How is this faded black achieved? Im going mad!

[uitdenbosch]

Hi

Ive been up and down and all over the net trying to figure out how to process my photos to look like a certain photographers. I dont want to copy, I would find my own look but its a start that I just cant figure out on my own.
http://blog.michealbphoto.com/ <--- That is the processing he does, Im not sure if its actions or what but I like it. Id like to know what set he bought or how he does it.
The one Im having most problems figuring out is the black and whites that have a nice faded black. Little contrast and no deep blacks.
If anybody could help or point me in the right direction that would be awesome.
Thanks in advance for any help.

[Flashtones]

lift the black point of a curve or use the black output slider in levels.

[daygraphics]

There are a lot of ways you can do this very similar effect. "I' particularly don't care for it. but I have been forced to do it from time to time. The previous answer is a good one... it can as simple as grabbing you shadow end "curve" and pulling it down say from 100 to 90% (all 3 channels equally) - or you can use your levels (some clipping of detail may occur here if you are not careful and proficient at levels. And perhaps the easiest way is when you are opening your file in RAW - adjust your fill light to around 20-25 and use your Tone Curve adjustment tool and you can even set your saturation to be a little lower for the less colorful, mono look. You can save those settings, and simply apply to any set of images - shot in the same series with the same setup - as the one you done to your liking.

[holgaman]

Since a lot his photos, including the color, are quite flat I would guess he used the method Flashtones mentioned or sets his raw converter profile to linear response first and then adjusts from there.