Have you heard about the many tools designed to give you great black and white images?  There are special b&w conversion programs, plugins to make your images look like an Ansel Adams, monochrome ink sets, custom print profiles, hi-tech monitor calibrators and more.

Are all of these necessary to produce a great print?  I don’t know, I don’t use them.  My philosophy is “keep it simple” and for me, these tools are just expensive distractions that might make a 2% difference in the look of my image, but it takes the focus off of the 98%, the things that really matter.

Here are the secret tools and techniques that I use to create a great b&w image:

1.     Start with the right shot.  Certain images tend to lend themselves to b&w more than others and I look for subjects with great blacks and contrast opportunities.

2.     Shoot in RAW and B&W mode.  This will allow you to see the image on the camera display in b&w (making visualization and exposure easier) but the RAW image will still be in color, allowing you to convert it how you like.

3.     Convert to b&w in Photoshop using either the Channel Mixer or B&W Conversion tool.  Play with the color sliders to see how each will change the image and produce better contrasts, they can make a dramatic difference.

4.     Don’t overuse the  Photoshop global controls.   I don’t use auto adjustments, I don’t use levels and curves and I really avoid global controls because they apply the changes to the entire image.

5.     Work slowly.  I initially tweek the brightness and contrast a very small amount and then work with the dodge and burn tool to affect brightness and contrast in each area, as it needs it.  I generally set my dodge and burn to 3% and build the effect slowly.

6.     Use a decent printer.  I love the Epson series with their wonderful K3 inks, and their included b&w print mode gives fantastic results.

7.     Use a good paper.  This is an area that really does deserve some of your time and attention, but be careful not to get caught up in the search for the “perfect paper.”  I have friends who have been searching for years and the truth is that there are many wonderful papers out there that will server you well.  I personally use Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 and Epson Exhibition Fiber.

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Let me oversimplify and summarize it this way; I produce my prints with a copy of Photoshop and an Epson printer, and that’s about it.  You don’t need complicated or expensive extras to create stunning black and white prints.

Now I’m not saying those extras cannot improve your prints, I’m just suggesting that the time to experiment with the extras is after you’ve produced the best print you can with the basic tools and can go no further.  Until then, that 2% extra improvement will just be an expensive distraction.

This is just my opinion of course, and there are many who could disagree with this advice.  But I’ll put my money where my mouth is and offer you a free sample print so you can see how printing with the basics can look.  I have a number of small samples left over from a previous promotion and I’ll send those out until they are all used up.

Just email me your name and address, and when you receive the print please let me know what you think.

Cole@ColeThompsonPhotography.com

Cole

P.S.  While it’s not a requirement for the free print, if you’d like to sign up for my newsletter I’d love to send it to you.  Just go to my website at www.ColeThompsonPhotography.com and click on the newsletter link to view past newsletters or to sign up.

Why do you create?  Who are you trying to please?  If you have an image that you love, but the public does not, how does this affect your opinion?

Several blogs ago I had related this story about Edward Weston as recounted by Ansel Adams:

“After dinner, Albert (Bender) asked Edward to show his prints.  They were the first work of such serious quality I had ever seen, but surprisingly I did not immediately understand or even like them; I thought them hard and mannered.  Edward never gave the impression that he expected anyone to like his work.  His prints were what they were.  He gave no explanations; in creating them his obligation to the viewer was completed.”

We all would like our work to be appreciated, but do we sometimes depend too much on the opinions of others?  Do we sometimes define our work or even ourselves as artists by what “they” think?

When you focus on producing work that others might like, your work will lack power and confidence. You can never please others, because there are just too many “others” out there and their tastes are fickle.  Only when you follow your own creative compass can you be strong, confident and truly creative.

So choose to please yourself, because when it comes to your art, your opinion is the only one that really matters.

Cole

P.S.  I chose the above image, Urban Starfish, specifically for this topic.  It’s an image that I really like, but rarely do others appreciate it.

When I was younger, the ultimate compliment someone could give me would be to say: “Your images remind me of Ansel Adams’ work.”  He was my childhood hero and I would dream of being “the next Ansel Adams.”

But then one day it hit me; there already was an Ansel Adams and nobody would ever do Ansel better than Ansel.  And was that really the extent of my ambitions and the apogee of my dreams, to copy someone else’s work?  I suddenly realized that I needed to create work that was uniquely mine.

But how?  There isn’t a subject that hasn’t been photographed many times before, so how could I create unique work?

While it is true that most everything has been photographed, it has not been photographed through my eyes.  We each have a unique vision buried inside and we must learn how to bring it out and develop it.

I am certainly not there yet, but I recognize what I must do to reach my goal.  It is this desire to see things uniquely that has led me to the controversial practice of not looking at other photographer’s work.  When I see a tree, I do not want visions of another photographer’s work flashing about in my head so that my creation simply becomes an imitation or extension of their work.

