Photography tips and techniques

Black and White Conversions

I do not proclaim to be a photoshop guru at all (far, far from it) but I did want to share some techniques that I have learned here and there from others. I often get asked about my black and white conversions. I put together a tutorial which I posted on http://www.dgrin.com/ I will share it here. The method is Kevin Kubota's so I cannot take any credit for it at all. http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=57194. You may have to join the forum to get to the link. Not sure.

I have also recently built my own gradients and may use two at a time. Adjusting opacity of one or the other based on the pic until I like what I see. One step to add after you add the gradient is to add a 'color balance' layer. Click on the layer and drag it below the gradient layers. You can now tweak your shadow, midpoint and highlights via the individual RGBs. Works like a charm or at least it does for me.

Another BW conversion method I use is by Greg Gorman. He has a tutorial on the steps on his website www.greggormanphotography.com and you can find an action for his BW conversion at http://www.atncentral.com/. I will use his method to convert to BW and them add one of my gradients for some tone, etc.


Color Pop

Two techniques that I have been using lately to pop the color:

1. Press the alt key and then click on the add adjustment layer in the layer palette. Select brightness/contrast and change the mode to soft light. Click OK. Choose the amount of contrast (I usually start with 8) and adjust accordingly. Now lower the opacity of this layer until you get the amount of pop that you are pleased with. Adding contrast can make faces become a little less than desirable in color. I then add a mask and paint back in the areas that I do not want to pop the color.

2. Another way to add some pop is to change the mode to lab. Ctrl/J to duplicate the layer and change the mode to multiply. Adjust opacity as needed. I also add a mask and paint back in areas that I do not want it to effect. Change mode back to RGB.

Hope you can follow my directions here.