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Black and White Portraiture

Lesson 21 from: Dramatic Post-Production

David Nightingale

Black and White Portraiture

Lesson 21 from: Dramatic Post-Production

David Nightingale

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Lesson Info

21. Black and White Portraiture

Lesson Info

Black and White Portraiture

right. So what? We're going forward? This image before I do anything, What's kind of gonna work here, Do you think? I think bringing up the darks and hair and eyelashes a little less so on the lips, whitening everything else out? Look at kind of a hunky look. You don't agree? We don't want Liza. Crunchy detail here. Do Is not according great. So let's take a critical hue. Saturation. Grab hold of the slider. Very guy. That doesn't look too No. Okay, let's take a look at the Channel mixer. What's gonna look worse? What's gonna produce? Absolutely worst result here, which filter regrettably are sold. Continue. Read what will read Brighton. It will lanes and read to come through to the reds will get lighter. Right? Ok, do we want Do we know won't let. Yeah, we do. Right. So what's going on? What's gonna create the absolutely worst result? Look blue right now it's got a blue filter. No, this is this is quite unpleasant. Can you see this here? The details bringing out face. You have these l...

ittle dark, dark areas doing here. Let's take a look at the original. Can you see that detail in the original, the kind of zoom in. Can you see a difference in color here? Very faint on what should have been eating. It's food, rounds and skin, the remnants of tomato soup or baked beans. Or who knows? So when we used blue filter, this exaggerates the difference in texture that let's switch to the red filter. Now let's zoom in on that same area. Can you see the difference name? There's original. So can you see any change internal values on that line? No. No. Can you see any difference? Name and color. Yeah, right. Okay, So this is one of the first things about the challenge. We could do the same in black and white. All come back tonight. A minute. One of the really nice things about Channel Mixer is it. Smooth zooms, imperfections on skins. Things like thread, veins, little small wrinkles, little spots, little bits of food to all intents and purposes is just not there anymore. So if you're looking to, could it create a hunky portrayed on channel mixer on bias towards the red filter? Vickers on now you got you don't and that's it. And this is kind of lost my, I have a guy, you know, if you look at the original, you know there's no Riel Mary in that short, it's a shot. My daughter again. It was taken on using Vance Flash. She kind of was looking at the camera until this point. So the flashes bouncing out, advancing back down again, coming up a wooden table and enter into fights. It's a little bit dark. It's not especially nice bit with two adjustments. It's kind of one of my favorite portrait you're saying about the blacks. I didn't I didn't do anything to Black, so I didn't know. I've taken contrast there almost by frightening it. But what I've done is I've increased the separation between the dark eyelashes, skin attendance. So one step is to line it with Channel Mixer and then curves kind of what you've got in the Ames. It's not every day you got a really nice hiking portrayed in two steps. So by using channel mix, so you're smoothing out skin tones on, then just adding the simple If you brought it up, we can do exactly the same on if we used black and white to instead, so it's like a black and white on. We could switch the red filter. Uh, stay there. Add in the cath on there we get. That's not difficult. So that's if you, if you're doing a portrait of Children or portraits of women thin. This is kind of a nice technique for softening off skin tones. Uh, that's like another example. Portrait number two. So we're back to this image. It's been processed slightly different stocks. I wants to bring out the colors so we can kind of exaggerate the effects a little bit. I was a small fraction of small, So I one of the problems with the Channel mixer, um no shall I will show you the problem if we go to the red filter. In this instance, she kind of looks a lot with bright. Now we're losing. What What detail? You re losing across the facts. No bridge, The freckles. The freckles are going because the freckles are pretty much red on the skin is pretty much red to the same degree, so kind of soften it down and let's and become quite bright. Horizon become quite dark, so let's leave the channel mixer. It's just jumped the blue filter before we do. Because there is the blue filter. I'm so just by changing the settings and using the blue channels of the Red Channel, creating completely different interpretations of picture there she looks very bright and probably one of tone. Name that brightness with a curve. But we want to bring out the detail that we switched. The blue filter exit really brings out a feckless darkens Dental X lights in your eyes for this portrait. Go on, kind of. You get a little bit more control with a black and white filter open out of the black and white filter on. If they switched to the blue Salter, you get most of sign of thanks. Where you can do now is you can right on schedule A. If you want with the red, you can take it down and then brightened skin. Love it with the yellow. So I want to change if one to retain the same sort of brightness but make a lips darker. I can increase the decrease. The Reds. That doesn't look quite right. Now she's looking a bit vampire issue, so I go the other way round. Take the yellows down. Tech Reds are kind of. It's a bit more balanced. I can control arise with the blue, so you can always change the color of her eyes. You can go too far. You know, she looks like she's got a light source inside ahead. Uh, it isn't quite right being kind of balanced exams a bit. Um, for this one, I kind of, like, slightly cross a look. A little bit darker, little bit more detail, press fractionally overdone. But you get a sense for kind of the scope you have with just one tool to change the appearance of a portrait. Yeah. Did you bring any Cartwrights along? We'll probably have a have a look. Like when you get a chance in terms of minimizing detail, the red filters Quite good. You wanna bring it out? Blue filters. A good starting point on a certain If you're working on a portrait of the main on, I could show the pictures of my daughter's a lot part of one of the men I don't have permission to use because they kind of shopping to buy here, there and everywhere. If you want to bring out detail menace, if I start the blue filter on any friends of a bit dark. Just have a curve to brighten things up. Yeah, but when I do certain events, I do a lot of Africans and maybe Hispanics dark. And that could be a real struggle. Yeah, we're trying trying the black and white soul eternal. Next set on what you were. What you're looking for is kind of a good starting point to work from. You've got less scope with darker skin because clearly it was done quite dark. Start with on, but you will find you can alter the tone range of the image in a way that makes it quite easy to work with, Right? One last thing I want to show you before we move on. And it's kind of a combination off black and white and masks and layers and curves and stuff. It's quite relevant for Portrait's. So again, a portrait of my daughter. So take a look at the original every look at this one yesterday. I kind of feel like the center. For weeks now, we must have looked at every single image, a liver shots, but we haven't. We haven't seen this one. Fine. OK, right I've given it away. Ready? I told you about the eyes. So again the eyes were dark. Where do you agree? Dark. Would you agree that arise? Look a little bit dark under her eyes is a little dark. OK, let's compare it to the final version. Look a bit brighter than okay, let's go. Let's go through this sequence. So I start the