Comments on: Please Tell Me the “Secret” to Your B&W Conversion!

By: osselin

osselin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:05:45 +0000

Many thanks for your faster answer. Excuse my ignorance, when you say 13 stops of Neutral densitiy you mean that you place a serie of filters on the lens until you arrive to +13? Or you mean that your camera has a “latitude” on ACR of 13 steps?
When you shot at 30″ which aperture corresponded,please?
Many thsnks for your kindness.I hope that I don’t disturb you with my questions and excuse my English, I’m from Barcelona (Spain).
I’m very interested in your method cause I have read lots of books on B&W and I have studied some B&W workshops in Spain but I never found anyone wirh a method so original, beautiful , simple and effective than yours. My congratulations for this fact.

By: Cole

Cole — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:01:10 +0000

Osselin, my techniques are very simple. I use the in-camera meter and using manual mode, I expose -1 stop or sometimes even -2. My in-camera histogram is very heavily weighted to the left and my highlights are nowhere near the right.

Then I dodge up my highlights in Photoshop.

These are all shot at ISO 100 and I am using 13 stops of Neutral Density. So I do not mess with the ISO.

I am losing a lot of info, in the shadows, but my images rarely have shadow info by my own design.

Cole

By: osselin

osselin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:40:13 +0000

P.D.

You are very, very generous sharing your technique. Many thanks, Cole.

By: osselin

osselin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:35:19 +0000

If I understood well:
“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.”…then you dont’t follow the “up-to-right” histogram I mean you don’t meter to a white zone with texture and go up two steps. You meter a white with texture and go back two steps (or more) the histogram. In theory you loose lot of bits of information. Am I right? or, meavy, you play with the ISO number?

By: Cole

Cole — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:07:50 +0000

Thank you Bob.

My use of a long exposure in this image was to create the “ghost” in the image. But it can be used to eliminate people as you suggested or to create great cloud effects which can be used to seperate the building from the background.

This image was under exposed by about a stop and then further darkened in processing.

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:33:15 +0000

Love your style Cole and have a simple 2 part question about your exposure; A. Was the final exposure actually underexposed, ie. dark looking on screen and ‘brought up’ in post? 2. For static architecture, are your long exposures mostly used to eliminate tourists walking about or is there another, more ethereal photographic benefit to them?
Thanks Cole. Your blog is a new destination point for me.
Bob Estremera

By: jerry eisner

jerry eisner — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:46:02 +0000

Cole, i’m stunned by your work and the wisdom from your lens work interview and the generosity of sharing your techniques with us. My students will be studying your work next semester. I teach B and W and digital in a high school in Maryland. I’m thrilled to now be one of your fans. Je

By: prashant khapane

prashant khapane — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:51:37 +0000

Hi Cole,
Nice to find this blog. I enjoyed your entries in Lenswork issues.

regards
Prashant

By: Cole Thompson

Cole Thompson — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:48:05 +0000

James, that’s a frequent question and I think I’ll answer it with my next blog entry. Thanks for giving me the next blog topic!

Cole

By: James

James — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:06:01 +0000

Hi Cole,

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 thats too contrasty. Any tips you can give me would be great.