half way photoshop savy, it will change the way you look at layers and masks. Most of the information is free to you read, but he makes the tutorials available for really cheap. i bought them and am very glad I did. I have a deeper understanding of whats going on at the pixel level and feel I can get more of what I want.

http://goodlight.us/writing/tutorials.html

Mar 24, 2009 at 08:46 PM

eric kim
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p.1 #24 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Justin Huffman wrote:
Ill throw my hat in

Mar 24, 2009 at 10:55 PM

eric kim
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p.1 #25 · Sharing B/W Workflows

Bump to the top in case people may want to read the great deal of information here.

BTW does anyone know if we have an ADMIN on the B/W forum? I think this would be a great sticky...

eric

Apr 09, 2009 at 01:16 AM


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