BLACK AND WHITE CONVERSIONS FROM OLD AND NEW COLOR ORIGINALS

I’ve been creating black and white images for over 40 years, and like photographers of my age, I started with processing my own film and hand printing B&W on a variety of the classic papers by Kodak, Ilford, and my favorite Agfa—like Portriga Rapid.

This blog is about “converting” to B&W so, of course I’m talking about the digital process since back in my film days there was NO converting. We decided in advance, based on our subject, wether we were going to use color or B&W film and then printed them on their like media. I had criteria for the use of B&W and color films. And today I have exactly the same criteria for when to use B&W in digital as I did for film.

The Best B&W images have:

1. Directional light (that means shadows)
2. Good Blacks and Whites
3. Texture and/or detail
4. A strong center of interest

So, let’s start with something old…

Monument Valley Cloud Burst

It’s a nice scene, but it was clearly beyond the dynamic range, as you can see in the color image below, of what Kodachrome 64 could record. I don’t have dramatic shadows here and some of the clouds are already overexposed. Since I don’t have a high-end film scanner I used, at the time, my best DSLR—my canon 5D Mk II with a canon 100mm, f2.8, Macro lens and photographed a bunch of my favorite slides, from 40 years ago, on a light table.  (If your interested in just how I did this I will put a link at the end of this blog to my YouTube channel with a how to video.) They turned out nice and I produced RAW files of on average 22MB and Jpgs with on average 12MB to work with in post. 

Here’s the original color image….

Kodachrome 64 Original

Post processing to a B&W conversion…

• Used NIK’s HDR Efex single image tone mapping (deep 1) to pull out the sun rays and the cloud burst on the right hand side of the image; this also helped cloud detail.
• Used NIK’s Silver Efex Pro-2 for B&W; used the Full dynamic harsh preset modified to my taste.
• Used NIK’s Define 2 for noise reduction.
• Cropped off some of the bottom and burned that in as well.

It turned out pretty well. I got the drama I wanted by pulling out the details that were barely visible in the color slide and by deepening the darks in the image it brought a three dimensional quality to the scene that did not show in the color version.

Moving on to a digital color image I think the following image illustrates how color, as eye candy, has impact, but does not always hold your interest for long….

 f11.0 @ 1/350 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 26mm

This image, after the initial impact, has little to offer; it’s really, quite literally, flat! Not only is the subject flat, but so its the lighting.. So, looking at the vertical stains on the locomotive’s sides I knew that was something I could enhance with tone mapping….

B&W with HDR Efex

Now we have texture and Lots of Detail all over the image creating the Illusion of depth where the color version had none. 

Post Processing the Image…

NIK’s HDR Efex, single image Tone Mapping, using the Deep 1 preset with tweaks, to bring out the blacks.

B&W conversion using ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) grayscale. Tweaked the yellow, orange, and red sliders to further enhance details.

These are just two of the many ways to create B&W images from your color originals. If you want more complicated methods they’re easy to find, with a search, but you won’t necessarily get better results. It depends on a lot on the quality of the color image you start with.

As promised, here is the link to my YouTube video on slide duplication with a DSLR:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3CyAq84vzw

’Til next week…

Author: Jerry W Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training Site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client Site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

MY FIRST FINE ART IMAGES OF THE GHOST TOWN BODIE--Part 1

It was 1978 that I decided to do a weekend photo-excursion to the ghost town of Bodie. Mind you this was pre-internet, pre-cell phones and with only a general idea of weather conditions—and no idea of the specific weather there in Bodie—I took off in early December in my ’73 AMC Hornet hatchback for a photo-adventure! I was a brash 28 year old that always took my solo vacations in November or December to avoid pesky tourists getting in my way. 

I got a late start and did not expect my car to be affected by the altitude (8400 feet), so I did not get to the entrance road to Bodie until dark. Not to be deterred I forged ahead on the unimproved dirt road, but not without incident. I mean that road was bad… It was not the usual dirt road—you know graded and such! Nope, it was very rutted and rocky and my AMC Hornet was a low slung sedan—not exactly an off-road vehicle.Slowing to a crawl did not save me when one front wheel dropped into a rut and the front end slammed down causing the engine to impact a big rock. The racket my engine made after that sounded like a giant chain saw was attacking my car! I kept going; nothing was going to stop me. I finally reached a parking lot, of sorts, eager to stop the horrendous racket my car was making, I stopped for the night. It was so dark I couldn’t tell if I had actually reached Bodie. So, I unrolled my sleeping bag in the back of my hatchback and camped-out. You should also know that I am 6’2” and yes, Now I know that camping is not allowed in Bodie, but back then—who knew?

I woke up to bitter cold—there was ice on the inside of my windows and the glass hatch back. Hey, it’s 8400 feet in December—I was lucky I wasn’t snowed-in! 