channel mixer. I've used the blue filter because I want to bring you the freckles and I want a light in your eyes. I am equally well, I could have used different settings with black and white silk and they relax. Add on overall kerf their interest kind of lining up a bit on this part of their contract back in a case. And then I've added in the contrast, normally I might musket arise because their eyes get to double its leaving like this. Do you realize that right name? How would we make her eyes look better using a curve in a mask? What would be the secrets of steps we need to do? Um, way could put a We could mask her eyes and, um, put in like a NASCAR to bring out the whites and don't went right. Would you create the mask first? Um, you could or you do what you want to make it occur under the ICANN that's gonna come. The student. Let's do it that way around. The difficulty with masking anything before you make a change is you can't see what's going to change unless it's already changed. Now the only the only one we've done so far, which will be the other way round, would be the vignette. We kind of know where the edge of the image lines, but with something like times you know exactly what it needs to be lighter. All changed until you've made the change. You can't tell me. Sure. So let's make a rise a bit brighter to know something like that. Okay, so again, just a very, very simple change to the midterm values. No, I didn Mexico. If I could have done this with levels, it doesn't really matter. Now. Let's block the effect by again. I use Don't delete just to fill the lane us with black. So we know you know we're negating the effect. What's a bit of the mask? Do I need toe arrays? around around arrives on brain neurons, the same range to release the forgetting, the technical term. But the eye itself, The white bits on the ring bit. Yes. Okay, let's have a quick look because he wrote, But I'll show you why, If I kind of a raising here. Well, wait one moment. Okay, so we've done her eyes, so I want to make a little bit brighter. Still, where's the light source? If we're talking about doing something that's plausible or feasible, where is the light coming from? Such that their eyes would end up looking like this inside her head? Yep, Pretty much. That would be the only way to recreate this effect. It shouldn't be that whites it should just be the Is it the pupil, right? Let's think about the physics of what's going on here. So imagine yourself today Outside, this is natural light. The sun is kind of mostly coming down from appear. Why are your eyes Duncan? Then they should be what's causing the shade here. I arouse. Yeah. Yeah. So I want Is it that you're just adjusting the eyes? What else is dark? Everything. All the shadow around around eye socket Yes, proportionally. So yes, the only is the bit. That's the darker because that's the bit that further back. That's the bit we're paying attention to. But it's kind of the whole thing. So let's indulge the eyes back a little bit on. So far, we've been amending masks we've been using on. We haven't talked about capacity of the brush that we might be using or the A razor. What I'm gonna do new is turned daily capacity to something like 20%. What effect will that have that kind of yet? So if I If I use a razor 100% it cuts straight through in one in one click one pass. If I turn it down to its on 19% doesn't matter what it with a click, it will go 19% of the way through. So what I'm gonna kind of do is so the eyes were still way cut through the eyes first anyway s way did the eyes. So the eyes not gonna change because we've already cut three Best mask. Did you see the sequence of steps that could you see it changing on screen? And if we if we go back and jump between, and I'm using the history rush. Sorry that history brushed history palette to jump between two states. You kind of see the difference in mines. So you know, I'm making a lot right in there. It looks wrong because everything is getting too bright, but it doesn't look so hideously wrong because it it would just be I kind of there. Is that a huge change with major damage, or is it small? It's more subtle. Oops, there were 10.1. It's actually a very big change. Yeah, you're saying it's subtle and supple insofar as the edges are especially visible. I guess what I said settle at me because you had making number of changes. It was settled between the last last one might kind of turn that down a little bit on. We could add a bit more contrast that I could do that. Ah, a kind of the key thing there if we take what's the masculine look like? If we take a look at the mask, just a black palette with a couple of little white holes kind off, but is also gonna be something else in there, as well as well with your life. Yeah, if we have a look now what? You'll see if I click the right this it works new. So I cut through the eyes first because we do want nice to be nice and bright, but then with kind of faded it in, it is like we built up a Grady in because we load capacity where any part cutting through each time so I can show you that was sort of same capacity. If I click there, kind of just get this, it gets a bit brighter, so it's not cutting all the way through one go. It's just kind of you can build up the effect. So you made the mistake that nearly every makes going to think about eyes, that it's kind of the white in the pupil that needs to be brighter when in fact it's not. Because if you want an effect, that looks realistic. We're kind of pushed it a little bit further than realistic that, but it doesn't look like she's, you know, a pumpkin with candle inside the head. It just looks like a Ronnie's. Very sparkly. Okay, so I was just something to add in in terms of masking that. It's kind of peculiar to rise that you assume that it's just kind of the middle bit. But it's actually around the city as well. Is that making sense? Everybody online? Indeed it is. They also have gone quite quiet. Yeah, yeah, a little bit, but a couple of a couple of questions. Um, is it just preference? Uh, Van Pyro would like to know. Why does he use the eraser on the mask instead of a black and white brushes is a reference. Yeah, it makes no difference at all. What you're effectively doing is modifying the content of the mask so intuitively for me. If you got something that's black, you could imagine it's draw along with charcoal and you would rub it out with the rubber on equally you could be painting it black and then painting. It wanted painting it great. So no, it really makes no difference. And Suzanne asks the immortal question. The difference between, in my opinion, the difference between opacity and flow. Mm, the kind of much the same effect on everybody. Always ask for this. I always mean to look up the exact answer. You don't need to use both on flow Does something else infection. I'm sure somebody online can answer this. So yeah, anybody out there who can explain when you would use flow? Um, but it doesn't make any difference. I don't think as far as far as I know, I may be wrong again. I'm kind of one of the things the third shot is this knowing 1,000,000 ways to do something. So every workshop Gibson said, Well, what about if you do this, You know, you could do that. But you could do it like this, Or you could do it like this. Kind of it all comes back to this idea that all you're doing is changing brightness or color. There's different ways of doing it. Kind of this thing with the eyes is not caring for intuitive. When you think about it makes sense. But everybody kind of makes the same common stake. It's not one's worth mentioning. I don't know what the what The difference is hopeful. Something will tell us. The Internet star are charming in about the fact that flow relates to the pen and the welcome tablet sensitivity. Yeah, Yeah, I'm it comes being barbarian. I'm working with a track pad that flow the flow. This isn't relevant for my work. I will try again. My trick.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

