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Post by drako on Jul 19, 2010 15:01:18 GMT -5
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069061&id=1264391115&l=f91fdaaecdI spent half of a warm, rainy Saturday there, just stumbling around town looking for interesting things. The two people shots actually were done with my phone; everything else was shot with a wide-angle Kodak V570 digital. Please bring on your constructive critique! I need help with Photoshop exposure tweaking for B&W. Can anyone supply specific technical suggestions or a relevant tutorial?
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Jul 19, 2010 17:45:13 GMT -5
Drako, I've played around a little with B&W on photoshop, but I'm not as far up the line as you are.
Thanks for posting them. With Wayne's wonderful pics the other day and these from you (and others too) I get an idea of the real America, rather than what the travel brochure type photos put over.
I really like number 12. It reminds me a bit of one of fairground crazy houses where you can't quite work out what is straight and what isn't.
I always link Flagstaff and Tombstone - I presume they both figured in the same western film some time. Do you live in Flagstaff itself?
I really must put some photos on here of what is near to us - Chester, Liverpool, Snowdonia and Wirral itself give plenty to photograph.
Dave.
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Post by Just Plain Curt on Jul 19, 2010 21:14:05 GMT -5
Interesting, split between the warmth and affordability of Arizona (Bullhead City or Phoenix possibilities) and the scenic beauty/warmth of people in Newfoundland for retirement home purchase myself. Nice to see some photos to give perspective.
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SidW
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Post by SidW on Jul 20, 2010 19:07:25 GMT -5
Some procedures:
Drako asked about Photoshop, but similar adjustments should be available in other programs.
First, work in tiff format, as there are no compression losses when saving changes; jpg is lossy, so convert immediately to tiff before it's too late.
Scan B&W negs as if they were positive RGB which gives you a scan that is till negative (scanners seem to be optimized for positive RGB rather than negative and greyscale). Don't let the scanner convert the neg to a positive image, reverse the neg to a positive RGB image in PS.
Colour negs, scan is if positive RGB too, then reverse the neg to a positive RGB image in PS.
Positive colour, scan film as positive RGB, or take digital file as is.
You now have positive RGB versions of all three origins (the B&W original still looks B&W with equal amounts of light in each R, G or B channel). But uncorrected for exposure, contrast or colour variations.
Optimize the histogram of your positive RGB versions (levels adjustment in PS), stretch the histogram from full black (0 on each RGB channel) to full white (255 on each RGB channel). In fact they say the eye cannot distinguish blacks between 0 and 4, or whites between 240 and 255, so you can set the histogram output to 4 to 240 rather than 0 to 255. Compare the difference to convince yourself. Then, still in levels, adjust the lightness of the midtones (shift the middle slider up to lighten or down to darken. I find it's better to type the change into the numeral box, 1.1, 1.2 etc). These are all things you would have done under the enlarger in the darkroom by manipulating the enlarger light, paper emulsion, choice of developer, filtering, shading etc.
Finally, if you had colour originals, correct the colour balance (colour balance in PS, or if you've mastered the curves adjustment do it there). In the darkroom, you would have used coloured correction filters.
Save this version in a safe place and continue working on copies so you can make other adjustments by trial and error till your satisfied.
At this point experiment with yellow, green, orange or red filters on your current working copy. Remember that what hit the B&W neg film in the camera was a coloured positive image modified by any filter you had on the lens. So add the filter colour to your positive RGB versions over the full range (shadows, midtones, highlights). Alternatively, there are OEM plugins for PS that simulate the filters. This is a whole story in itself. If you weren't around when these filters were used on B&W, read up on them in an old manual.
Convert your working copy to greyscale.
Satisfied? Then you're home. If not, make a new working copy from your saved optimal version, and make some appopriate change to an adjustment. And so on. It was just as tedious in the darkroom. If you weren't satisfied, you did it again in a diferent way.
Dodging and burning was frequently practiced in the darkroom under the enlarger, and this can be done digitally in PS too. Typically, B&W film was oversensitive to blue, even the panchromatic emulsions. This meant that skies were usually overexposed (black on the neg), and dodging and burning gave the opportunity to increase the exposure of the sky area on the positive print below the enlarger. Those yellow or green filters were also intended to improve the balance between sky and landscape exposures on the neg itself.
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Jul 20, 2010 19:31:12 GMT -5
That just about says it all, Sid.
Excellent advice!
PeterW
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SidW
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Post by SidW on Jul 20, 2010 20:08:26 GMT -5
Thank you Peter. An example: Positive original, corected: Greyscale conversion (no filter): Filtering made very little difference in this case (indoors with electric light). Canon EOS20D, ISO 800, 1/50s and f/5.6.
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Post by drako on Jul 22, 2010 14:50:56 GMT -5
Yes, wonderful advice, Sid! Just what I was looking for ... thank you.
Dave, I live in Cave Creek, which is about two hours south of Flagstaff. Elevation change from 1800 - 7000 feet, from Sonoran desert to alpine.
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Jul 22, 2010 17:51:10 GMT -5
Drako, I was talking to someone yesterday and it turned out she has been to Flagstaff. I shall have to ask her now if she has been to Cave Creek. You have a nice official website. I particularly like the fact that the people of Cave Creek have set up the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area. From afar congratulations to all on that. www.cavecreek.org/index.aspx?NID=273Dave.
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Post by drako on Jul 25, 2010 11:04:05 GMT -5
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Jul 25, 2010 12:38:12 GMT -5
Thanks for the link. Our rivers tend to flow all year, especially when there is a hosepipe ban! Of course we have nothing similar to the desert of your Arizona in Britain. Spain is our nearest country which has a landscape like the American Southwest - as you will know, they did film the spaghetti westerns there in the 1960s. One of the main actors was a certain Lee Van Cleef, which brings us neatly back to Johhny Drako.
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Jul 26, 2010 8:30:28 GMT -5
Whoever,
Are you Johnny Drako or Greg Baskin or somebody else?
Puzzled, as ever.
Mickey
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Post by drako on Jul 26, 2010 14:00:40 GMT -5
My parents named me Greg Baskin
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Jul 26, 2010 14:31:17 GMT -5
...but you fancied being Johnny Drako aka Lee Van Cleef, didn't you.
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Jul 26, 2010 14:40:08 GMT -5
My parents named me Greg Baskin I am very pleased to meet you, Greg Baskin. Mickey
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Post by drako on Aug 27, 2010 16:20:23 GMT -5
Dave, this is wild: As far as I know, Johnny Drako was a pseudonym I made up. I saw your post, looked it up and, yep, there's a reference to Van Cleef playing, well, me? He did that Rifleman character the year before I was born (1963). For the record, I have never watched The Rifleman.
Trippy!
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