The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

monchrome processing

jlm

Workshop 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
 

airfrogusmc

Well-known member
I'm not a big fan of LR or SE. I have both but RARELY use them I use photoshop CS4. I prefer it. I save usually as RGB 16 bit Tiff to print from.
 

erudolph

Member
Hi jlm, I've been interested in others' PP techniques, so thanks for starting this thread.

I've used Photoshop for what seems like decades. When people suggested Lightroom or Aperture to me I always thought about what those programs lacked. But about a month ago I tried the free download of LR and am now an enthusiastic convert. I've used Apple computers since the 80s too, so I'm curious about Aperture but hesitate because Adobe seems to update its Leica camera profiles quicker.

Since I haven't used LR version 3.x I can't answer your first question but have noticed what Thorsten mentions, that as the Exposure value increases, the way LR 4 handles whites is to roll them off. It's like the Exposure has a built-in soft clip. Personally I don't like it that much but have found I can mostly work around it.

The native space of LR is ProPhoto RGB. My Photoshop preferences are set to keep the embedded colorspaces of files being opened. I don't convert the MM LR images to my working grayscale space because Nik SilverEfex and ColorEfex in their current versions do not work on grayscale spaces. When finished with an edited image I often convert it back to gray gamma 2.2 to space storage space. (I've noticed that although MM images are monochrome, when viewed on an Apple monitor in the ProPhoto RGB space there can appear to be traces of color.) I always keep my edited raw images in 16 bit.

Regarding SilverEfex 2: Local adjustments in LR are great for getting an image into the ballpark. If an image is not going to be published or printed, LR is all you need and will keep your file size minimal. Photoshop is capable of much more precision. In the past, in pre-Lightroom days, my saved photoshop files often had many layers, to keep the file in a "non-destructive" state. Now I find that rather than using Photoshop, control points in SilverEfex can much more quickly get an image tweaked up and it is more for the control points than the various looks that I use SilverEfex. For various looks, ColorEfex is also terrific.

Final question: in the past I used to save my layered images as .psd files but now the files have none or only a couple of layers and I save them as tiffs. For printing I use the ImagePrint rip rather than Lightroom or Photoshop.

Hope this helps! I also hope to hear more about people's specific post techniques as related to specific images.
 

ashwinrao1

Active member
Hi John, I nearly exclusively use LR4. I am not sure if 3.6 has a monochrom profile or not. I would strongly suggest the upgrade, since it would come with your MM anyways. The reason is the availability of the white/black and highlight/shadow sliders, which are key to editing MM files, IMO. I also like the "grain" engine on the MM, which is quite useful for mussing up images, if that's your flavor. I personally feel that the files that the MM puts out are somewhat flat and grey, but there is an incredible amount of detail waiting to be coaxed out. The files are complex, flexibile, and work well within a lightroom work flow.

Generallly, I shoot at -1/3 exposure comp. This allows me to save highlights, but also requires that I adjust the exposure a bit once having imported files to get it right. THen I go back and save the highlights.

I juse the brush tool to selectively make adjustments, but generally, a nice dose of selective use of white and black sliders, with use of highlight/shadow sliders to follow, gets you most of the way. Then a bit of dodge and burn, if you wish, and a dash of clarity, and the image starts to pop. The rest (grain, vignetting), is basiscally to taste....
 

airfrogusmc

Well-known member
Hi John, I nearly exclusively use LR4. I am not sure if 3.6 has a monochrom profile or not. I would strongly suggest the upgrade, since it would come with your MM anyways. The reason is the availability of the white/black and highlight/shadow sliders, which are key to editing MM files, IMO. I also like the "grain" engine on the MM, which is quite useful for mussing up images, if that's your flavor. I personally feel that the files that the MM puts out are somewhat flat and grey, but there is an incredible amount of detail waiting to be coaxed out. The files are complex, flexibile, and work well within a lightroom work flow.

Generallly, I shoot at -1/3 exposure comp. This allows me to save highlights, but also requires that I adjust the exposure a bit once having imported files to get it right. THen I go back and save the highlights.

I juse the brush tool to selectively make adjustments, but generally, a nice dose of selective use of white and black sliders, with use of highlight/shadow sliders to follow, gets you most of the way. Then a bit of dodge and burn, if you wish, and a dash of clarity, and the image starts to pop. The rest (grain, vignetting), is basiscally to taste....
Ashmin,

I use curves and levels in photoshop and quick mask to change contrast and density in selected areas. I can vignette when converting in adobe camera raw if I desire. I just never really liked working in LR. I find I have the control I need with photoshop. Just a matter of preference. I love the prints I've been getting. I know a lot of people that love LR. I'm just not one.
 

ashwinrao1

Active member
Totally. Different strokes for different strokes. I began using LR when it first was released, and I like the editing tools and techniques, not to mention the cataloging and referencing of my whole library. I find PS5 to be cumbersome for every photo, but occasionally pull things in to PS for a bit of higher level edits...similar for using Nik. The nice thing is that these work by plug in with LR4, so the whole thing is seamless.... I don't fault you for not liking LR. I am a fan, but it is definitely not perfect...it works great for my purposes though...
 

