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Meanderings in Monochrome

simonclivehughes

Active member
As a recent project, I went back through my archives to re-process some of my travel photos as monochrome images. Using the latest plug-ins, I was able to create a look that I liked and which reminded me of how I processed a lot of my B&W film images. (Full gallery here: Meanderings in Monochrome)

The files are from different cameras from different eras:

Japan & Korea: Nikon D1
France, Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria: Nikon D1x
London: Nikon Coolpix 8800
Amsterdam, Budapest & Moscow: Leica Digilux 2
Paris: Epson R-D1

All files (except those from the Epson R-D1) were jpegs, but the PP routine was similar for all:

ACR -> PS6 -> Topaz Denoise (optional) ->
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 (optional), using Detail Extractor (to yield some tooth to the image) & sometimes GND filters ->
Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, using some custom presets I've created.

Here's a few examples:

Vienna
View attachment 66304

South Korea
View attachment 66299

Moscow
View attachment 66302

Moscow
View attachment 66303

London
View attachment 66300

Paris
View attachment 66301

More pictures in the series may be seen on my website gallery page: Meanderings in Monochrome

Feedback is welcome. :)

Cheers,
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Simon, The sample you have shown- the captures are nice. I am not sure (to my taste that is- that is the caveat), the PP works, possibly excepting the Korea shot.
 

simonclivehughes

Active member
Hi Vivek,

Yes, I know that my PP results will not appeal to everyone. While I'm trying to recreate a grainy, high-ISO B&W print look, the fact that I'm dealing with mostly older jpegs means that some skies etc get a bit too pixellated. However, hopefully the image content trumps any PP misdemeanours. ;)

Ciao,
 

Hosermage

Active member
Hope you don't mind, but I liked them, except for the sky/clouds. They have the HDR-ish look that's distracting to my eyes. I really like the last one in Paris, though :)
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Hi Vivek,

Yes, I know that my PP results will not appeal to everyone. While I'm trying to recreate a grainy, high-ISO B&W print look, the fact that I'm dealing with mostly older jpegs means that some skies etc get a bit too pixellated. However, hopefully the image content trumps any PP misdemeanours. ;)

Ciao,
Hi Simon, Unquestionably, the image content supersedes the processing. I like them very much, now that I have spent a bit of time going over your work over the years.

Thanks for sharing! :)
 

kevinparis

Member
way way oversharpened for my tastes... though whatever the get dpi filtering of the pics does doesn't do then any favours

K
 

simonclivehughes

Active member
@David,
Thanks for your feedback and I'm glad you like them. They're not HDR, at least not true HDR, as it's all from single (jpeg) files. I've been experimenting using CEP to flatten the tones to try to get better overall tonality when going into SEP for B&W. It works better sometimes than others. :eek:

@Jeff,
Thanks, Jeff, It's always rewarding to know your work has pleased someone!

@Vivek,
Thanks, once again, my friend! I think anyone who sees a lot of my stuff will agree I often like to see things a bit more aggressively, if you will. :eek:

@Kevin,
Appreciate your feedback too. As I stated above, I have no allusions that my PP of these images will be universally acclaimed! :rolleyes:

Cheers to all,
 

simonclivehughes

Active member
way way oversharpened for my tastes... though whatever the get dpi filtering of the pics does doesn't do then any favours
K
In looking at them again here and on my website and iPad etc, there is for sure an extra degree of 'crunchiness' in the images within the dpi post. :(
 
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