B&W Master print article

[Tim Gray]

One of the best articles I've seen in a while. (What's New - http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/bw_master_print.shtml )

"The basic physical difference between the two states – Luminance and Luminosity – is largely one of defining edges and altering contrast"  was one statement that caught my attention - particularly since I had just reviewed the following: (which also is very worthwhile to drill down to the basic source articles."

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=58071.0

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

One of the best articles I've seen in a while.

I agree. Lot's of substance, little fluff.

Eric

[RFPhotography]

Have to admit I'm a bit confused.  The link goes to another thread with a link to an article on eye tracking.  I have no idea how this relates to the title of this thread and the copied quote is not to be found in that eye tracking article.

[Tim Gray]

The quote is from the B&W Master print article.  The referenced thread has it's own link, which in turn links to:
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2010/05/28/ubc-researcher-decodes-rembrandt%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cmagic%E2%80%9D/ which is where the interesting discussion of contrast and edge detection takes place.

[Mark D Segal]

The quote is from the B&W Master print article.  The referenced thread has it's own link, which in turn links to:
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2010/05/28/ubc-researcher-decodes-rembrandt%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cmagic%E2%80%9D/ which is where the interesting discussion of contrast and edge detection takes place.

But where do I find the B&W Master Print article?

[fdisilvestro]

But where do I find the B&W Master Print article?

It's the new article on LuLa home page http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/bw_master_print.shtml

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

But where do I find the B&W Master Print article?

I realize you're pretty new to LL, Mark, so here's how to find George DeWolfe's fine article:

1. Go to the Luminous Landscape home page (not the forum) -- and be sure to stick a hyphen between Luminous and Landscape or you'll get some silly commercial site.
2. scroll down a little until you see "What's New," and click on it.
3. Click on the link to "The B&W Master Print – Creating Presence," and Bob's y'r Uncle!   

Cheers,

Eric M.

[Tim Gray]

I had the same problem with the thread talking about how the shot of the "World's Best Tripod?" was out of focus -(or at least it was the grass, not the tripod that was in focus)  Took me a while to figure out what they were talking about

[scuba_d]

The topics of the article are already discussed in details in his book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Masters-B-W-Printing/dp/1600591655/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317064042&sr=1-1

The first of his books worth reading too.

[AFairley]

One of the best articles I've seen in a while.

Agreed, the suggestion to blur and step back from the monitor is going to be immensely helpful to me.

[Alan Goldhammer]

The topics of the article are already discussed in details in his book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Masters-B-W-Printing/dp/1600591655/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317064042&sr=1-1

The first of his books worth reading too.

+1 on the book recommendation but I really did not like all the shilling that he did for his software plug in which I find to be of dubious value (IMHO).

[gromit]

+1 on the book recommendation but I really did not like all the shilling that he did for his software plug in which I find to be of dubious value (IMHO).

Don't have the plug-in? Try this:

1. Duplicate the background layer
2. Desaturate (if colour)
3. Apply large diameter Gaussian Blur (value depends on image size/resolution)
4. Invert
5. Set Overlay blend mode
6. Set Opacity to taste
7. Apply Curve for midtone contrast increase

See attached:

[Alan Goldhammer]

Don't have the plug-in? Try this:

1. Duplicate the background layer
2. Desaturate (if colour)
3. Apply large diameter Gaussian Blur (value depends on image size/resolution)
4. Invert
5. Set Overlay blend mode
6. Set Opacity to taste
7. Apply Curve for midtone contrast increase

See attached:

Exactly; why should I pay for something I can replicate in Photoshop (that was the dubious value part of the statement).

[Adam L]

I had to chime in and give 3 thumbs up to George DeWolfe.   I would love to see that first image hanging on my living room wall.   Thanks so much for the fact filled lesson that will keep me busy for months.   I see myself re-reading every word a hundred times over, now bookmarked for easy access.

There should be a link to the main page from the forum, I never noticed until reading the above comments.  That main site is a treat too.  I always come to the forum from there, looking first to see if the main page picture changed.  Michael changes the front page image every time a new 'What's New' is posted.

[RFPhotography]

Shilling aside, really what he's advocating is just a different way of doing a lot of the things that we do already in PS.  Localised contrast (dodge/burn) and a different approach to localised sharpening/desharpening.  It doesn't work with Smart Objects.  I like the use of the Snapshots.  To be honest I'd completely forgotten that could be done in PS.  He's substituting the History Brush for the regular brush used in other methods.  Is it really that different?

[Mark D Segal]

I realize you're pretty new to LL, Mark, so here's how to find George DeWolfe's fine article:

1. Go to the Luminous Landscape home page (not the forum) -- and be sure to stick a hyphen between Luminous and Landscape or you'll get some silly commercial site.
2. scroll down a little until you see "What's New," and click on it.
3. Click on the link to "The B&W Master Print – Creating Presence," and Bob's y'r Uncle!   

Cheers,

Eric M.

Hi Eric and Francisco,

OK, OK, - silly me - fact is I'm far afield on a slowish internet connection, up to my eyeballs in work, with barely enough time on my hands to respond to email - haven't been to the Home Page for a while, nor any other website for that matter. Life should return to "normal" next week!  Cheers, and thanks :-) It looks like a great article.

[aduke]

It appears to me that this is a uni-directional method, i.e., there is no history available if you need to save and restart. If you've not kept an un-modified layer to restart from, all you've got to work with is your partially modified image. There is no way to back out the sharpening, but you can add blur. There is no way to back out lightening or darkening other than to darken or lighten the current image.

It's not clear that this is a problem, but it is a concern.

Alan

[scuba_d]

+1 on the book recommendation but I really did not like all the shilling that he did for his software plug in which I find to be of dubious value (IMHO).

I tried his software, but did not figure it out how to improve the picture with it, so I ended up not buying it. However I do not hesitate to buy good software if it is going to save me considerable work in front of the computer.

I like his books not because of the technique shown to fix what is wrong, but rather for pointing out the way how to see what to improve in your images.

[to-mas]

Really interesting article. I really liked the blurring of the image and stepping further away, and also whole theoretical background.
Will share it all over on my FB and so on.

But, even that I found his history brush technique very interesting, I cant see how it could replace method of using multiple differently exported raws as smart objects with masking. If I am correct, he will still have data just from one (assume 16bit) export of RAW file.
I need to say, I didn't have time to try his method yet.

[Rajan Parrikar]

These effects and more can also be obtained by using Nik's Silver Efex Pro (by extending the presets, needless to add).