Power of Color in Black and White Photos

Black and white photography can produce some captivating and artistic photos. By removing color from the image you emphasize the tonality, geometric shapes, and composition of the photo. Of course, not all images work in black and white. A brilliant sunset loses its a beauty when all the color is removed. I find converting an image to black and white to be a fun creative challenge that can result in an image to be proud of.

Most digital cameras and even some cell phones can take photos in black and white. If you let your camera do the conversion to black and white it will store the image without the color information. You have now limited your ability to adjust the image later.  My suggestion is to always capture your images in color and convert to black and white in post processing.  Here's why.

The best way to explain what I am talking about is by showing an example.  The video below shows how powerful the color information is behind a black and white photo.

I hope that video is helpful.  Making videos is new for me and was a little intimidating.  I think I need some practice.

Here are some more examples of converting a color photo to black and white.

Sample Number One - Street Portrait

I made this photo of Carrington Kay at the Music On The Square in Jonesborough TN. I wasn't in a great position to make photos and was more interested in enjoying the music anyway. The musicians were in the shade but the background building was still in the sun. I edited the color version to deemphasize the background and focus on the two individuals, however, the red brick still grabs your attention more than I wanted it to.

Color

I used Lightroom to convert the image to black and white using the color sliders like I did in the video. The red brick wall no longer grabs the viewers attention allowing the musicians to be what your eye sees first.

Converted to BW in Lightroom

Click on the first image to zoom in then use the right and left arrow keys to flip through the different versions to see the differences in each.

Sample Number Two - Dull Sunrise

I said earlier that sunrises or sunsets are not typically what I would convert to black and white. In the example below the sunrise colors were very muted.  In fact, there is very little color in this image.

Fuji Provia Profile

When you shoot color in RAW format you can apply camera profiles later in Lightroom. In this example, I used a profile that simulates the Fuji Acros B&W film.  Applying this profile also changes the contrast and introduces simulated grain to make the digital image appear as if it was shot on Fuji Acros B&W film.

Fuji Acros Profile

By converting this image to B&W I removed the color distractions and emphasized the repeating patterns and composition. The surface of the water was blurred by using a 9-second exposure.

I really like the Acros profile and it's easy to apply in Lightroom.  If I don't like the result, it is easy to switch back to the default Provia color profile.

Sample Number Three- Timeless Scene

One more example of converting a color image to black and white.  In this case, the crisp color image appeared too new for the subject, which looked like it was set in the 1950s.  

Produce Stand in Color

 By converting to B&W the resulting image fits better with the subject.

Converted to BW in Lightroom

There are a number of ways to convert a color image to black and white.  I have shown you two ways in Lightroom. Other tools I use are Silver Efex Pro 2 from Google (Nik) and On1 Photo RAW.

Converted to BW in Silver Efex Pro 2 High Structure (Harsh) preset.

Converted to BW in On1 Photo RAW 2017 - Black & White Rugged Preset

These are just a few tools available for converting to B&W. There is an infinite number of ways to adjust an image when converting.  How you convert your photos is up to you. Use your creativity to express yourself and tell a story with your photos. Just make sure you capture the image in your camera, in color, preferably in RAW format.

Do you find these blog posts worth the time it takes to read them? Is there something you would like to see on the blog? Send me a note and give me some feedback.  I really do appreciate the feedback.

Digitally Restoring A Vancouver Island Rainforest

The west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia gets a lot of rainfall during the fall and spring seasons.   The moisture laden clouds hit the mountains of Vancouver Island and are forced up, causing them to cool and drop their moisture in the form of a lot of rain.  For those of you metrically challenged, 500 mm is almost 20 inches.  On average the coastal town of Tofino gets about 2,440 mm or about 96 inches of rain in the six months between November and April! 

When May arrives the rain is replaced by clear cloudless skies.  In the month of July they average 80 mm or about 3 inches of rain.   When we were there in mid-July this year we had clear blue skies every day with almost no clouds except for the fog that came in off the ocean in the afternoons.

Outdoor photographers have some strange ideas about what makes for good vacation weather.  A good time to take photos in a forest is on an overcast day.  It's even better if it's raining.   Now clear blue skies are beautiful but that bright sunlight can make taking photos a real challenge, especially where there are shadows and bright sunny spots.  The first version of the photo below was taken in a Vancouver Island rainforest on one of those bright sunny blue sky days.

