Black and white looks easy, but is hard. So what’s the best way to edit black and white in 2024? I’ll show you, but there are a couple of levels and you want to be comfortable with both.
Fast edits or detailed art black and white edits. How about both?
In the video I use Silver 5 presets, BlackRoom actions, and Emulsion 4. You can also create your own versions of these processes manually. Just make sure you have something.
I’ve tried nearly every black-and-white method.
Many claim to be a new approach or the best. But what you’ll see in today’s video is that it’s more about the level of black and white you want to edit.
RAW fast and clean black-and-white edits are second to none. But the two more advanced methods we look at give you better black-and-white edits and don’t have to be complicated.
Over the years I designed all my layer-based tools to use the gradient map apprtach top black and white edits. Watch this video and I’ll show you how to use those manually.
The real secret to the best black and white.
It’s confidence to carry out your visualization and tools that let you try things efficiently.
Use shadows without fear like we talk about in Shadow Hackers. Because black and white is all about those shadows and the contrast they create. These methods just help you focus. Quick batch edits, then take the best and add layers of edits and atmosphere, use a tinting process if needed, and go to print.
This mix of cyanotype and wet plate processes created in Emulsion4 gives a strong drama.Editing with presets and Lightroom and then a platinum process for this session finished it perfectly.A selenium black-and-white edit approach was also finished in Emulsion 4. Like real selenium it’s subtle.
Luma masking is powerful but often complicated in RAW. I go to Lumist for deep edits. But Lightroom and Capture One have powerful masking tools and today we take control of those.
I included my preset of this in Natural HDR 4 and it works in Lightroom and Capture One. Download the latest version (login here) if you don’t have the preset “Xmod – HDR Magic Mask”.
I call this the Magic Mask because it gives you fluid control.
But like magic, it’s hard to do right. So today we’re going to simplify the mask tool that’s often difficult and for that reason not used like its Ai counterparts.
The cool thing about a mask done with luminosity-based settings in a RAW editor is it adapts as you make other edits. So if I change the exposure on the main edit, the masking effect changes based on how those tones move.
Combining masks that effect the luma ranges together you get a delicate mix but quickly using presets.
Putting Luma into speed masks.
The power here is putting the mix of highlight and shadow management into a speed mask that runs at one time. You can save all the settings and you don’t have to tinker around each time because the luma tools in Lightroom and Capture One take a lot of tinkering to get right. It’s not something you want to do manually in every photo.
I think that’s why most people don’t use the luma masking in Lightroom and A1. The Ai tools are fast and they are great. But luma-based tools give us a different route to what is selected.
I would go so far as to say that unless the Luma tools are in a preset I rarely use them because they are more tourable than just going into Photoshop and doing a deep edit with a tool like Lumist.
But as a combo Speed Mask preset. A concept I came up with from Elegance 4 and that anyone can create, you get all the masks on one click and then you simply adjust them a little as needed or turn them up and down.
With speed masking it’s not making every hyper HDR. It’s just the ability to balance the mix perfectly.
Capture One can Finally Save Masks.
There’s a lot of good and bad about capturing one but a huge beef has been the inability to save masks like LR has given us for years. The recent update allowed us to save the new Ai masks in styles that I have been implementing in my preste packs.
But just this week with the 24.3 update I realized we can finally save the other mask types including Luma masks so I was able to create this same Magic Mask preset for both apps and you can save your own as well.
I edited with Filmist and used an AI portrait mask. But the magic mask let me balance shadow and light.
But when I did the recent Natural HDR 4.1 update I wanted a video not about how to use the presets so much as how to create beautiful HDR Photography. Not your Grandpas HDR!
HDR mode presets, Shadows, and highlights. HDR Photography!
Tone is not what people think and neither is HDR so I’m finally making a video to put an end to the confusion. This is how HDR will change how you see tone and shadow practically in 2024.
Don’t Expose to the right in HDR Photography – Expose, DARK?
In another video I showed you why Expose to the Right is Wrong. Today you see me going left and right on on shots I want dynamic range from. That’s because you need to expose RIGHT to what you are creating. Not to the right or left.