D&A

Well-known member
Hi John, I nearly exclusively use LR4. I am not sure if 3.6 has a monochrom profile or not. I would strongly suggest the upgrade, since it would come with your MM anyways. The reason is the availability of the white/black and highlight/shadow sliders, which are key to editing MM files, IMO. I also like the "grain" engine on the MM, which is quite useful for mussing up images, if that's your flavor. I personally feel that the files that the MM puts out are somewhat flat and grey, but there is an incredible amount of detail waiting to be coaxed out. The files are complex, flexibile, and work well within a lightroom work flow.

Generallly, I shoot at -1/3 exposure comp. This allows me to save highlights, but also requires that I adjust the exposure a bit once having imported files to get it right. THen I go back and save the highlights.

I juse the brush tool to selectively make adjustments, but generally, a nice dose of selective use of white and black sliders, with use of highlight/shadow sliders to follow, gets you most of the way. Then a bit of dodge and burn, if you wish, and a dash of clarity, and the image starts to pop. The rest (grain, vignetting), is basiscally to taste....
Great thread! Although I don't have a Monochrom (yet), I'm dying to eventually get one. I have and do work with it's files on quite a few occasions.

Ashwin, if you reread what you posted, it sounds like a cookbook receipe for a delicious dish and could have just as well been posted on the food network website...LOL!

With all serious, those who have preference for either LR or PS (I'm in the PS camp because that's what I started with in the earliest days), basically have the same algorithms at work with both, especially when you first begin to work with the RAW DNG's of the MM. So in essence one has the same sort of processing engine at work regardless which one you choose and then when the RAW adjustment is complete and saved into a Tiff (or jpeg as some do), that's when there are of course distinct differences in the tools and handling of files within either LR or PS.

I envy (in a good way) all those who are enjoying their MM and it's a pleasure to see the vision everyone has of their MM ouput. This is especially so as Ashwin mentioned in that the MM DNG's are flat like a RAW canvas and it's up to the photographer in more ways than even color files, to put their interpretation on the dynamics and tonality of each image. In many much like some of us did or still do in the B&W darkroom with our choice of films, paper and darkroom skills.

Dave (D&A)
 

airfrogusmc

Well-known member
Totally. Different strokes for different strokes. I began using LR when it first was released, and I like the editing tools and techniques, not to mention the cataloging and referencing of my whole library. I find PS5 to be cumbersome for every photo, but occasionally pull things in to PS for a bit of higher level edits...similar for using Nik. The nice thing is that these work by plug in with LR4, so the whole thing is seamless.... I don't fault you for not liking LR. I am a fan, but it is definitely not perfect...it works great for my purposes though...
Absolutely bro they're all just tools. Its good to have choices. I get things close when I process from raw. I always finish each image in photoshop.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Absolutely bro they're all just tools. Its good to have choices. I get things close when I process from raw. I always finish each image in photoshop.
That's basically how I process images too and I suspect many others do to. It's amazing how much more control we have over RAW than we did say 5-7 years ago with RAW converters then.

Dave (D&A)
 

fotografz

Well-known member
I'm exclusively LR, latest version 4.6

I previously was a PS and Bridge user, and went kicking and screaming into LR ... now I hate Bridge and it's slow awkward tool layout, need to process in PS separately, loss of the none-distructive aspects of LR, and it's lack of "all together" library cataloging storage.

I have PS6 as the prime "Open In" program for LR, followed by Nik Silver Efex Pro and Define-2.

Nik SE is loaded into both LR and PS as plug-ins ... but there is a difference.

The direct Nik SE "Open In" plug-in for LR is okay for straight B&W conversions, but Nik SE is a far more powerful program when used in the PS plug-in for LR because SE opens as a layer over the LR file.

Then it is possible to use more than one Nik SE conversion with different heal-toe responses from either the presets or the film selections as a base, use selective brush adjustments, various grain selections, etc. ... and either adjust the layer density of each, and/or erase portions of one layer as it relates to the other. You can layer as many times as you wish, and/or apply Nik Define 2 to select portions such as shadow areas.

The file is then saved to the LR library catalog along with all the layers, next to the original RAW file ... everything remains together.

BTW, this also works with color files ... you can produce a Nik B&W layer and use the layers opacity slider to tame gaudy color, or to tint a color file to pull it together with a common cast for effect.

I cut my processing time for 500 to 1,000 wedding images per week by about 66% once I got the flow of LR down pat ... and the edit quality improved dramatically.