Version 1 - Unedited

Notice the extreme contrast between the dark shadows and the bright spots on the boardwalk and ferns.   Those bright spots draw a viewers attention and create distractions that take away from the cool boardwalk and trees. In the original format this is not a photo that I would keep.   I did the following to save it.

First I used the Nik Color Efex software  detail extractor filter to bring back the details that were hard to see in the really bright and dark sections of the image.  If you compare the first and second versions you can see that the details have been extracted out of those areas and the lighting is a bit more even.  I also added a little tonal contrast and adjusted the color temp to take out the slight blue tint in the original version.

Version 2 - Nik Detail Extractor Filter

I then used the adjustment brush in Adobe Lightroom to further darken the brightest spots, gave the boardwalk a slight brown tint, further reducing the unnatural blue tint.  I also straighten the image and added a slight vignette to darken the outside slightly.

Version 3 - Bright spots further darkened.

The final version still shows enough of the shadows to let the viewer know it was a sunny day, but not so much that the bright spots are distracting.   It has more of a rainforest feel to it, unlike the original version.

Click on any image and then use your keyboard arrow keys to move between versions to see the difference.

I will be creating a Vancouver Island folder in my online gallery.  Check back to see more photos from our mid-July 2014 trip.

Some of my favorite software is on sale 70% off!

I've used Nik software in addition to Adobe Lightroom for a couple years now.  I own the entire suite

Silver Efex

• Color Efex 4
• HDR Efex Pro 2
• Silver Efex Pro 2
• Vivesa 2
• Define 2.0
• Sharpener Pro 3

You can't beat the quality of Nik software.  When I learned that Nik had been gobbled up by the giant Google I was concerned about the future of the product.  Google bought the company to get the Snapseed mobile app, which they promptly started giving away for free. What was in the future for my Nik suite of products?

Well, Google hasn't released any new products or versions but what they have done is drop the price for the complete suite from $499.95 to $149.  That's a 70% price reduction!

I can't predict what the future hold for the Nik software now that it is Nik Collection by Google.  Will there be new versions?  Will there be new packages?  Will the pricing stay low?  Hard to say.  For now I recommend if you use Apple Aperture, Adobe Photoshop, or Adobe Lightroom that you jump on this deal at http://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/index.php?view=intro%2Fmain.shtml

Post Processing Polarization

When I'm shooting outdoors I almost always have a polarizing filter on on my lens.  A polarizer is one of the most useful tools available for a landscape photographer.  It cuts the glare off water surfaces, windows, and other reflective surfaces.  It can cut the glare and darken leaves and flowers.  It gives a sky that rich blue color and makes clouds really pop.  The best part is the effect is adjustable.  Turn the filter to increase or decrease the polarization effect to get it the way you want it.  It's my favorite tool when shooting landscapes.

I don't use many other filters because you can simulate them when editing the images later, but a polarizer is not so easy to simulate.   If you have glare on water, windows, or leaves there's not much you can do about it after you take the photo.   It's always best to get the best image you can in camera and don't rely on post processing to fix problems later.

There is one polarizer effect that you can simulate in post processing and that's the blue skies.   I do this is Lightroom sometimes if for some reason I didn't have the polarizer on or didn't get the effect I was looking for.   I do this by using the Hue, Saturation, Luminance sliders.

I want to reduce the luminance (brightness) and increase the saturation of the blue part of the sky, without impacting other parts of the photo.   To do this I select Saturation and click the round target icon just under the word Hue.   I then use my mouse to click and hold in the blue part of the sky.  While holding the left mouse button down I drag the mouse up to increase the saturation of the color I clicked on.   You can manually move the blue slider but the color of the sky is often a combination of Blue, Aqua and even some other colors.  Using the target allows you to select the exact color combination you want to adjust.

Likewise, you can click the Luminance and repeat the process to reduce the brightness to get the effect you want.  Be sure to cluck the Done button when you're finished.

The two photos above are before and after I adjusted the saturation and luminance of the blue portion of the sky.   This pretty closely matches the effect you get from a polarizing filter.  Of course you might have problems with this technique if you have other blues in the photo that are close to the color of the sky.   I suggest trying this out.  Just be careful to not over do it.

If you have Nik Color Efex software you can get a similar effect using the Polarizer filter.   Here's the same photo with the polarizer applied in Nik Color Efex

The Nik software has a rotation slider simulating the effect of turning the polarizer filter to adjust the effect.  Again, be careful to not over do it.

These are a couple quick techniques to fix the sky if you didn't have a polarizer when you took the image.   Don't rely on this and other post processing adjustments.  Try to make the best photo possible when you take the shot.  You'll get consistently better photos every time.

