Fine Art Archives

November 15, 2024

Mochochrome photography. Make stand-out black and white with any camera.

Monochrome cameras let you shoot in ONLY black and white. But they are not what makes your photos jaw-dropping. I dug into this as I worked on the new Silver 5.5 preset update and the new L Monochrome preset I crafted for it.

If you own Silver 5 login here and get the free 5.5 update. If not get Silver or the FREE mini Silver Pack here and try some of these monochrome methods.

Do you need a monochrome camera?

Last night I was shooting a roll of Delta 3200 and thinking about what makes a black-and-white photo work and why many color photos converted to black-and-white fail. The problem is not the camera. It’s the tone. Like we talk about in Shadow Hackers.

Customers using a Mohchrome camera often ask me if my black and white tools like Silver and BlackRoom will work on these files. The answer of course is yes, it still lets you edit tone you just don’t get the color channel info. The process is still the same.

If you take a color Leica VS a Moncrhome for example and simply switch the color to BW mode there is very little difference. Monochrome does not make you better just because you paid more.

Use the camera that inspires you…

Just don’t think a cool camera will make you a great photographer.

In today’s video, I’ll show you the best secrets to amazing black-and-white images and it’s not the monochrome camera. But if that’s what makes you shoot and lobe your work, use that.

If you love this camera use them by all means.s Monochrome camera due to being made only for black and white has a unique feel and is also amazing at high ISO being less vulnerable to noise. Here’s a good video on that.

While the low grain of a monochrome camera is great it does not mean “better” photos or more authentic. True black and white film has grain and it’s one of its artistic characteristics. Neither choice is wrong.

Even that does not make a good monochrome photo

The gear is not what matters the tone is. Stay to the end of the video because I will close with some valuable tips to test and see if your tone is special or boring.

In studying how monochrome cameras render and making the new L Monochrome and S monochrome presets for Lightroom and Capture One I was struck by how flat and even monochrome fields were. They rely on you finding that contrast in the camera and challenge you.

July 28, 2024

capture one, Fine Art, lightroom, lightroom vs capture one, special effects

This makes your black and white better Instantly.

Most of us make black and white by converting color RAW files. That’s the best way. But even if you shoot monochrome digital or film, you must use these colors as filters.

Drop Color for black and white is just as magical as in color.

You’ve probably seen my video about Drop Color how 2 simple colors eliminate the ugly digital look and transform your process. It’s super easy but a game-changer. But what I didn’t tell you in that video is that this works amazingly in black and white with a slight twist. I’ll show you…

You can get the free mini version of Silver 5 presets here and see this in action. To take my tone down further I also use Blackroom and Emulsion 4 in Photoshop.

All the channels matter… But these 2 are magic.

Like the drop color method of a color photo, the color channels on black and white conversion work the same on luminance values and help you create better black and white really fast.

This is the same concept as using the color filter on black-and-white film to limit the light of certain colors and create more contrast and tone. Only in digital do we have more control.

Don’t get locked into one slider direction.

So generally a drop color is pulling done the saturation, or in this case the brightness (luma) of a color channel in HSL. But you can always push a color like I show at the end of the video.

Remember that these methods give you control. But don’t get locked in. And if you pull one color, push another, and see what happens. Usually, blues are pulled for better skies, but sometimes you push them.

It’s the same with green and orange. I’ll show you a great example at the end of the video.

Use this to key your background!

Pay close attention to where I mention exposure. How all these sliders are essentially small bits of exposure but for example on a single color.

So look at the example I show you. By pushing up the skin tone like I did the image gets a little too bright for what I’m trying to do in the portrait. This is actually a good thing.

Because pushing the luminance values in my black and white makes the subject too bright I compensate with an overall minus exposure until the skin is in the Zone I want.

The magic is that it maintained the subject brightness while darkening or keying the background and creating a natural dramatic contrast.

Put the tips I showed you to work with drop color on your black and white photos and watch your edits transform overnight.

Gavin Seim

May 16, 2024

art study, Fine Art, master photography class, photoshop, special effects

Fake photos are everywhere. You need to re-wire your process with Cinematic Technique.

Most viral photos you see now are Ai AI-generated FAKES. And the more you comment and say it’s fake, the more the algorithm rewards them. There’s no point in pretending. So how does Cinematic Technique help us win?

Use cinematic technique naturally while editing and WOW!

Get more cinematic faster with my Pictorialist action kit or tools like Alchemist.

Cinematic photography techniques beat out Ai fakery…

Studying pictorialism helped me see that all this fake Ai photography has no emotion. We win when we stop thinking sterile and boring. If we to discover cinematic techniques with true feeling.

AI is here. You need to re-wire your photography process if you want to survive.

Cinematic photography. Feeling and emotions. Think about when you watch a great movie or see a show. You don’t want perfect sterile blandness. You want to feel emotion and life!

The feeds are full of Ai fakery because compared to plain boring photos they seem incredible and people don’t know. How do we complete impossible scenes that blow people’s minds? But creating more emotional photos in camera and in post.

You need to Re-Wire your process for Cinematic photography

I would love to say. hey use my Pictrialist actions, my Filmist presets, Emulsion etc and you will always have amazing cinematic photography.

But I don’t make these tools to fake it. As I showed you in the video by re-wiring your editing process you will discover the emotion you already felt taking a photo. And you should feel something.

This starts in the camera. You can go back and edit with pictorialism and cinematic photography in mind and vastly improve past photos. But when you start planning for it in Camera, everything goes to 110%

Detail VS Atmosphere in Cinematic Technique

A dramatic photo means in the camera and in the edit. Cinematic Technique give you that.

Even if you have a strong style, it will get stronger as you edit for cinematic photography and emotion. You still need to experiment and feel what’s inside each photo.