So, on to my photographic goals here. I did not want to do the usual Black & White thing so many fine-art photographers do. I planned on only using Kodachrome 64 slide film and to experiment with my new Spiratone, Colorflow, filter.

And this was my primary subject…

The Outhouse

I had seen another photographer’s work at this area of Bodie and I wanted to photograph these building before they fell down. Note:  Since then the park service propped these structures with timbers trying to maintain them in what they call a “state of arrested decay”!

My style back then was: If I’m going to use color go all-in (Kodachrome or Ektachrome Infared) and produce something different even if it goes surreal. I guess I was ahead of my time; that’s why I like digital, Photoshop ACR, and NIK so much—there are no longer any limits!

The Evolution of this image:

• Exposed on Kodachrome 64 with the Spratone, Colorflow, filter. That filter was a red/blue gel coupled to a rotating Polarizer. As you rotated the polarizer it would vary the intensity of the colors.
• Cropped the image to a tight vertical. The original was a horizontal showing a line of buildings.
• Now, forty years later, I decided to tone down the effect by putting the original image into NIK’s Color Efex Pro 4 to alter my colors making the buildings a little more realistic, but with a really surreal sky!

Here’s the original image…

The Outhouse Original

The original here was a winner in the PPC (Professional Photographers of California) State Competition. I titled it: California Fixer-Upper. It went on to the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) International Competition winning a merit in the General Collection in 1999. It was one of the final merits I needed to earn my PPA Masters Degree.

In Part 2 I’ll show and talk about the digital edits I’ve made on other old film images from Bodie and about what happed to my car….’Til next week…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site:  http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY: LEADING LINES IN COMPOSITION

In modern photography the fine art image is all about composition. I say that because with modern DSLRs it’s easy to achieve a good exposure and auto focus is so good that sharpness is rarely an issue. So, what’s left (what a camera can’t do) is composition of the scene. Unfortunately, too many professional photographers today seem to be ignorant of the most basic tenets of art. One example I see way too often is the composition killer of just putting the subject dead center in the frame! I don’t know if this is due to ignorance or laziness, but if you want people to look at your fine art images for more than two seconds you must learn the compositional concepts, that the master painters developed centuries ago, that create lasting interest in one’s art.

One powerful compositional tool we use to guide the viewer's eye is the Leading Line. The concept is simple; we look for something in the scene that will act as a pointer towards our chosen center-of-interest. 

Here’s my example of this technique….

f8.0 @ 1/640 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 70mm

In this cropped image I have multiple leading lines, in that fence, taking the viewer’s eye to that nice foggy tree.  What’s important to notice is that I have that fence coming out of the Left Corner of the frame creating a nice diagonal across the frame. Remember I said that this compositional tool is powerful so you should be careful to not over use it. One way I see this happening a lot is when photographers put their leading lines (again!) dead center in the middle of the frame! One of the worst examples of this is placing railroad tracks up the middle of the frame (the horror!) Not to mention it is not legal to use the railroad tracks).

So here’s my original image before cropping…

Original Image

My original image has those leading lines, but the scene is weak and static because I’m showing the whole tree centered in the frame.  I rarely photograph whole trees anyway because for a good composition you have to reduce their size so much; I think trees get more interesting close-up.

The other things that bother me in my original image are those tree leaves hanging into the frame from above—a photographic convention that is just a distraction here, and the road on the right acting like a competing leading line.

Post Processing this image:

1. Monochrome conversion: NIK’s Silver Efex Pro 2 using the Antique Plate preset modified to my taste.
2. NIK’s, HDR Efex Pro2, single image tone mapping using Deep 2 preset (modified) with grain added.
3. Cropped to enhance the leading lines.

So, before you click the shutter look and think about the scene you’ve framed up in your viewfinder because you can’t always crop your way into a better composition like we did with our medium and large format film cameras. So, unless you have a digital camera in the 50-80+ mega-pixel range it’s best to create the best composition at the point of capture.

’Til next week….ask if you have questions….

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training Site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client Site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

VARIATIONS ON A THEME; POST PROCESSING DIGITAL FILES

I’ve been revisiting my archives back to my early digital files, some as far back as 2000, when I got my first digital camera. What’s nice to see is that those old CD’s (Yes, CD’s!) can still be opened on our new computers and loaded into Photoshop!

I can open these old JPEGs in Camera Raw and do my favorite tweaks I do today with my new DSLR’s RAW files. After that I go to my favorite plug-ins for some artistic interpretations.

Here’s a finished artistic version of a file from 2003…

This image was form my second digital camera—the Fuji FinePix S-2 Pro, which produced jpegs at around 4.0 MB. Not much by todays standards, but we managed, with careful exposes, to produce some outstanding 30x40 images from our S2’s back then.

