Bill Pierce
Well-known
This is something we’ve been over before, but I still am asked about rendering color raw files to black-and-white inkjet prints that resemble, at least in spirit, the conventional darkroom silver prints that a lot of us more ancient photographers grew up on. Probably the first thing to say is that this is not a necessity. Some folks just hit the b&w button on their processing program and are happy with the results.
For me this produces pretty dull pictures. My normal procedure is to reduce the contrast of the image and compensate for that by raising the clarity. For instance, Silver Efex has two high structure presets that increase clarity that normally produce fairly harsh results. But if you lower the contrast as much as you can of an image before you move it to Silver Efex, with a little tweaking , you will get that “silver” look.
Obviously, you can lower the contrast and up the clarity in any image processing program. If you also move the darkest grays to blacks you will further increase the “film effect.” You can not only do this with the black slider of most programs, in Lightroom and Capture One you can experiment with the dehaze filter. You’ll probably have to brighten up the image and maybe drop the contrast, but you will get that silver look.
Although it does not have any control marked “clarity,” PhotoNinja monochrome scenic presets will produce the same effect. Interestingly enough, its b&w portrait presets will, among other things, reduce clarity. This is an important lesson. Simply reducing contrast, increasing clarity and dropping out the lowest dark gray values will produce a film like look that is great for the street, landscapes and general b&w photography. But don’t do it on relatively tight head shots unless you want to lose friends or customers. Head shots should not be studies in texture and detail. I suggest as little clarity and as much retouching as you can do and and still be able to say the the subject, “Amazing, you know I didn’t have to do a single thing to this picture.”
But, for other pictures where you want the “silver look,” I suggest you turn down the contrast and turn up the clarity.
That’s what I do. As a fan of black-and-white, I would truly like to hear what you do.
For me this produces pretty dull pictures. My normal procedure is to reduce the contrast of the image and compensate for that by raising the clarity. For instance, Silver Efex has two high structure presets that increase clarity that normally produce fairly harsh results. But if you lower the contrast as much as you can of an image before you move it to Silver Efex, with a little tweaking , you will get that “silver” look.
Obviously, you can lower the contrast and up the clarity in any image processing program. If you also move the darkest grays to blacks you will further increase the “film effect.” You can not only do this with the black slider of most programs, in Lightroom and Capture One you can experiment with the dehaze filter. You’ll probably have to brighten up the image and maybe drop the contrast, but you will get that silver look.
Although it does not have any control marked “clarity,” PhotoNinja monochrome scenic presets will produce the same effect. Interestingly enough, its b&w portrait presets will, among other things, reduce clarity. This is an important lesson. Simply reducing contrast, increasing clarity and dropping out the lowest dark gray values will produce a film like look that is great for the street, landscapes and general b&w photography. But don’t do it on relatively tight head shots unless you want to lose friends or customers. Head shots should not be studies in texture and detail. I suggest as little clarity and as much retouching as you can do and and still be able to say the the subject, “Amazing, you know I didn’t have to do a single thing to this picture.”
But, for other pictures where you want the “silver look,” I suggest you turn down the contrast and turn up the clarity.
That’s what I do. As a fan of black-and-white, I would truly like to hear what you do.