If possible, I would like to see that tree as if for the very first time, like a blind person might see it after an operation gives them sight for the very first time.  Of course this is not completely possible, but I do try to keep my mind clear of other images as much as possible.

When I photographed people on the street of Ukraine, that certainly was not a unique idea, but I hope that having people close their eyes was a unique approach.  Photographing ceiling lamps was not an original idea either, but I hope the viewpoint was.

I believe that we each have the capacity to be original, that we each have a unique vision that can be developed.  For some, like myself, it was buried deep and I didn’t even know that it was there.  Others are lucky to have this talent lying near the surface.

Cole

This is the first “good” image that I created after a 30 year absence from photography.  It was photographed in 2004 using my new Canon Digital Rebel with its amazing 6mp sensor!  Waaaaaay back then digital was not accepted in fine art circles, but I felt differently about it’s ability and potential.

I had just dropped my friend off in Nebraska and was heading home when I came across this sight.  It was a magnificent scene with the snow covered ground being illuminated by the near-full moon, and with a delicate fog hovering over the valley.

I wanted to stop, but it was late, I was tired and it was cold.  So I drove on.

But after a minute I remembered a promise that I had recently made to myself; I would never again pass by a shot.  If I kept going, those conditions and that opportunity would be lost forever, and so I turned around.

Hiking back through the snow, I was rewarded with an unbelievable scene…and then my battery died.  I took out another and soon it was lifeless too.  It was so cold that my batteries lost their strength and I would have to warm them up with my body just to get a few more shots.

The lighting was also a challenge, the moon was so bright that to properly expose the foreground, the sky washed out.  Properly exposing the sky left the valley in darkness.  My solution was to shoot one exposure for the foreground, another for the sky and later combine the two halves in Photoshop (using cut and paste, and not HDR).

The result was  “Windmill in Moonlight” and a great experience that reinforced my commitment to always stop.

People often say to me “This picture reminds me of ….” (I’m not going to say which artist or which image).  Back then I was flattered by such a comparison, but today I find it embarrassing.

That will be topic of my next blog.

Cole

People ask me, how do you find people who stand still for so long?

Something unusual happens when a person stands on the beach and stares outward.  They become still. You can almost see their thoughts as they ponder something much greater than themselves.

Where did we come from?

What is my purpose?

Where am I going after this life?

What does it all mean?

Who created it all?

Is there a grand plan?

Does my life have meaning?

Is this all there is?

What is beyond, the beyond?

Do I make a difference?

Is there a God?

People are affected by this time of meditation and they vow to make changes in their lives.  But soon these weighty questions are replaced with others;  McRib or Big Mac?  Large or extra large fries?  Should I try that new green milkshake?

See the Lone Man Series

You’ve heard me rave about the Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter, the one that I use for most of my images?  My work and a short article was recently featured on their blog.

Click Here to Read the Singh-Ray Blog Entry

Cole

When I created my first Harbinger image, I broke the “centering” rule.

When I created the next and the next and the next, I centered them also.  It just felt right.

But about a week ago I created the new image above, and decided not to center the cloud.  I’m not sure why.

The definition of “harbinger” is:

\?här-b?n-j?r\  noun

That is exactly what I see when I create each Harbinger image, a foreshadowing of future events.

View the Harbinger Series

James wrote and asked:

“Can you tell me how to get better at dodge and burn. I try and try, but I overdo the blacks and whites and get an image that’s too contrasty. Any tips you can give me would be great.”

This is a very common question and issue,  and one that can easily be addressed.

First a little background, for those who don’t follow my workflow, it’s a very simple one.  I primarily adjust brightness and contrast and then dodge and burn the image in a fairly detailed and intricate manner.  To successfully dodge and burn you must own a pen and tablet, a small 4X6 Bamboo tablet can be purchased for about $100 and a larger one is very nice if you can afford it.  I like Wacom tablets.

When you dodge and burn there are four basic controls you want to be aware of; Diameter, Exposure, Hardness and Range.

The “diameter” of the brush is simply how large the brush is and choosing a brush size is generally obvious; big brushes for big areas and little brushes for little areas.  The larger the brush is, the easier it is to blend in your work and make it look natural.  So for big areas such as skies, use a very large brush.  Obviously for bringing out the highlights on tree branches you want a brush about the size of what you’re dodging.

The “exposure” or strength of the brush is perhaps the most critical setting and the easiest to abuse.  I generally use an exposure of 4% and work the dodge/burn very slowly, building up the areas with many passes of the pen.  I often see people going at it with 50% and this where things get overdone and artificial looking.  Think of dodging/burning as painting the image, you must work slowly and carefully.

The hardness is how hard of a edge you want on the brush.  I generally work with a 0% brush for areas such as skies.  When you are working in very small areas with very sharp detail, you might choose a small and hard brush, so that you can confine the dodge/burn to a very tight area.