Black & White Processing Technique:

Step 1—NIK HDR Effects Pro 2 (Single Image Tone Mapping). Used Grannys Attic Preset with my modifications.

Step 2—NIK Silver Effects Pro 2—Used the Antique Plate 2 and modified it to my B&W taste.

Here’s the original file…

f13.0 @ 1/180 sec., ISO 400

This was an old hotel under renovation in Sacramento, California. I thought, with those ripped and tattered window shades, that it had the kind of creepy vibe that I could do something with.

Here’s the Color Interpretation….

I like this version mostly because of that red triangle in the second window (top left). It looks like a broken shard of glass.  I like the rust stains on the paint beneath the windows as well.

Color Processing Technique:

NIK HDR Effects Pro-2 (Single Image Tone Mapping).I used the Granny’s Attic Preset and tweaked it to my taste.

NOTE:  In addition to the obvious artistic changes to the original file a side benefit of processing an image in NIK’s HDR is that the size of the file is increased a lot.  With this image the original file was increased from 3.69MB to 6.06MBs.

However, I think that the Black and White rendition of this scene promotes the creepy vibe I imagined when I saw this building.  What do you guys think—the color or the Black and White?

’Til next week….

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training Site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client Site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

THE DELIGHTS AND DANGERS OF CROPPING YOUR DIGITAL FILES

Whenever I discover an interesting subject for my fine art portfolio I usually cover it well. Photographing it from multiple angles and using different focal lengths—carving it up into detailed sections. It’s interesting that no matter what I see at the moment when I photograph the actual subject when I revisit my images (months, sometimes years later) I always see another way to create a new—often better—version of the image by simply cropping it differently. And then I kick myself for not doing that crop in camera!  Why? What’s the big deal about simply cropping that image file?  Well, if you ever want to print that image as a wall print, say larger than 11x14”, how many pixels can you afford to loose and still make a stunning print?

As an example here’s the resulting cropped image from one of the “record-shots” of a cool old truck….I photographed 6-years ago…

f5.0 @ 1/1250 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 200mm

After I reworked the rather boring record shot over in camera raw and with some tone mapping in Photoshop this crop made the image far more compelling. (albeit a bit cliche´.) 

Here’s the original record-shot….

You can see why I passed over this image and concentrated on several other unique images (of the hundreds I took) that did not need cropping.  So, back to file size in our digital world. Unlike in our medium format film days we can’t just willy-nilly crop away half or three quarters of our image area and expect to make a quality wall print. It all depends on what you’re starting with. Since our film has been replaced by a digital sensor it’s not just how many pixels your camera has…it’s the size of the sensor—don’t expect a four/thirds sensor to perform like a full-frame sensor! That’s why just carving-up a small sensor to make it 25 or 30mp’s is currently folly, because when you reduce cell site size you increase noise.

My Pro-DSLR produces a RAW file of, on average, 30MB. When converted to a jpeg the resulting file is 15 to 25 MB.

So, this is how my jpeg evolved from capture thru editing and cropping…

1. The original CR file was: 26.88MB
2. The converted CR to Jpeg was: 15.99MB
3. TheCropped Jpeg was: 9.43MB
4. The edited Jpeg with tone mapping is: 11.75MB

The cropping I did (not quite half the image area) really reduced my file size. Fortunately, I’m starting with a pretty healthy file size (but I could really use a 50MP sensor!) and my Photoshop edits with the tone mapping increased my final file size to a usable 11.75MB.  So, this post capture crop worked for me—this image looks good at 200% in Photoshop—but it would have been even better if I had moved in closer and created it like my crop!  

’Til next week….

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman

Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com

WHEN & WHY TO CONVERT IMAGES TO BLACK & WHITE

Like most professional photographers I create all my images in color. For the same reason that we don’t let our cameras do JPGS we don’t let the camera convert to B&W; way too much compression and loss of tonal range.

But first WHY convert color to B&W?

One of the aspects of color that can weaken it as an artistic medium is when it’s presented as a literal representation of a subject. Art is about an artist’s interpretation of his subject; Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” is a great example of interpretation—he definitely had an alternate vision of the world!

As the genesis of photography began with it perhaps its greatest advantage and strength is its ability to create the B&W image. Having grown up in the late 20th century I and many other photographers were witness to the perfection of the B&W print by several legendary photographer/print makers. Ansel Adams’ fine art prints have influenced several generations of photographers; my influence has been the very dramatic and socially profound work of W. Eugene Smith, perhaps the greatest photographer Life Magazine ever showcased.

The next question is WHEN do I decide to convert an image to B&W?

Like many professionals I usually know a great B&W subject the instant I see it.  But what am I looking for?

