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That doesn’t mean there aren’t side effects from this range of opportunities, and one of them is noise. Digital technology has done wonders for making advanced photographic techniques easier to learn, especially in low light.
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Keith Cooper over at Northlight Images has some great insights on black and white toning I recommend you take a look as well. Finding the right balance of tone will depend on the type of photo, as well as your personal tastes, and trying to find purity in some tones (grey specifically) may involve issues of tinting. On the other hand, too much sepia can make images look artificially processed. For example, pure black and white may look great for landscape photography but it can make portraits seem sterile and hard. There are varying degrees of warmth and coldness within the B/W spectrum. Converting a color image file into black and white is more than a simple press-of-the-button affair. As helpful as these tips are for people looking to post-process and print black and white photos, many of these suggestions will help you get better images for the web as well. While many of the specifics offered up in these tips use the features and language of Lightroom, the principles can be translated to whatever program you’re using. It’s a database driven software that allows for the editing of photos in bulk and is non-destructive to the original versions of your photos. Although Lightroom has a lot of similar features with Photoshop, Lightroom is tailored to provide a more efficient workflow for photographers. This will save you hours of confusion and headaches when all your prints aren’t coming out how they look on your screen.īlack and white photographers have many options when it comes to post processing software but the best one in my opinion is Adobe Lightroom. Reminder: Make sure that your monitor is properly calibrated before you start editing. For professionals, the next level up is finding a trustworthy print shop or printing photos from your home or studio. For hobbyists, going to your local Costco or pharmacy and getting prints made of your photos is often good enough to show friends and frame a couple shots for around the home.
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Understanding the tools available to black and white photographers, as well as how to use them, marks the difference between clean and classic Gelatin Silver-style prints and those that noticeably look digitally rendered.ĭepending on the type of results you’re looking for, there are quite a few printing options available. We live in a full-color world and most modern photographic tech reflects this reality. Please enjoy!įrom the digital darkroom to the press, printing black and white photography requires special technical considerations.
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The New York Institute of Photography is the world’s largest online photography school, and because we are, we often publish fun and useful photography tips on our photography blog.
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