Telling the difference . . .

[Vince Lupo]

Thanks for giving it a try! It seems to me that the second version is better 'balanced' than the first one. The tones between the fellow in the foreground and Gov. Kasich seem to be closer together. Skin texture definitely looks better.

What do you think?

 

[Timmyjoe]

Definitely better than what I was doing. And definitely a good place to start. I can see doing small tweaks, maybe adding a touch of grain, etc to the image from here, but I think your process gets the image in the ballpark of B&W film, and that is what I was looking for.

It also happens to be much faster than the method I was using.

Thanks.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Vince Lupo]

Good to hear. I find that it's good to bring it back to a 'flat' image, and then adjust from there. Almost like working from a flat neg, which is much better than working from a high-contrast neg.

You could even try bringing the contrast down ever further, like -30, and see what that does. And I've found that the 'parametric' curve can be a very powerful tool.

It's interesting, but I've found that working on an image in the computer can be as involving as working on an image in a darkroom. Don't know if you've had that experience.

 

[Timmyjoe]

Actually I find myself getting lost with an image in the computer much more than I ever did in the darkroom. But then again, I started working in the darkroom in 1976, and didn't start trying to manipulate images digitally until about sixteen years ago.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

I haven't read to the end of the thread, so i'm just guessing:
Digital for the first
Second, could be either.

What i notice/look for is that with digital, the bokeh is not broken up in a 'pointillist' way. It's hard, and just kinda 'non organic.' I'm looking specifically at the area directly to the left of the left figure's head: the cars and partial third figure.