Hi,

I am trying to get advice on duplicating a technique I have seen on a particular pbase user's galleries. I have made some progress using channel separation, high contrast USM, lighting Levels and Midtone Contrast. My results, although quite pleasing to me, are different.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. He claims he does not use camera filters, or Photoshop Layers or any plugins, although I don't know for a fact that that is true.

Here's the link to his galleries: http://www.pbase.com/luminous

Thanks again,
Jeremy
http://www.pbase.com/jeremygood

Hi Jeremy and welcome. For starters I am an amateur. As always there are several ways to do black and white conversions. There is an excellent tutorial on doing this on this web site. What I find to be helpful is to use adjustment layers, two of them. The top adjustment layer is the Channels adjustment layer. Below that is the HSL adjustment layer and below that is your colorized base layer. Its a fun sandwich. I usually put the two adjustment layers on without making alterations. After they are there examine the image using the three channels and decide how you want to combine the channels. After you are done fiddling with the channels adjustment layer then drop down to the HSL adjustment layer to fine tune.

At any rate this technique works best for me and is very flexible.

Hi Jeremy,

Welcome to RP! :pleased:

The tutorial Phil is talking about can be found here (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=92)

...trying to get advice on duplicating a technique I have seen on a particular pbase user's galleries. ...

Any thoughts would be appreciated. He claims he does not use camera filters, or Photoshop Layers or any plugins, although I don't know for a fact that that is true.

Here's the link to his galleries: http://www.pbase.com/luminous

Thanks again,
Jeremy
http://www.pbase.com/jeremygood

Jeremy,

There are a couple of pro photographer members here who might be able to help, but until one comes along -- I'm guessing that part of the difference comes from the original photo set-up: the lighting ratio and the lens. However, the numbers show that some of his B/W work has a touch of yellow, and you can tweak Curves to both add some contrast (his images are higher contrast than yours) and the yellow tone. You can paint in some sharpness using USM and a layer mask, which you said you've already been trying. I took an image from your PBase site (hope it's okay -- since you asked for ideas) and tweaked it a bit with USM and diffuse, and a Curves adjustment layer to add contrast and a bit of a yellow tone to the numbers.

The image on the left is your original, and the one on the right has been tweaked -- it may be a bit closer to his look, or not. I'll keep track of your investigation -- it would be interesting to find out more about how he achieves his "look".

I added some "sandstone" texture to see if it's near the skin texture he gets...

Hi Jeremy, I got pretty much the same to say as CJ. His images have a slightly depressed blue channel which gives his images a slight yellow tone. His pictures have a touch more contrast, and he sharpens and lightens around the eyes and mouth.

I've attached a picture below with one of his images on the left, one of yours in the centre, and an altered version on the right. Also attached my layer stack used to get effect. The girls highlight is a bit blown out on the RH altered picture, but this can easily be adjusted with curves. I'm in a bit of a rush at the moment, so had to post as is.

Hi there, Jeremy. That's a real nice gallery there.

I put together a "family pack" of techniques, hope you find this useful.....

1) Area contrast (this has also been called other names): Apply USM with settings something like 20% (low amount), 100 (high radius) - quick 'n easy, often does wonders;

2) Equalize: Duplicate the layer, apply Equalize, lower opacity to mix (usually 10 - 20% does it). Sometimes works well, worth a quick try;

3) Equalize contrast: As in 2) but apply GBlur at radius 10, change blending to Soft Light, around 50% opacity. Easy, but I usually prefer Rounding;

4) Rounding (my favourite, and closer to what you want): Duplicate the layer. Measure the length of the nose (ruler tool - <I>, <shift><I>, <shift><I>). Divide the length by six and apply a Gaussian Blur with this radius. Divide the length by two and apply High-Pass with this radius to the same layer. Change the blending to Linear Light and opacity to about 50%.

Rô