The “range” of the dodge/burn refers to the range of values you’re affecting, either the highlights, midtones or shadows.  This is the hardest technique to describe (it’s much easier seeing it being done).  If you set your dodge to highlights, then your brush is brightening the highlights and ignoring the midtones and shadows.  While this three setting separation works pretty good, you have to be careful because the highlight dodge will tend to bleed over to the lighter midtone areas as well.  So you might choose to use a smaller brush and confine your dodging to just the highlights that you want to brighten.  Likewise with the burn tool, if you set it to shadows you can generally darken just the shadows, but again be careful not to affect those darker midtones.

In general, I’ll dodge my midtones to bring out detail in shadow areas and my highlights to increase contrast and make my images pop.  I’ll generally burn my midtones and shadows to darken down my images.  I rarely will dodge shadows or burn highlights.

An example: The image above was created recently at Stonehenge; I wanted to darken the blue sky, increase the contrast in the clouds, darken the foreground and stones and bring out the highlights in the stones.

I started with the sky, if I had tried to darken the sky with a big brush, I’d have also darkened parts of the stones I didn’t want to.  If I had tried darkening the sky with a smaller brush, I’d have done a blotchy job of it and I’d have created halos where the stone and sky met.  So instead, I masked out the sky so that I could process it separately without affecting the stones, and then I reversed the mask so that I could process the stones without affecting the sky.  I’ll address my masking techniques in another article.

First I took a midsized midtone brush and burnt the blue sky and some of the darker parts of the clouds.  Then I used a medium sized midtone brush to dodge the highlights in the clouds and then did the same with a midsized highlight brush.  Going back and fort between dodging and burning, and working slowly, I created a dark sky and contrasty clouds.

All along this process I keep careful eye on my histogram.  Your eye doesn’t always accurately tell you if your blacks are dark enough or when your whites get blown out, so the histogram is my constant companion.

Then I reversed the mask so that I could work the foreground and not affect the sky.  I burned the grass almost to black with a large brush set to shadows.  Then I burn the stones down, first with the midtones and then the shadows and finally I brought up the highlights on the stones with a stronger dodge.

The result is my preferred dark image, with strong contrasts. lots of  100% blacks and 100% whites.

So summarizing; get a tablet, set your exposure to 4% and work slowly, alternating between the dodge and burn.  When necessary, mask and work each part separately.  Paint and caress your image like a painter would a canvas!

I know this is a quick overview, but a lot of what you need to learn will come from doing, not reading.  So get out and do!

Cole

Many people ask me to tell them the “secret” of my black and white conversion.  Here is the secret: great black and white images are not made in the conversion process.  You can buy the most expensive plug-in’s and execute the most complicated processes to convert your images, and it will not guarantee a great image.  There are no shortcuts or simple proceedures.

Okay, so what is the “secret?”

It’s that you must plan for a great black and white image starting with the selection of the scene and then all the way through the processing.  I tell people that it’s 50% the shot and 50% the post-processing.

Taking the Shot:

My style relies on dark images with bright subjects.  It’s this contrast that creates an image that can really jump out at you, so when I go out shooting, I’m looking for these types of scenes.  While there will be many scenes that catch my eye, if it doesn’t have this potential, then I know the shot will not work for me.

Post-Processing:

When I create an image, I have a vision of what it’s going to look like, and generally the original shot doesn’t look anything like my vision of final image.  That’s where the post-processing comes in; using very simple techniques I “create” the image.  I do not use curves, profiles, layers, plug-ins or any sophisticated techniques.  I simply adjust the brightness and contrast and then dodge and burn the image like a painter would paint a canvas.

Above is one of my latest images from England; the Old Wardour Castle.  While it appears to have been shot at night, it was a 30 second daytime exposure.  The key is that I knew in advance what I wanted the image to look like and this vision was realized by underexposing the image and then extensively dodging and burning it to create a night-like scene.

So while the conversion process is important, it’s not really the key to a great black and white image.  What’s most important is that you visualize the image in advance and then take control by creating the image along the way.

Cole

P.S.  For those of you who are still interested in my conversion process, here it is:  First, I shoot in b&w mode and RAW which produces a color image that I convert using the “channel mixer” method.  In Photoshop you choose Image/Adjustments/Channel Mixer.   Check the “Monochrome” box and then adjust the Source Channel color sliders to see how adjusting each color changes the image  (note: some prefer the “Black and White” converter over the “Channel Mixer” method as it offers slightly more control and is a bit easier to use).  That’s it!

From Ansel Adam’s Biography on his first meeting Edward Weston at Albert Bender’s home:

“After dinner, Albert asked Edward to show his prints.  They were the first work of such serious quality I had ever seen, but surprisingly I did not immediately understand or even like them; I thought them hard and mannered.  Edward never gave the impression that he expected anyone to like his work.  His prints were what they were.  He gave no explanations; in creating them his obligation to the viewer was completed.”

I love Weston’s work, but I love his attitude even more; he created for himself.

Cole