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monchrome processing

Jeff S

New member
Jim, unlike Thorsten, I definitely prefer LR4 (the latest release candidate is 4.4; I'm using the latest completed version 4.3).

You might be interested in this LuLa post, which discusses some of the benefits.

LR4 also provides for better noise reduction, moire removal, soft proofing, significantly improved ability to make local adjustments using both the adjustment brush and the gradient tool (including color temp and tint), as well as more convenient approaches to various print options.

I kept LR3 for a while after downloading LR4, but I haven't looked back.

I use the M8.2, but of course the same benefits will apply to the MM (except the ability to edit b/w using color channels, which I greatly value).

Jeff
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I don't own a Monochrom.

I use LR 4.3 and 4.4RC at present for all my work. I think the last time I dropped into PS was for a pano I constructed a few months ago. I like the workflow, the control, and I know it well enough that it never catches me out. LR 4 has greatly improved on LR 3 in all ways.

I get the results I want from it, haven't found any silver bullets in other apps. I don't use plugins, and print direct from LR. For prints I send out, rarely, I check what format the print service wants to receive and whether they have profiles for their equipment, otherwise output to JPEG at max quality and sRGB.

Works well for me. Perhaps one day I'll have an MM


G
 

algrove

Well-known member
may be this can be a catchall for tips.

i'm just getting started using LR 3.6 (which i already have):

any advantage to upgrading to LR4? (I have read Overrgard's review where he prefers 3.6...). i did try downloading LR4 from the Leica page, but was only able to get silverefx to download, LR stalled

export in LR is RGB: does sRGB or ProRGB matter? aren't we just looking for 8 bit greyscale?

finishing in SilverEfx:
what exactly is this doing, other than more of the same as LR, except for the various vignetting, border, toning effects?

final output for printing: Tiff?

thx
Jim- I am starting to read this thread, but if I may, I strongly suggest using LR4 as it is a DRAMATIC improvement over LR3xxx. The controls have much more power to them and most start with the slider at 0 (the middle) and as such you can go + or - from that point. Also many sliders have much more strength in their use, some after coming from LR3 you have to be careful with not overdoing it. I could go on, but you get the point. Try a free 30 day use and you will see what I am talking about.

Now that have gotten to the bottom, all the comments are very helpful including Ashwin's recipe. The TAT tool is quite astounding in LR4, but as with most PP I am an amateur and forever a student.
 
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erudolph

Member
algrove, I'm glad you referred to Ashwin's "recipe" because it got me to go back and reread his post. I also read another post on l-camera-forum that linked to some tests done on a step wedge using LR4. As I see it, the gist of it is that since increasing the Exposure value brightens the midtones and compresses the highlights, you can save highlight detail by using the White slider to increase brightness, rather than the Exposure slider.
 

Jeff S

New member
algrove, I'm glad you referred to Ashwin's "recipe" because it got me to go back and reread his post. I also read another post on l-camera-forum that linked to some tests done on a step wedge using LR4. As I see it, the gist of it is that since increasing the Exposure value brightens the midtones and compresses the highlights, you can save highlight detail by using the White slider to increase brightness, rather than the Exposure slider.
Sometimes better to use the 'highlights' slider instead of 'whites'.

This LuLa article, which I've posted just above, does a good job explaining the controls (and uses a step wedge).

Jeff
 
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jlm

Workshop Member
back from the grave...

i've been quite happy with C1-8.2 which sees the mm dng file as a grey image. usually i depress the lows a bit and elevate the highs using the curve, then add a bit of clarity. out put is adobe rgb tiff files, using a "neutral" spin on the rgb, put in automatically by C1. i tend to prefer a bit more contrast and snap.

am printing using piezography (after a hiatus), on Canson Baryta Photographique Satin (after many paper tests, found the tones to be not too warm and to my liking) and neutral K-7 grey inks from inkjet mall on my dedicated 4880. getting pretty good results. tiffs are left as rgb so far, but will experiment making a grayspace in PS before they go through the Quadtone RIP required by the piezo process.

mistakenly tried the inkjetmall Selenium K-7 inks, thinking it would be similar to a selenium tone silver print (blue-blacks), but the K-7 IJM version was warmer than the neutral, to my surpise.

am also getting my Eizo monitor pretty close to the print!
 

baudolino

Active member
Having used LR for processing for ages, I now use mostly PS for processing my M246 images. As first step, I make basic global adjustments in ACR (level the horizon, remove spots, adjust exposure and contrast). As second step, I open the image as a "smart object" and do selective contrast adjustments as necessary (curve adjustment layers that I paint into using a black brush to create a mask). As my last step, I convert to 8-bits and apply a quadtone preset called Bl 541 513 5773 (the image must be in Grayscale, 8-bit mode to allow the duo/tri/quad-tones to be applied). This Quadtone preset makes the image darker and more contrasty, usually too much - this is why I find it very useful to be able to go back to the ACR adjustments by double clicking the smart object, or go back to the individual adjustment layers. I am still trying to figure out how to put the Quadtone itself on an adjustment layer, so that I can change its "Opacity", i.e. intensity.
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
I'm a longtime, happy LR user.

I've found one issue using LR and the Monochrom 246: the crossover on the shadow slider is in the wrong place so it has very little effect. This frustrating because on most files I add a moderate amount of shoulder and toe via curves, and then bring back shadow detail selectively with the shadow slider in the editing tools.

Has anyone else noticed this? Work around?
 

erudolph

Member
Woody, on the Tone Curve palette, see those three turnip-shaped things on the bottom of the graph? Seems to me that shifting the "Shadow-Turnip" to the right or left should change that crossover point for you.
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
With so many of the "Digerati" (the famous names in digital photography) leaving PS for LR, I often feel as if I'm stuck in my own private Idaho with PS as the capitol.

Perhaps the biggest reason beyond laziness that keeps me processing in PS is that I am cherry picking images for fun and processing them one at a time. 90% of those images are never seen by anyone other than my wife as she passes the office on the way to the bathroom. If I had to produce 500 images for a paying client, it would be LR all the way.

But even as a complete dilettante, I have my opinions about good B&W processing. In general, I don't like what I see most of the time. The presets in any of the programs whether it's LR, C1 or Nik, are meant to be starting points and not final states. Too often they are simply slapped onto an image without any real vision on the part of the artist as to what B&W should look like. No real black and/or no real white might be correct in some small percentage of images, but it's rare that it feels right to me.

And all those split toney things? Fugheddaboudit. Grain? Give me a break!

So yes, I'm stuck in my photoshop/Silver Efex Pro world and have found a groove I like. It's lovely that there are so many options to get black and white. But none of the software will ever replace a real vision of what good black and white should be. Admittedly, that's likely to be a personal interpretation, and having some exposure to silver-based production and printing has influenced my thinking.

The bottom line for me is to recognize that the controls in any software should end up serving your own vision rather than substituting for it.

Tim
PS integrates well with LR and is the only solution for complex edits. I use it all the time. In particular I often (more than daily) use PS for stitches and minor repairs.
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Woody, on the Tone Curve palette, see those three turnip-shaped things on the bottom of the graph? Seems to me that shifting the "Shadow-Turnip" to the right or left should change that crossover point for you.
The tulips change the crossovers on the tone curve pannel but as far as I can tell not on the adjustment brush.
 

silver92b

New member
I use LR5 as well as the Silver Efex pro and the Perfect Photo Suite (not all at once LOL). There is tremendous flexibility to manipulate B&W images with all these programs. I'd say for the price, either or both (silver efex & perfect suite) are very good tools for developing in monochrome.
 
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