Several people commented on my last post.  Thanks for letting me know what you think.  I love hearing from you and welcome questions or criticisms.   Let me know what you think and if you found this useful.

The New Old Stuff

I continue to go back and pick out photos from past years to see how they might look different with new editing tools. It's kind of fun to compare the old versions to the new versions. Here's some old and new comparisions of an old photo of old stuff.

First - this is how the photo came out of the camera with no processing at all. I shoot in RAW format, which means the camera does no processing of the image. By default digital cameras adjust the contrast, color, sharpness and other things before you ever see the image. This image suffered from being shot through dirty window glass which cut down the contrast and details.

Second this is the result of my editing a little over two years ago. Now when I look at this I think BLAH!

Finally, here's what I came up with tonight. I used Nik Color Efex 4 to pull some of the details out and bump up the contrast. I then used Nik Silver Efex 2 to create this black & white with the color of the rusty parts showing through and add a boarder. I'm not a big fan of selective colorization in B&W, but in this case it seemed to work OK. What do you think? Which do you prefer? If you click on one of the images you will be able to flip back and forth to compare. The second image is probably more realistic but the third seems to be more interesting.

"Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." - Ephesians 4:21-24 We are called to be made new and put on a new self. This is an inner throwing off of old ways and becoming more Christ like. Our old bodies may be dressed up to look new or at least more interesting like this old bottle, but it's the inner self that is important. Let's work on the inside.

Welcome to my friends across the pond in Morriston.

While checking the stats on my website I noticed some people have come to my site from The Morriston Camera Club in the UK. Curious I went to their club website and found The Siggins Photography is the website of the month for August 2011! How cool is that! Not sure how they found me but I'm sure glad they like my site and photography.

Morriston is on the west coast of of the UK about 200 miles west of my birthplace in Arrington, Cambridgeshire. Browsing through their member galleries I see that they have some talented members in their club. They live in a great and I'd love to join them to go shooting one day.

So in honor of the Morriston Camera Club here's a photo I've been working on.

This is a HDR photo of Echo Lake on the north side of Franconia Notch in New Hampshire just north of the town of Lincoln taken last fall (thanks to Miles Smith who's memory is better than mine). It was taken before the sun was high enough to light up this lake or the hills around it but the warm sunlight was reflecting off clouds and giving everything a nice warm color. Because the hills were already yellow, orange, and red with fall color it made for a very warm image. I took a lot of shots similar to this one and never liked any of them. I just could not get the image to look natural or anything like what it really looked like.

I recently upgraded my HDR Efex Pro software from Nik Software to version 2. It is a much more powerful tool than version 1 and can create a more natural finished image. I decided to try it out on one of my problem photos from the past and this was the one I picked to try.

I am much happier with this version than any other I was able to come up with last year.

I am a big fan of all the Nik software and really like the new HDR Efex Pro 2. I encourage you to check it out.

I have uploaded this photo to my website and it is available for purchase. Just click here.

View From Our Backyard

I was washing dishes Saturday afternoon and looked out the kitchen window to see this.

We get some awesome sunsets across that pasture and I've tried to capture them before.  Most of the time by the time I get my camera and tripod out, run outside, and set up the light is gone.   I've never been able to capture any of those light displays.  This time was different.  I had just gotten a new Canon 5D Mark ii the day before and it was sitting out where I could grab it on the way out the door.   I didn't bother with the tripod and decided to do the best I could without it.

The bright sky and relatively dark field was much to big of a dynamic range of light for the camera to capture.  Either the sky was going to be blown out bright white or the field and trees were going to be very dark.  I shot three exposures (-1 EV, 0, +1 EV) to capture the entire range of light.   I should have gone with a wider spread because the brightest part of the sky was blown out at -1.   After I made those shots I changed the settings and poof the light was gone!   Unlike the light in my last post, this time it only lasted a couple minutes.

I used ISO 800 and f/22 to try and get a star burst from the clouds.  At that setting I got shutter speeds of 1/20, 1/40 and 1/80.  I was hand holding with image stabilization on.  I had no idea if the three images would line up or if I had too much camera shake.

