What do you do when you have a photo that is just OK. You know that photo that just really lacks the drama and punch you were going for. You go EXTREME.
The photo above was not processed in Photoshop or any layered graphics program. It was achieved in Capture One 4. Most of us have seen presets for other raw converters and how they work for them but when the normal person tries to copy it something goes wrong and you can not achieve the same kind of punch. I will give you the setting to the above photo first and then we will discuss how and why this is working.
EV: 0, Contrast: +14, Brightness: +1, Saturation: -29, Shadow: 0, Highlight: 16, and Levels: Black: 4, Mid: +0.16, and White: 253. Curve: from left to right, input first then output. A: 6, 6 B: 35, 44 C: 86, 106 D: 155, 159 E: 208, 69 F: 242, 224.
WB: Kelvin: 11100, Tint: +16
A friend of mine (Ken Norton) and I were discussing conversions the other day and how it is difficult to get a repetitive conversion VS film. So I started to play. Below is the same image as above that has been converted using Capture One 4.2 and you can see it is not terrible but just lacks anything that grabs your attention. It has been sharpened, curves applied and so on.
This last image is just straight in and straight out only applying the Capture One camera profile.
So how do you go from this image to the first one. well it is not that hard. First you apply a funky curve. A curve set to hold the shadow detail and highlights. If you look closely at the screen shot below it relieves some secrets. Age old I am supposed to kill you if I tell you secrets.
First I place a mark at ma shadow to hold it where I want it then one just to the right of it we will call them A and B just for lack of better creativity. Now the point of mark A far left is to keep my black point stable. B will work for my shadow detail. Now lets go all the way to the other end of the spectrum to the highlights Z will be the mark far right and Y is the one to the left. Now Z will control the white point the highlights and some cool back lighting effects on certain extreme conversions. Y will control the cool darks and colors you see in the sky. Now every point in between is just as important to keeping your photo together so to speak. By now you should have the basics of how with one mark it will cause the curve on the opposite side of any mark on either side to move in the opposite direction. So play with these even after the WB stage.
Then you saturate or desaturate as needed I usually end up desaturating a photo more often then saturating one for this kind of conversion. With the photo above and any that you want to give a look like you used a type of ND or split filter with desaturation is key. It works with the curve and WB because on the scene at hand I wanted to increase the sky's drama and that is mainly in the upper mid tones so that is where the curve is set for and will cause the most abstract when you shift the WB
Now the Biggest trick is WB (White Balance) yes that is correct. WB will play a vital role in the look you are going for more then just color. It will give different tones, contrasts and gradations to an image that can not be had any other way. That is why (My Theory) is that digital is so inconsistent when trying to make a B&W or other conversion for that matter. Your WB is always changing. With Film you got the WB for that whole role. You did not go back and forth and constantly changing for the environment you were in. Now just adjust highlight and shadows to taste.
Keep in mind you should not be trying to copy a style or a cookie cutter preset, Play with your image and make it how you think it should look.
That is it. I hope this is helpful and feel free to ask any questions and leave your comments & feedback.
If you would like to see the images larger and some others you can go to the gallery Here
Thanks and God Bless
Corey Brown (Glory 2 Jesus 4 Photography)
As a Professional Photographer I some times get to go to some really fun jobs, Some times I get to do a job that is life changing, and other times I get to do jobs that can be meaningful. More and more these days I am finding I am getting hired to do a job that most people will usually try and take on themselves. Now there are a few big down falls for some people trying to do these things themselves. The first is the lack of know how, which I am going to help with that here in a minute. The other and biggest down fall is if you are sitting there trying to get every moment caught on camera you really do not get to enjoy every moment while it happens.
The first is the distance between you and your subject. If you are more then 15-20 feet away from your subject your on camera flash is worthless. Not only is it not helping it is actually telling your camera that it is giving enough light for the scene but it can not. So in turn your image will come out dark. This is true for every camera from a basic P&S to a canon xti , nikon d90 and so. To use a flash over 20 feet you will need an external flash, flash gun, there are many names for them but it connects to your camera VIA a hot shoe. If your camera does not have a hot shoe then you will not be able to use one in this situation.
The next problem / obstacle is the lighting. Usually graduations are held in a gym or auditorium that has poor lighting for photography meaning that if the flash has already been ruled out then you will need to compensate in a few different areas. Shutter speed ISO and Aperture. Now keep in mind most P&S cameras do not let you adjust each of those individually and even the ones that do I am just going to try and get you started.
If your camera is in Automatic or priority and you force the flash off (because you know it can not reach your subject) then the camera is going to automatically start adjusting the shutter speed ISO and Aperture. The first thing to realize is that now your shutter speed will be a lot slower your ISO will be Higher and your aperture will be lower. Now as long as your camera can go to an ISO of 400-800 (and give acceptable photos) then your shutter speed may be just fast enough to keep motion blur to a minimum. Also with the camera using the smallest aperture your DOF will be narrower so you will need to pay more attention to your/the cameras focusing.
Just a Quick update The Fall workshop is just around the corner ( Oct. 17th & 18th) so if you have not singed up yet and are planing on it now is a good time. You can get more info or register at http://www.pilgrimheights.org/groups/Photography_Fall or here is the Registration Form PDF And feel free to contact me directly if you would like
This workshop will be covering the foundations of photography. Anybody from the novice to the advanced hobbyist should walk away with with a greater understanding of photography and the ability to put it into practice. I will update next week when I will have a head count to let everyone know how many opening are still available.
Thanks and God Bless,
Corey Brown