I’m a photographer who makes large prints. So details matter. But it’s not always about the max megapixels or sharpest lens. Pictalism has taught me that emotion is first. yes, I maintain detail, but the blur is not always what it seems, and mixing detail with less detail creates atmosphere, emotion, and focus.

Pictorialism gives you a Cinematic Technique and is the essence of conveying real feelings in your photos. Because of that, it’s the opposite of what fake Ai based images create. You may not approach every photo as a pictorial. But once you know how, you see everything in a new way.

Gavin Seim

May 12, 2024

Fine Art, pictorialism, special effects

Creating Emotional real Photography Pictorialism in a sterile Ai age

Pictorialism is about emotion over perfection and famous pictorialists like Stegliz, Coburn, Hamilton and many more helped create the fine art world of photography we know today!

We’re in the roaring 20s again. But this time Ai and soulless photos are everywhere. Photography pictorialism may be the cure.

That’s why I dig in to create Pictorialist Actions. A PS editing add-on focused on making amazing pictorialist edits. There are lots more samples, info, and videos on the pictorialist page.

You can get Pictorialist here as well as see more samples and video.

A while back I started studying pictorialism. These photos are from early-era to iconic portrait photographers like David Hamilton. I had wanted something like this for years on digital.

So we made it and it was not easy. Today I made you a hands-on training workshop on how to create photography pictorialism in Photoshop using these new actions and why it’s so good.

photography pictorailism and editing in photoshop

Can you do pictorialism photography in Lightroom or Capture One.

At this level. The answer is a definitive no. Sure we can use clarity and shoot like pictorialists in camera. But deep edits like this are not what RAW editors do.

Of course, don’t need my actions to create these high-depth photography pictorialism edits on your photos. You do need layers, a deep understanding of blurs and blending modes, and tools that are well outside of Lightroom or C1.

Yes, you can do amazing things in raw editors. if you’ve used my Filmist presets or my Elegance Ai Speed-masks you have seen just so far we can fo in modern RAW editors. It’s amazing.

Creating pictorialism in photography is more. Yes, it starts with a camera and you can shoot in a pictorialist style for sure. But getting this kind of control needs layers and nuance.

Stop being afraid of Photoshop. That’s why I made today’s video to show you that complex things like this can be easy.

What is pictorialism?

Do photography and pictorialism differ?

Yes because when in the darkroom or on digital, pictures-based editing is about not perfect perfect or always accurate. But it’s also not Ai fakery. You use editing and techniques in camera and post to convey a more emotionally complex image. But not always a sharper one.

It’s a delicate balance and that’s why Pictorialist actions are really mind-blowing. They create a balance that you can then adjust quickly to fit your vision.

You can edit and mix and blur and create photography that is both real but also fine art and emotion. Pisctsorism reinforces the idea the idea that artistic editing is OK. But the edits are real. They are working with a real scene from camera to print and showing your vision.

photography pictorailism alfred Stegliz style editing

Pictorialism is like a counterbalance to AI.

And I think we need that right now.

Nealy every image you see going viral online is fake. But as a pictorialist you can say, I’m creating something dramatic but it’s real. And people need real in these sterile times.

It can be deeply creative and atmospheric. But it’s all based on real-world and you as the photographer view it as a slice of time.

Go try editing like a pictorialist and see the magic that ensues. And of course, if you want to make it even better try my Pictorialist actions. They’re guaranteed!

David Hamilton style effects using pictorialist actions

November 11, 2023

Fine Art, Mexico, science, tips

Use the Zone System to Shadow-Hack the light of your photos like never before.

The Zone System is the language of light and shadow and for digital shooters it’s invaluable.

What makes the Zone System such a big deal for better photos?

I teach Zones deeper in my free classes like Shadow Hackers and in Master Classes like Exposed. I’ve done a lot of Zone videos over the years but this updated video will make Zones easier than ever for whatever skill level you are at today.

You can check out my Lumist 2 actions here for live Zone control. In the video, I also mentioned Elegance speed masks and Natural HDR.

Choose carefully how to apply the Zones.

Exposure in photography is often left to meters to decide. You can use aperture priority or something like that on the go. But the key is that you are still taking control.

But when you combine Zones and the concepts of Shadow hacking you have the understanding of what makes a photo dramatic and also the ability to know whats happening in every moment of light and shadow.

When I use auto mode for streets or on the go I watch the feedback on the screen and most importantly the histogram. I’m seeing the Zones as I move and I use exposure compensation to quickly adjust them while staying in that auto mode.

I’ll show in the video how extreme this initial exposure was.

Edit with your Zone System visualization.

Zones give you control over light and shadow in a way nothing else gives you. So you can be in a flat-lit portrait scene or in a super contrasty sunset landscape and the Zone System will work equally to let you manage the tone value.

The secret is to expose your zones in the camera and then edit for those zones in the post.

For example in this portrait, the background was not a lot darker than the subject even with our strobe. But I exposed the subject where I wanted knowing that I would edit with a little more contrast in post and darken the background.

It’s not so different from how in the past we pushed and pulled film or burned and dodged. But the key here is you are seeing finished results before you press the shutter because you can easily use zones to plan and visualize.

I’ll show you this lower-contrast scene also in the video.

Using a spot meter for the Zone System

On the other side of this is a full manual. if you have time to set up, You’re shooting a landscape or a building. Use that tripod. use a spot meter in the camera or externally and place Zones exactly where you want.

Don’t just use the histogram as a rough guide in program mode. When possible use the full details of Zones and doing so will help you to understand them better in those moments when you are on the go and can’t stop to spot the meter.

Place your primary subject tones where you want, then make sure the rest falls into place.

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