My workflow for this photo was longer than most:

1. Ran the three exposures through Nik Define to remove the digital noise due to the ISO of 800.
2. Combined them using Nik HDR Efex Pro using a Natural setting.  I used some control points to tone down the dramatic clouds that HDR processing created.  I used another control point to brighten up the tree on the right that had come out too dark.
3. Edited in Photoshop Elements to remove some severe lens flare created by shooting into the sun and some power lines in the distance.
4. Edited in Nik Color Efex 4 to fix the clouds (they came out light brown), make the rolling hills more distinct, and bring out the "God Beams" of sunlight.  Also added a little dark vignette  around the edges.

I am truly blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the country, have such a great view right outside my back door, and have a God that creates such beauty each and every day.  I'm also thankful for my wife June who first pointed out the light and offered to finish the dishes while I went out and played. My photography would be dull and uninteresting without her spotting the shots for me.

Of course, you can buy prints of this photo online 

Rediscovered, Revisited and Revised

Back in November 2009, June, her brother Jerry, and I went to Fall Creek Falls for a couple days.   We weren't there for photography but of course I had my camera and went out early one morning for sunrise over the lake.  There weren't many clouds in the sky that day but there was a nice fog around the lake which made for some nice soft scenes.  It took several photos, edited some when we got home, then didn't do any more with them.   They were forgotten until I was looking for something else and rediscovered these photos.

There was one photo I decided to see what I could do with over two years later.   Would it be better?  Worse?  Would it come out the same?   My experience tells me any of these outcomes were possible.  I've decided to share what I did and let you decide.

Here's the original "as shot" image, straight out of the camera.

You can click on any of these photos to get a larger view.

The sky was over exposed on the right side.  The cloudy white balance gave it a nice warm feel but the blues in the sky were almost unnoticeable.  The camera was slightly tilted to the right.  Other than that, not a bad shot.

Here's what I did back in 2009.

1. Changed the white balance to daylight, giving it a more bluish tint.
2. Dialed in +31 on the recovery slider, bringing back the blown out highlights on the right side.
3. Turned the brightness down from the default +50 to +18, darkening the photo.
4. Increased the clarity (+14) and vibrance (+12) making the orange clouds stand out a bit more against the blue sky.
5. Increased the contrast using the Tone Curve

This is a much more interesting photo than what came out of the camera.   That's where I left it back in 2009.

This time I decided to start back with the raw image as before and use some of the Nik software filters in addition to Lightroom.

I decided the right side was not the most interesting area of the photo and cropped it to a vertical format, removing most of the right side.  In addition to the tree there is an interesting curving path along the lake shore that you just don't see in the version above.  I want to bring that out to add the s-curve to the composition.   I could use the Lightroom tone curve or fill light slider to lighten the dark areas, but I've found the Detail Enhancer filter in Nik Color Efex pro to do a great job bringing the details out of dark areas.

Before editing in Color Efex 4, I first ran the image through the Nik Define 2.0 to remove any noise.  It's always a good idea to do this first because many adjustments can magnify noise (static) in a digital photo.  Here's the cropped photo after removing noise.

I then opened the photo in Nik Color Efex 4.   Applying the Detail Enhancer filter to the entire image really messed with the soft fog, water and skies.   I used control points (which is the coolest part of the Nik software) to only pull out the details in the shoreline and a little in the trees.   The Brilliance/Warmth filter and the Skylight filter added a little saturation to the orange clouds and blue sky bringing back the colors of sunrise that were lost in the original as-shot photo.

Another cool artistic Nik filter is Glamor Glow.  Sounds like something designed for portraits, but it can  be very effective at creating a moody feel in a landscape photo like this one to emphasize the fog on the lake.  Again I used some control points to not add glow to the shore line or the tree in the upper left so I wouldn't lose those details.

Finally, I used the Darken/Lighten Center to add a nice vignette around the outside, drawing the viewers attention to the tree in the center.  One thing this filter allows me to do that I can't do in Lightroom is place the center of that vignette.  By placing the center to the left side I was able to emphasize the shore line, leading the viewers eyes up to the tree.  Here's a side by side view of the photo before editing in Color Efex and after.

   When I brought the photo back in Lightroom I noticed a few dust spots in the sky that needed to be cloned out and some weeds at the bottom of the photo that were a little distracting.  I used Photoshop Elements to close out the dust spots and weeds.

Here's the final Rediscovered, Revisited and Revised Photo

 

 

Is this version better than what I did in 2009 or just different?  You'll have to decide for yourself.  I kind of like it.  In fact, I may print it to hang at home or at work.  This photo is available for purchase online here.

If you're not a photographer you may not find any of this of interest.  I hope you at least enjoy the photos.  If you found this of interest and want to learn more about Lightroom or Nik software let me know.

