I should title this post “Finding a Better Black and White”, or, more accurately, “Finding YOUR Black and White”.  Because really, black and white images are completely subjective.  I, personally, like black and white images that don’t have blocked up shadows; rather, I like to see shadow detail instead of straight black.  I also like a flatter, warmer image with a touch of grain.  I truly miss black and white fild, and I have worked hard to create and/or find actions and presets that will help me achieve the black and white look that I want.

As I mentioned a few posts down, my workflow consists of a combination of Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.  Most of my work is going to occur in Adobe Lightroom- in fact, many of my images will be processed in Lightroom and nothing else.  Keep in mind that I deliver high- anything from 750 to 1250 images per wedding and 100-250 per portrait session, so I’m only fine-tuning a handful of those in Photoshop.

My first step is to import the photographs into Lightroom.  I have three black and white presets that I have developed (one of the great things about Lightroom is the fact that it is incredibly easy to develop presets that give your raw photos the “look” that you like).  All three of the presets create a black and white with less muddy skin tones, but still a fairly flat black and white since I don’t want to lose all of that shadow detail by adding a lot of black or contrast.  The great thing about Lightroom is that you can mix your black and white to taste in the grayscale mix section of the Develop module- I like my skin tones to be a bit creamier, so I lighten my red and yellow tones (because the skin is made up of red and yellow) while darkening my blues.  My Lightroom black and white presets will give me a file that I am happy to show the client, but one that can be improved by taking it into Lightoom.

Now for the Photoshop bit- most of the time I create my own actions, but when it comes to black and whites I go with the master.  I have to admit, I’m a Photoshop Action junkie.  I’ve tried almost everything out there because I love and adore Photoshop and I get a kick out of trying new actions.  But I have to admit, IMHO Jeff Ascough (a really fabulous photographer out of the UK- if you haven’t checked out his work please do) has created the best black and white actions out there.  They really give your digital files a tactile, film-like look, and I just adore how customizable they are.  Check them out here.  Almost every black and white file I have manipulated in Photoshop has one of these actions run on it.  (Now would be an important time to mention that ANY action will give you a bad result if your file isn’t properly exposed with the appropriate white balance BEFORE running the action.  Garbage in, garbage out.)

Finally, I will occasionally run a specialty action to “season” my black and white images.  I like them to be a bit grainier, with a subtle vignette and blurred edges.  I also like a touch of a warm tone, and a more subtle contrast shift.  There are two actions that I really like when it comes to seasoning my black and white images, and both of them come from the Totally Rad Action set (one from the original, the second from the remix set).   The thing I love about these actions is that they are completely customizable.  So many action sets out there flatten your images or make the adjustments to the background layer, leaving you unable to tweak them.  The TRA set is different- the layers are left open, letting you play with the opacity of each layer to come up with a look that is your own.  My favorite is the Old Skool action (the set has several)- I run it and then lower the opacity to anywhere from 20 to 40%.  (Keep in mind that I am starting with an image that has already been adjusted with a Jeff Ascough black and white action.)  This gives my images just a touch of grain, vignette, and tone, adding a bit of a vintage look to them.  The second action that I use to season my black and white images (used less frequently) is the Homestead black and white image.  Once again, I change the tone and compression layers and then lower the opacity on the overall effect.  For me, it is important to add just a touch of these actions.  I don’t want my images to scream “TOTALLY RAD OLD SKOOL ACTION” or any action at all; rather, I want the effect to bit a bit more subtle.

The great thing about Lightroom and Photoshop is that MY black and white may not be YOUR black and white.  But these two programs (along with the actions and presets that I and others have developed) will give you endless options for coming up with your own look!

Post by Michelle Turner, Maine Portait Photographer and Maine Wedding Photographer
Tags: Maine Portrait Photography, Maine Portrait Photographer, Photoshop Actions, Lightroom Presets, Black and White Actions and Presets

One of the questions that I am asked by other photographers quite frequently is how I edit my photographs.  Do I spend hours in Photoshop?  Am I using another program?  How am I processing my photographs to achieve a consistent look/feel?