-Marc
 
I echo both Ashwin's and Marc's comments. While I am only 1 week into LR, pushed there by the fact Capture doesn't work with MM files, I won't look back. I really appreciate the curve process with the 4 sliders, coupled with ability to select any point on the curve. I do the initial contrast/exposure corrections, and often clarity, in LR then send to PS. As Marc says, it's great to work with SE, define, etc, as layers in PS. Plus I find the magic wand so efficient in getting the exact regions I want to work on, I prefer this method of local adjustment to the u-point/Nik method. Then having the PS TIFF with layers, back within LR is extremely helpful. Having just scratched the surface of LR itself, the way it plays with PS makes it a preferred RAW converter itself. Now to find time to read Kelby's LR book.
Also, I still have CS3 on my computer. With all that LR does, I don't see anything that an upgraded PS would add to the LR/CS3 combo I have. All I need in PS is the ability to use masks and layers. This saved me $$, along with the free LR that came with the MM. I don't usually use "cost saving" and "Leica" in the same sentence, but this time I will!
 

TRSmith

Subscriber 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
 

jlm

Workshop Member
i see capture one is now addressing the monochrome and will be trying that out as soon as i can
 

airfrogusmc

Well-known member
Tim they are just tools and if you find one that works for you and you get the desired results that all that matters. I used an old Solar 5X7 enlarger with a zone VI cold light head for several decades because it gave me what I needed. There were a lot more modern enlargers I could have switched to but there was no need to. I have both silver efex and LR4 and have used them but I prefer photoshop. Its more intuitive for me and the way I work. Professionally I shot advertising/commercial and usually don't need to process 1000 images at a time. I do see the benefit in LR for those that need to. Also maybe for some its more effeciant for them and their work flow. Bottom line if the software can get you where you need to go then thats all that matters.

I do think that for me if I am constantly changing equipment and software I would never be able to master any of it.

A great quote by Weston that I have found true for me.
"The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don't know what to do with it." - Edward Weston

I say find something that works for you no matter what it is and learn to use it and how it fits into your way of working because the final image is all that matters.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Tim wrote>>>"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, that's sort of what I'm was trying to get at (in my previous post). These B&W conversion programs can often be a great starting point, but it's our own interpretation and ultimately adjustment of the captured MM image that has both the most appeal and impact. Learning how to achieve that is like learning how to paint. It wouldn't be much fun if complete adjustment of a RAW MM file was similar to paint by #'s (staying within the outlines), as opposed to choosing our own hues (tonality) and textures and apply our brushstrokes in order to achieve our vision of what ultimately it should look like. There's a place for both but it's also important I believe to know when and how much of each should be applied.

As for LR vs. PS, I can identify with much of what Marc and others have expressed. If it was simply working with a few images at a time, then Bridge followed by PS works. I run into trouble similar to Marc's example when there are hundreds of images to process through Bridge and it simply bogs down, regardless of how powerful the processor is or amount of memory. It doesn't appear to be a very efficient or streamlined program.

The issue I have with LR personally is use of the catalog system when often I'm on computers in multiple locations. It often becomes a unyielding task to have duplicates of every file in multiple locations..not to say working with this way with PS is much easier. Just seems that LR often finds difficulty when it doesn't find images in a location it expects to. It may be that I'm not proficient enough with LR to understand how to get around the technical aspects when hang-ups and glitches such as these occur. I will say the workflow in LR is really nice and maybe it's just a matter of time (in finding enough time) to sit down and learn the ins and outs of it.

Dave (D&A)
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
airfrogusmc: That's a great quote! Amazing that he could articulate something i feel all these years later. There's an awful lot of photographic "mastery" going on these days that has very little to do with image making and a lot to do with gear churning.

D&A: Your comparison to paint-by-numbers is right on. I have just as much "fun" processing images as I do taking them. My earliest remembered joy was the time I borrowed a Calumet 4x5, flopped the sheet of Tri-x around in a tray and then made a contact print. I got completely lost (and jazzed) in the tones and resolution. I was hooked! I get a similar experience now and often get lost in concentration while prodding an image on the Mac.

For all the gear and research and purchasing decisions that get discussed (rightfully) it's important (for me) to not lose sight of the simple joy of making images.

Tim
 
Totally agree. The MM decision reflects this direction for me. Im committing to B&W and want to work this medium including going with a dedicated B&W printing system. Time to make the print the thing.
 
I may have spoken too soon. I just downloaded Capture1 7.1.1 and my first impression is that it has better tonal gradation and better resolution of fine detain than LR. I'll post some examples tonight. As much as I like the LR workflow, if C1 does a better straight conversion, that's where I'd start and then decide if it's worth using LR/PS for the tiffs or just PS. Again, this is just a quick first impression on the way out the door, but the difference was enough to say something and see if anyone else agrees. best....Peter
 
here's an example using LR 4.3, C1 7.1.1, 28 cron. The first 2 compare with no sharpening applied in conversion, the next 2 at default sharpening in both programs. No other processing other than cropping applied. ....Peter

LR no sharpening

C1 no sharpening

LR default sharpening

C1 default sharpening
 
Top