David Nightingale - Day 1 Handout.pdf
David Nightingale - Student Files.zip
David Nightingale - More Examples.zip

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Ive been following davids work and tutorials for around a year now...well ever since i took up photography as a hobby. Im a lifetime member to chromasia.com and have been working through his tutorials when time allows. There is no fast track approach to this subject but i wanted the best advice i could get. Ive always found david very approachable over the internet and is always willing to offer advice on questions ive had regarding all manner of photography questions, being a noob. Whilst the tutorials are very comprehensive and well written sometimes its hard to digest this by yourself. So when i heard that he was presenting a three day course over the net. I jumped (well not quite more like sat down) at the chance to make sure i was able to watch the course (didnt manage that either). Sometimes its better to have a monkey see monkey do approach to walk you through different aspects of photoshop. And after the first day of the tutorial, so much information sunk in more so than it did sat reading through the tutorials. Although i didnt get to actively sit and watch the remainder of the last two days i did purchase the course so i can refer back to it time and time again. I can highly recommend this course, its concise, well planned and enjoyable course to watch. When you subcribe to the course you even get the files david walked through so you can practice yourself. I cant really praise the whole package enough...but its an invaluable reference course and couple this with chromasia membership you have a package that will dramatically improve your processed photos, the way you think about composition and importantly your camera settings! Great stuff

a Creativelive Student
 

David’s Dramatic Post Production Workshop is an excellent source of both education and inspiration. The Photoshop instruction is excellent and was my primary reason for watching the workshop. I was very surprised by how thought provoking the shooting sessions in the alley were and the lasting influence it will have on my own photography. Firstly the preparation for the session in the alley was interesting – having a goal and a purpose in mind. The fact that they are producing interesting work to illustrate the points and techniques in a rather dull alley helps emphasize the learning. On my next shoot after watching the workshop I definitely made adjustments in my approach. The discussion, examples and instruction on the goal of making an image more dramatic is very inspiring. It really makes me step back and review my own work to see how I can approach it from a different perspective

a Creativelive Student
 

The workshop was a great opportunity to learn to be more purposeful and intentional about the creative process at the post-production stage. I found the second day of the workshop – where David goes into his own approach in Photoshop – to be the most valuable for me. I look forward to putting this new found wisdom into practice into my own work. Thanks David!

Student Work

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