Gordon Hutchings – On Creativity
Photographer Gordon Hutchings weighs in on the creative process in three insightful videos.
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Achieving the Blackest Black
The blackest black in print is achieved with today’s inkjet materials. Epson Exhibition Fiber printed on Ultrachrome K3 or UltraChrome HDR produces a 2.65 dmax; silver gelatin selenium toned produces a 2.35 dmax. You get this extraordinary black when printing through the printer driver’s Advanced Black & White mode; print the same image through a standard color color management route and you’ll only get a 2.4 dmax. Also, matte papers yield weaker blacks, roughly 1.85 dmax.
Get my free download on Epson’s Advanced Black & White mode here.
Find out more about black and white in my DVD Black & White Mastery.
Find out more about black and white in my Workshop Black & White Mastery.
Special discounts are available until January.
Give Your Friends Over 100 Downloads Free
New member? Old member and skipped over a few issues? You’re missing free content! As a member of Insights enews you get over 100 free downloads. Actually, the number far exceeds 100. I stopped counting after 100. More resources are added every month.
Tell your friends! Give them these same resources free!
Many Ways to Convert Color to Black & White
There are over 14 ways to convert color to black and white.
1 Raw Conversion
2 Convert to Grayscale
3 Convert to Lab then convert to Grayscale keeping the L channel
4 Desaturate
5 Channel Mixer
6 Black & White Adjustment Layer
7 Dual Adjustment Layers - Dual Hue / Saturation
8 Dual Adjustment Layers - Hue / Saturation with Selective Color
9 Dual Adjustment Layers - Hue / Saturation with Channel Mixer
10 Triple Adjustment Layers - 3 Channel Mixers
11 Gradient Map
12 Calculations
13 Apply Image
14 Channels as Layers
Some of these methods aren't optimal. Some are equal. Some are superior.
Which should you use?
It depends on the image.
Sometimes a simple solution will do just as well as a complex one.
Sometimes you need the power of a more complex solution.
Here are my four favorites, ascending from simple to complex.
What Do We Mean By Black and White Images?
There are many types of black and white images. Here are six.
1 Neutral
2 Monochrome (uniformly warm or cool toned)
3 Duochrome (split-toned – i.e. warm highlights cool shadows)
4 Polychrome (tinted – i.e. handcolored)
5 Full Color – neutral subject
6 Full Color – black, gray, and/or white subject
They’re all black and white images, but they’re very different types of black and white images and the differences are important.
This is just a taste of the unique perspective (born of traditional training in both painting and photography) that you’ll find in my work, on my website, on my DVD, and in my workshops.
Get my free download here.
Find out more about black and white in my DVD Black & White Mastery.
Find out more about black and white in my Workshop Black & White Mastery.
Special discounts are available until January.
Nocturne XII – Color At Night
“They say we can’t see color at night. By comparison to day, I suppose that’s true. However, if there’s a significant amount of light, there are wonderful colors to be found at night.”
I wrote this many years ago. Since then I’ve come across recent scientific research that overturns the notion that we don’t see color at night. While our sensitivity to hue in low levels of light does diminish, we very definitely see it. We see color at night, even in the darkest hours.
Time and time again, throughout the history of art, I’ve seen examples of people calling it like they see it and expressing an underlying truth that science has yet to catch up with. My advice? Look closely. Trust your direct perception over the way you’ve been taught to see or think about seeing. Hold the questions of how it all works answered but open. With an open mind we learn more every day, There’s always more to learn.
See the rest of the statement here.
Read more statements here.
Steve McCurry – Face of Asia
“I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. I try to convey what it is like to be that person…I guess what you’d call the human condition.”
For more than twenty-five years Steve McCurry has covered areas of international and civil conflict, including the Iran–Iraq war, the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, Beirut, Cambodia, the Philippines, the Gulf War, and Afghanistan. Face of Asia concentrates on his extensive work from Asia, including images from India, Afghanistan, as well as recent work from Cambodia and Tibet. McCurry’s vivid color images and descriptive titles give us in the West a window into the cultures and peoples of Asia.
Check out this podcast at eastmanhouse.org.
Find out exhibition venues and dates here.
Lightroom 2.2 – New Update
Adobe has released a new update to its Photoshop Lightroom software, the second Lightroom update this fall. The new update includes several refinements such as enhanced performance of the local adjustment tools. In addition, Adobe’s Camera Profiles are now available natively within Lightroom 2.2 and are provided automatically as part of this release. As the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, camera profiles provide flexibility that allows photographers to quickly achieve their desired rendering. Lightroom 2.2 supports these seven new camera models: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon PowerShot G10, Panasonic DMC-G1, Panasonic DMC-FX150, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Panasonic DMC-LX3 and Leica D-LUX 4.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.2 is available now.
It’s a free download for existing Lightroom 2 customers.
It’s USD$99 as an upgrade for Lightroom 1 users.
It’s USD$299 for new users.
Lightroom 2 can be purchased through the Adobe Store here.
Check here for more information on Photoshop Lightroom 2.
Check out NAPP’s Lightroom 2 Learning Center here.
Check out PhotoshopCafe’s Lightroom 2 Learning site here.
NVIDIA Speak Visual Show
In 2009 NVIDIA will host The Speak Visual Show, featuring massive projections on buildings across the globe and simultaneously broadcast online. All types of artwork are being accepted.
You can enter online. Look at the rights granted before you enter. To my mind the usage is too open ended. That’s why I haven’t entered. And I’ve told them so. Maybe the terms will change.
In the meantime, the concept is fascinating and the event should be too.
Check out the Speak Visual Show here.
NVIDIA – Speak Visual
NVIDIA graphics cards offer better performance for many different types of creatives. They’ve spotlighted a number of people and their work on their website Speak Visual. We all use similar tools but often do very different things with them. The diversity is really interesting.
Check out Speak Visual here.