1. I want good blacks or shadows (created by directional light)— that’s where the drama lies—giving me three dimensionality.  
2. I want something with clean whites or high-lights.
3. I also look for textures.

(Side note: When I am working with clients, and not on a personal project, I usually know before the session I am going to do the output of the entire session in B&W or a portion and will choose the location and direct clothing accordingly.) 

When traveling bring your camera with you!  Just 3 months ago I found this….

f11.0 @ 1/640 sec., ISO 400

I’d say this scene fits my requirements and then some! You can see why I want clean whites and blacks and shadows—that contrast creates drama. Then there’s rampant texture here thanks to the barn wood and because I exposed to control my whites there’s great detail in those skulls, too.

Color Version

I’m not going to go into the How I convert to B&W in this blog.  It’s safe to say that there are many ways it can be done and the image tells me how to work in it.  I think it’s more important that you learn to SEE B&W—Ansel Adams thoughts on previsualization are relevant here.

I urge you to look-up the great Life Magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith.  He elevated photo-journalism to an art form with his B&W images that he printed himself. His images during WWII, in the Pacific, particularly on Iwo Jima are harrowing. His photo-essays on Albert Schweitzer in West Africa, the Spanish Village, Country Doctor, and Nurse Midwife are legendary.  But first look up his work from Minamata, Japan and see one of the greatest B&W portraits ever made titled, “Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath”, and read the story behind this gut wrenching photo-essay.  The power of the B&W image has never been put to better use to date.

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman, Certified

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

WHEN I CONVERT TO BLACK AND WHITE

I have loved Black and White prints since my earliest days in photography when I had my home darkroom and attempted B&W fine art printing in the spirit of Ansel Adams.  However, like most amateur printers back then, using Adams as our yardstick, it was and epic fail. So, I embraced color photography! I quickly learned that where I may not have had the technical ability (at 19 years old) to approach Adams’  B&W style, I did have the talent to emulate Pete Turner’s style of color photography. 

After that emulation phase using Kodachrome and every variety of Ektachromes ( finally exceeding even Pete Turner’s color palette using Ektachrome Color Infra-red film ) and taking control of my color printing using Cibachrome, I found my own photographic voice—my own style. 

Fast forward 40 years…all my favorite films and printing papers ( B&W and even Cibachrome ) have been discontinued. Ironically I found that with Photoshop and NIK Silver Effects Pro, and a plethora of other software, it’s now much easier, than in the film era, to create great B&W images from any source.  The key in this digital age is determining which color image in one’s portfolio is suitable for conversion into B&W. I say color images because as a professional photographer I create images of all my subjects in Color (RAW) to get the most out of each image file—you really don’t want your camera converting to B&W for you.  The first thing I look for when considering an image for B&W conversion is: Does it contain enough good blacks (shadows) to make it three dimensional? And, are there any contrasting whites to counter those blacks? If not, then the image stays in color.

The image below is an example of one of my fine art images created using a three step process—I don’t just desaturate the color file…

 f9.0 @ 1/320 sec ISO 400

For comparison here’s the original, unedited, color file…

Original Color File

If I’m going to convert to B&W I must have a reason to do so.  What am I trying to show or say about  a subject?  The B&W version must exceed what the color version can do. In this case, when I captured this image, I saw this old rusting car as a skull disintegrating into the landscape. The color version was too literal—it’s a rusty car.  I wanted a creepy, organic, feeling to this image.

MY THREE-STEP CONVERSION ( For just THIS image )

1) In Adobe Camera Raw:

• First I drop Saturation (-100) and see what it needs
• For most B&W I raise Contrast (+40 or more)
• Then I drop Blacks (-40 or more)
• Then if my Highlights don’t pop I raise’em (to taste)
• I’ll raise Clarity (+50 or ore)
• Then I’ll sharpen the file

2)  Make a Jpeg of the Raw file

• Open in Photoshop HDR Efex Pro 2
• Select Tone Mapping (single Image)
• Selected B&W (Artistic) #15 preset and then changed most of the settings! I only use the pre-set as a base.

Note: Because Tone Mapping tends to flatten the image most of my adjustments are to bring back Three-Dimensionality by Increasing the Blacks, Contrast and increasing Highlights or Whites.

3)  Open the Jpg image in Adobe Camera Raw…

• Since the sliders in HDR Efex usually don’t do enough for my taste I start over again with the jpg
• I again dropped the Blacks (-44 more)
• I bumped Highlights  Whites (+6 & +8 more)
• I dropped Shadows (-24)
• DONE!

I generally detest most HDR or Tone Mapping I see on the web and a lot of the images I subject to these programs are trashed immediately.  Sometimes these things can reveal something hidden and really make an image sing!

Have questions don’t hesitate to ask…

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman, Certified

Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com