For me, it is a two-step process.  The first involves Adobe Lightroom- this is where I do all of my initial editing, color correcting, and image prepping.  The majority of my photographs will be edited in Lightroom AND NOTHING ELSE.

The second step involved Adobe Photoshop- if I really like a photograph and I feel that it would benefit from some additional work (vintage overlays, textures, dodging and burning, selective rather than global color enhancement), I will take it into Photoshop.  Only about 30 photographs per wedding reach this stage, because this is where I really take the time to play and make an image look like I remember it feeling.  I’m not necessarily a realist when it comes to these photographs- sometimes a photograph will look little like I remember the moment feeling- I use Photoshop to try to bridge that gap, whether I remember a darker moment, a warmer light, or even a grungier feel.

As is the case with every photographer, my time is very precious to me.  So, in order to streamline my workflow, I have harnessed two of the greatest time-savers in Lightroom and Photoshop- I have created user-specific presets and actions.  What do I mean by that?  Well, over the past several years of using Lightroom and Photoshop together, I realized that I treat certain types of photographs in very specific ways.  If it is a bright sunny day then I might brighten and enhance the sky.  If we are in flat light, I might brighten the skin tones.  I might add some warming textures to grass and foliage in the summer to give it a deeper, richer look.  Rather than go into detail about action and preset creation here (there are tutorials all over the web), I thought I might give some visual examples of what can be accomplished in just a few seconds with each program.  Remember, most of the time I am going for subtle enhancements rather than over-the-top changes.  (I am going to use images from Chris and Amber’s session- they are expecting their first child soon!)

In this first example, I wanted to enhance the sky, grass, and water.  In Lightroom I ran a preset to brighten the skin tones (by lightening the reds and yellows in the photograph), while darkening and saturating the blues and cyans.  I also added a touch of clarify and vibrance.  My preset also includes a touch of fill and brightness- I want to get the image close to how I like my finished product to look so that I can spend less time in Photoshop and also deliver many images directly from Lightroom.  Once I brought the image into Photoshop, I ran an action I developed to run a selective color enhancement, which I painted into the sky and the grass.  I also separated the shadow areas a bit with some custom shadow/highlight settings.  And voila- 30 seconds later I have an image that I’m happy with, that isn’t too over the top.

When I took this second photograph, I needed to expose for the highlights in order to preserve the background.  This was an incredibly bright day, and I didn’t want to blow out the water or the couple, but I also wanted to retain a soft, natural light feel.  In Lightroom I ran one of my presets to enhance and brighten the greens while separating out the shadows and brightening the skin (I brightened the yellows and reds and dropped the saturation while brightening and shifting the hue of the greens).  In photoshop I wanted give the photograph a more three dimensional feel while separating the couple from the background and enhancing the foreground.  To do so, I ran one of my dodge and burn actions (using curve adjustment layers, NOT the dodge and burn tool), and then followed it up with a texture that I photographed last year (that is one of my favorites) on soft light, painted out of the couples face.  With actions, this was a 40 second fix.

This third set is a good example of the straight out of camera file not looking like I remember the moment feeling.  Autumn and Chris were cuddling together in the bright sun, and we were talking about their baby (did I mention that they are expecting!!! yay!!).  I remembered the moment being very bright and warm. In Lightroom I ran one of my presets to enhance the sky and brighten the skin (as in the first example.  I also ran a preset that added a very subtle vignette and opened up the shadows.  Then I brought the image into Photoshop and added a cream fill layer on multiply to give the image a vintage feel, while running an action to separate the shadows a bit more and adding a texture overlay (locally applied, not globally applied).   Once again, actions helped to keep the retouching under a minute.

Post by Michelle Turner, Maine Portait Photographer and Maine Wedding Photographer

Tags: Maine Portrait Photography, Maine Portrait Photographer, Maine Portrait Photography, Photoshop Actions, Lightroom Presets