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Post by hmca on Jan 2, 2020 14:45:11 GMT
Our first BW challenge for 2020 will be clouds. To get you started thinking about clouds and the impact that they can have on an image please refer to this excellent article from Digital Photography School. Flickr has a nice selection of cloud images that you may want to take a look at.....some delivering more of an impact than others. Not too long ago I linked to The Cloud Appreciation Society. It is definitely worth a look as we explore this topic. Yesterday I quickly took two cloud images so as to have something to add to my introductory post. Both were converted in SE and then tweaked in PS.   Finally last night I happened to be notified of a new video posted by Jack Curran. It just so happened that he was editing a cloud shot from a thunder storm....a bit of serendipity to be sure. Looking forward to seeing your cloud images this month and please share why you chose to submit a particular image. Let's inspire each other as we explore cloud photography. |
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Post by tonyw on Jan 2, 2020 18:00:04 GMT
That was very timely as I looked out of the window this morning and thought those look like nice clouds - and so here they are! The sun was just off to the left and lowish behind the trees so the dynamic range was rather extreme. Could have been a case for bracketing exposures but these days I find it's rarely necessary and instead used Lightroom to selectively boost dark area - I used the adjustment brush with the luminosity mask enabled to boost the exposure of the trees by 4 stops. As the camera was pointing up I adjusted the perspective so the trees were roughly vertical. I then applied the B&W Red Filter profile - my favourite for clouds as a red filter darkens blue skies. Then tweaked the rest of the settings - in particular adding lots of texture (100%!)  Thanks for the theme and will be looking out for more cloudy days. Tony |
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pontiac1940
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Post by pontiac1940 on Jan 2, 2020 18:08:04 GMT
Much less drastic than it looks.  Original jpg opened in ACR, fiddled with contrast, blacks, shadows and lights and also desaturated. Then in PSE 2018, created new adj layer >> gradient map with foreground/BG colors set at B and W. Darkened blacks and played with mid tones. I was too aggressive and there is a halo on the lower left hill horizon.  |
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Post by hmca on Jan 2, 2020 22:23:22 GMT
Tony and Clive...thanks for getting this challenge started. Tony I have to check out luminosity masking with LR......thanks for your details on that feature.
Clive....that is some serious cloud you've captured!
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billz
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Post by billz on Jan 2, 2020 23:52:18 GMT
We kicked off 2020 with some pretty dramatic skies in Portland so I chose a shot from yesterday for this challenge. I converted to bw in Camera RAW, and tried to lighten/darken various colours to show some separation in the color bands of the rainbow.  It was pretty in color too!  Thanks for the theme Helen! |
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Post by Peterj on Jan 3, 2020 0:25:25 GMT
There are few clouds in AZ now so I went through my archive and found this one from Aug 2019. On1 used exclusively > adjusted black & white points; exaggerated sky color and brightness; applied B7W filter with a selenium toner included.
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pontiac1940
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Post by pontiac1940 on Jan 3, 2020 4:27:29 GMT
Love clouds.  Livingstone Range in SW Alberta. July 18, 2019 ... our 49th anniversary! This time, just desaturated in ACR. Fiddled with levels and contrast.  |
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pontiac1940
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Post by pontiac1940 on Jan 3, 2020 4:35:30 GMT
Did I say I love clouds? Cumulus clouds on the plains ... Please tell me when to stop!  Desaturated (I think) and then New adj layer >> gradient map with B&W foreground and background.  |
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pontiac1940
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Post by pontiac1940 on Jan 3, 2020 4:39:15 GMT
Last one .. today. No shame. Processed 3 or 4 years ago. Would have involved New adj layer >> gradient map with B&W foreground and background.  |
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Post by hmca on Jan 3, 2020 4:40:03 GMT
Glad you went to the archives, Pete. Your clouds certainly dominate that landscape and are a nice addition to this thread. I was a little confused as to the toning. You mentioned using a selenium toner which in NIK SE always seems to add a grey/blue tone to my work. However, your print appears to have a reddish tone on my screen. So I did some searching and found this response to a question on a photography site dealing with film development.  |
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Post by hmca on Jan 3, 2020 4:54:12 GMT
Bill, that is a beautiful display to start the new year and to include in this thread. I know rainbows are all about color, but as Alex made us aware last month with the Christmas lights, how affective a black and white presentation can be! Clive...I will not ask you to stop....but do take a look at the Cloud Appreciation Society.....the first one you posted looks similar to the lead image in this post. |
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Post by Peterj on Jan 3, 2020 6:22:52 GMT
Glad you went to the archives, Pete. Your clouds certainly dominate that landscape and are a nice addition to this thread. I was a little confused as to the toning. You mentioned using a selenium toner which in NIK SE always seems to add a grey/blue tone to my work. However, your print appears to have a reddish tone on my screen. So I did some searching and found this response to a question on a photography site dealing with film development. Helen, On1's B&W filter has many options available - I chose to not use the standard selenium but adjusted to my liking...  |
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Post by tonyw on Jan 3, 2020 23:16:54 GMT
Just one big cloud today so dipped back into the archives - processed in Lightroom using one of the standard B&W profiles. As before used the gradient and brush tools with a Luminosity Mask to apply some extra adjustments to the sky. Having discovered how to use it I find I'm using it all very frequently to make targeted adjustments to images.  Tony |
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Post by hmca on Jan 4, 2020 0:38:06 GMT
Looking at the water and the clouds, I am thinking this was a long exposure image. It certainly has a very tranquil quality. While I know the range mask was introduced awhile ago in LR, I didn't get the hang of it when I first viewed some tutorials and as a result never explored it further. After reading how you used it in your first submission, I finally looked for some tutorials to see if I might get a better handle on their use in LR. I came across this video which was pretty straightforward. Do you have a video that you would recommend? |
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Post by jackscrap on Jan 4, 2020 7:19:49 GMT
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