Color Efex Pro 3.0 from Nik Software

I got the complete collection of Nik software as a Christmas present last year.  

Software included in the collection:

• Define 2.0 for noise reduction
• Vivenza for selective light and color control
• HDR Efex Pro for, you guessed it HDR
• Silver Efex Pro for converting to B&W
• Sharpener Pro for image sharpening
• Color Efex Pro with over 250 filters for special effects.

This is great digital imaging software.   I had Define 2.0 before and had used it extensively.   Since I got this collection I've been playing with each package.  I've started to come around to creating HDR now that I can create HDR images that look realistic and not like cartoons.   I haven't spent much time in Sharpener Pro or Silver Efex and am still using Adobe Lightroom for B&W conversion and sharpening.   Nothing against the Nik software, I just haven't had time to learn how to use these packages.

Lately I've been using one filter in Color Efex Pro - Glamour Glow.   Based on the name, I suspect this was designed to be used on portraits to smooth skin and give a person's face a soft glowing effect.   Here's an example from the Nik website.    I've used it a couple times on portraits and it can make even one of my portraits look good.   After seeing images from professionals like Tony Sweet using this filter on landscapes I gave it a try.  I really like the the effect you can get.  

Here's a few examples of photos before and after the Glamour Glow effect was applied.  To really see the effect you need to click on each pair of images to zoom in and then click again to zoom in even more.  



This last one is a little extreme.  I was going for a dreamy look.   You can adjust how much glow you apply, plus the warmth of the image.   

This filter blurs the sharp edges without losing a lot of detail.  It also puts a glow on the edges.    The end result almost never looks like reality, but it's a cool effect.  I'm trying to branch out and get out of the rut of "it must look like it did when I took the picture".   That still applies to most of my photos, but sometimes I want a different look.





Before and After - Nik HDR Efex Pro

I got a copy of the Nik HDR Efex Pro HDR software for Christmas.  Since then I've played around with it just a little trying to learn all the ins and outs of this package.   This evening I used it on a photo I took when we were in the Grand Tetons back in June of 2009.  

This was a frustrating image for me from the beginning.  First, this is one of the most beautiful spots to get a picture of the Tetons reflecting in the Snake River at Oxbow Bend.   I had anticipated taking this picture for months before going.   The clouds swallowed these magnificent peaks and ruined the image I had in my mind.  I never imagined it cloudy and rainy.

When I got home I tried to make this image a bit more interesting.  I cropped it down to a panoramic to get rid of those uninteresting clouds.  That helped a bit but it was still pretty flat and uninteresting.  

I then tried to add some contrast to make it more interesting by increasing the exposure, pulling some blacks back in, and then increasing the exposure of the dark areas using the Tone Curve in Lightroom.   It was better,

but still not what I was hoping for.  After a while I gave up and moved on.  

This evening I ran that image through the HDR Efex Pro software.   Most of the time your feeding HDR software multiple images taken and various exposures to capture a wide range of light.   In this case, I passed it a single photo that just needed a little more drama.   Not the over the top look of many HDR images, just something slight so the image still looked realistic.   Here's what I came out with.

I think I now like this photo of Oxbow Bend.  I still wish the mountains weren't covered up in clouds.  In hind sight, I wish I had taken several shots to stitch together into a panorama that could be printed large.  Even with the clouds, I wouldn't mind this one on the wall in the den.

If you would like a print of this photo it can be ordered on my website http://www.thesiggins.com/.   You'll find it under the Earth, Sea and Sky gallery, then Grand Teton National Park.   It can be printed up to 10x30 inches on photo paper, canvas or as large as 12x36 on aluminum.  Now that would be cool!  If you want something in a non-standard size let me know.

Happy Valentines Day

I'm a little late getting this out. 

This Trillium was taken last spring on a hiking trail near Looking Glass Falls, which is near Brevard NC.   I "enhanced" the photo a bit by blurring and darkening the edges to draw attention to the flower.  I also cloned out some distracting bright spots where the light was shining through from behind (it was a bright sunny day).    I used a combination of Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop Elements (cloning), and Nik Color Efex Pro (bluring the edges).

Happy Thanksgiving

Here's hoping everyone has a Fantastic Thanksgiving Day.

This was taken in Zion National Park back in March 2007.   I updated it a bit with a trial version of Nik Viveza.   All the Nik software is on sale right now.   I've been using the Nik Define 2.0 package for a while and have been very happy with it.   They have a new HDR tool that results in realistic images.  I'm thinking about getting the entire package.