When you know Zones and exposure and how those relate you your histrogram like we talk about in Exposed. But you will soon learn when you understand exposure that meters don’t tell you the correct settings for your photo.
When I posted to my channel a few weeks ago, the least understood thing in photography I knew it was important. But the method of how to use it in the real world is what we see in today’s video.
Shadows are the easiest thing to recover with today’s sensors, software noise reduction etc. It’s mostly because shadows usually need to stay dark but clipped highlights ruin a photo fast.
I use Zones to expose. But I base the main exposure on how I will handle my highlights and ensure I retain shadows. Exposure for your photo, but often this means exposing dark.
As we saw in the video the single file produced a better result faster with today’s RAw tools like LR
Don’t look silly with your HDR Photography.
There’s no rule here. You can crush your histogram, push your clarity, and drive sliders hard. But unless you know how and why you are doing it, you will probably just look like an amateur, using decade-old techniques that feel fake and overused.
A great photo normally does not reveal its method to the average viewer. That is it makes an impact, but that impact is not in the effect itself. When viewers have seen an ugly HDR process used and your photo seems similar, the reactions will usually be predictable.
Know the effect you intend to create. Then do it in a balanced way. That’s the secret to using HDR today and getting magical results. Editing with good presets whether you make your own use a tool like Natural HDR 4 or use single RAW files will get you there fast.
IN this High Dynamic Range edit from the bright image I’ve finished with a bit more blue in the sky using Natural HDR’s Ai sky mask.
Don’t create High Dynamic Range photography without Shadow
I sound like a broken record but it’s because the tone is the least understood skill in photography. The shadows save you. Don’t think. It’s too much shadow and therefore, not HDR. That’s not how this works, as I explain in the video.
HDR photography is the art of balancing shadows and highlights that are widely separated. It’s a method, not a filter. Once you learn that shadows are your friend in creating that balance, your HDR photos will be amazing and your LOFI photos will be improved by the same techniques.
It’s OK to have shadows like in this single file HDR from Grand Tetons. Note the detail in deep shadow.Once you understand HDR you will us it subtley and even film-edited projects like this portrait.
I’m on a mission to change that and I want my first video of the year to do that. Most photographers don’t realize that photographic tone is the secret skill that makes them understand every shot. Today we learn it…
This video would have saved me years if I had known.
But videos like this did not exist when I was starting out. These are the 3 keys of tone in photography so you can master them fast regardless of your experience level. And they will change how you create photos.
The unabashed flaring of the sun gives a natural haze to this morning street that can’t be done with a single slider. It was processed gold using GoldChrome
The stuff that great photos are made of.
The photographic tone is the foundation of great photos. But the tone is a wide-ranging one that comes from the painters and the way they learned to understand shadow and contrast long before cameras.
This is the lost skill in Photography that I go on deeper in my workshops and today I’m sharing the keys to unlock this door in the simplest way I know how. IN consists of 3 elements that lead us to what tone does for us and why it is important.
Here’s how I explain photographic tone. But it’s more important to show!
Shadows create contrast
Contrast reveals tone
Tone creates atmosphere
These 1,2,3 lists mean little to your photographic tone without context. So in the video, we’re comparing different photos to see how not only edits but how shadow contrast and ambiance in each will define our result.
IN another Xpan style crop we see light creating bloom and reducing contrast. The net result is that tone is more subtle and more contrast is created in the overall image. Edited with Street’ist.
Most photographers don’t even know what it is
In my Exposed Master class, we learn everything about exposure and zones. Those are the technical aspects. But if you’ve been to Shadow Hackers or seen the Photo Perfect workshop you know that combining those with the artist’s aesthetic is what makes a great photo.
In the end, the tone is pretty simple and yet subjective. But if you constantly remind yourself of the three factors. Shadow, contrast, and tone, which is the combination of all the light and dark and mist and color. All of them combined create a tone in your own style.
