Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Beginner's Questions => Topic started by: SCQ on October 10, 2009, 04:18:24 pm
-
Ok, so newbie question - but I've been racking my brain over this for awhile.
I quite like those warm B/W which are slightly brown tinted. Recent example being "Maple Leaf, Algonquin Park, Ontario. October, 2009" on the front page of Luminous Landscape.
I tried split toning a desaturated image in Lightroom, but I just can't seem to get the tone just right. Any ideas?
Thanks
-
The lights right has a set of B+W presets for free. Google em and see if they come close.
-
Correct - it's a color image that's been processed to look black and white. That example is fairly accurately replicating the look of older b/w negative film(Kodak Tmax, by the look of it, or maybe AfgaPan), IIRC - it had a slightly brownish cast to it, especially after it has been printed on actual photo paper(as opposed to an inkjet). Nice "timeless" look.
(nice digital effect, btw - )
http://www.rogerandfrances.com/blackwhite.html (http://www.rogerandfrances.com/blackwhite.html)
Note how most the black and white ones that were printed on photo paper all have this sort of "look" as opposed to slide film. Each one is different, though, just like how Astia and Provia and Velvia are distinctly different.
http://www.pickeringphotography.co.uk/Mono...20Portfolio.htm (http://www.pickeringphotography.co.uk/Monochrome%20Portfolio.htm)
I personally like Pan F because it's nearly perfectly gray(The Fuji is also very close). Very high contrast, but perfect for scenery, IMO. It feels less like a "timeless/dreamy" look and more like you ripped a moment out of time and captured it, the good and the bad - in a sort of stark manner. It makes for very good images of people's faces as well, especially when you want that sort of impact in the shot.
It's why I still love black and white film. You can do so much with it that you can't do with digital.
A few examples I found on google images:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3390/321750..._87316d8fed.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3390/3217502904_87316d8fed.jpg) - Pan F. Stark and high contrast.
http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard...V-119313584.jpg (http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00S/00SroV-119313584.jpg) - Agfapan - very smooth and warm look.
-
It's why I still love black and white film. You can do so much with it that you can't do with digital.
Really, aside from extremely long exposures, there is nothing b/w film can do that digital cannot. Sure, film has a slightly different look than digital, but how is that different than comparing two different b/w films?
As for the OP's question, the only way to get the toned effect you want is to experiment. Try many different methods. Don't try to copy!! A few years ago I purchased an original print by Brooks Jensen and, favoring the warm tones in his print, tried unsuccessfully for weeks to get that exact look. I finally gave up and, putting his print away for a while, came up with my own brand of slightly warmish tones. I was very happy with the results and was sure it was very close to Brook's toning. When I compared the two, they were completely different. I actually liked mine better.
So take a lesson from my my mistake. Don't try to copy someone else's look. Use it instead for inspiration, put it away, then work on your own images until you find a toning method you really like. If it's not exactly the same as what you were trying for, all the better. That means it's YOURS.