We see the contrast between the burned tree and the tone of the model. Then edited with a David Hamilton-inspired process to create softness with contrast and a balanced photographic tone.
Less contrast is often more contrasty!
As much as I use sliders and settings and layers inside and out in my tool packs. Tone-like shadow is not created by the slider it’s just moved around.
When we use contrast to just create hard lines we lose tonal nuance and atmosphere. In the end, the contrast of the overall scenes is less, and viewers don’t see the nuance you wanted to show.
As I keep building these free resources and simplifying the process of understanding tone I help myself learn more and hopefully, you as I realize a dream that’s spanned 20 years to make a simple process for those of us who want to truly master our style in photography.
We compare two of these in the video. Note how the tone of this one is softened but less distracting than what might be called the contrast image. Edited with Filmist.
There are lots of free Lightroom presets around my site like Silver and Natural HDR. But my most popular ones are my free film presets and I’ve updated them today for Filmist V2.
In the FIlmist free film presets and styles pack you get the next-gen Portra 160, Fuji Classic Negative, and Agfa RSX 100 film styles.
Just using these film presets will give you edits that feel true to the film. Photographers are learning that real photos are what matters in this new Ai world. For more on this check out my post and grounding your edits with film styles.
Below is a hands-on video from my channel on how to use Filmist 2. If you need help installing the free LIghtroom presets or Capture One Styles, check out the videos on the help page.
Here are the improved film styles in the free film pack.
The latest refinements of these film styles are like true film. I’ve shot more film, done more side-by-side testing, and made every film recipe in Filmist 2 better.
I hope you love these and buy the entire Filmist film presets pack. It’s years of work and it is the best lightroom and capture one film presets I know of. But for now, at least grab my free film presets pack and enjoy.
Oh, and you also get free film LUTS in the free and complete pack so you can get the true film look in video editors like Premiere Pro, Resolve, and other photo apps like OnOne and Luminar.
Portra 160 Gen.3 Film Preset
Portra 160 free film preset is a classic and the latest Gen3 version is even more refined. Portra 400 and 800 are also included in Filmist Complete.
How do I decide what presets to use? The power of REAL Photos.
I’ve been making high-grade Lightroom presets and free Capture One styles for many years. So why am I obsessed with getting perfect film looks? It comes back to maintaining that natural real look that the film created and that I’ve managed to duplicate in Filmist 2.
I use the balance I learn in creating film presets to improve my other presets. That’s why they all play together well.
Some photos need a different look. I normally use films as a starting point. But depending on my photo I’ll also use Natural HDR, Streetist, and my other packs.
Each of these packs also has mods. So while I love the ChemKit2 mods in Filmist I don’t hesitate to go to ModKit from Silver 5 black and white presets or maybe GoldChrome for a rich color warm look.
Fuji Classic Negative updated in Filmist 2 Free Presets Pack
The Classic negative look is inspired by Superia 200. One of my most requested presets and the new Filmist 2 version is even better and more accurate than what you get on a Fuji camera.
The film looks for digital is more powerful and moddable.
The thing with film presets is that you won’t edit this way manually. Digital sliders are designed to let us push hard and the nuance of good film styles can take weeks to refine.
In a real darkroom, we could manipulate how we develop and print. So I put a ton of time into the ChemKit2 mods in Filmist. They let you use a film look and then adjust it instantly with darkroom-inspired processes. I included of of these for tone in the free pack. Turn it up and down and see what happens.
The beauty of using Lightroom presets and Capture One style packs is that with well-made film styles, you get edits that take hours in seconds. Once you get used to the milder grounding look of film it becomes a go-to. But if you have a photo that is not working with film, don’t hesitate to branch out.
Agfa RSX 100 II Free Capture One Style and LR Preset
Agfa series films are rare as digital film styles very much but they will soon be one of your favorites. I included Afga RSX 100 with stunning color and fine grain in the free film presets pack.
I hope you enjoy the Filmist 2 free film Lightroom presets and styles pack and that these filmic styles let you see digital in a new light and use the rest of your presets, actions, and tools better.
