Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Today’s weather turned out to be quite nice. There is a wide variety of things and places to shoot in our little part of Germany. Clouds and fields are just coming around to being incredibly photogenic.
Today we’re going to take a quick look at contrast and exposure. When we refer to contrast, we’re generally speaking about the range of values within an image or scene. From the brightest areas to the darkest is our range, and the contrast ratios can be quite high for a full range scene to rather low for a lower contrast image, such as a portrait.
As a general rule, higher contrast images tend to be more dramatic, while lower contrast images run toward the softer side. That’s the reason we call lower contrast “softer.” An image’s sharpness is also dependant upon contrast. When you decrease contrast, you can quickly decrease sharpness if your not careful.
Contrast can be varied by exposure. When an image runs toward high key, it loses contrast due the lower values being absent. The inverse is true in low-key images, though to a lesser extent. By adding shadow and decreasing brightness or overall exposure, contrast can apparently be increased. Decreasing exposure by 1/3 stop can be just the trick. The same can be said for color contrast, which is the range of tones in a single color within your image.
Drama can be added through darkening, and tranquility, or stillness, through lightening. Local contrast can be adjusted within a narrow range of tones, improving appearance, detail, and bringing interest to an area within the image. By using levels for general contrast adjustments, and curves for local effects, an interesting image can be created.
Combined with visualizing the desired outcome, or range of outcomes, limitless possibilities exist within each image. By exposing your brightest areas for M+2 and your darkest for M-3, a visual feast can be created from one shot, if done right. Visualize the effect of several adjustments and contrast ranges, and then set the shot so that each one can be accomplished using limited adjustments.
I hope this gives you something to think about and play with. Throw in some work with this week’s exercise, and you’ll be sure to get something that fills with that pride of accomplishment that comes from a shot well made.
Take care and enjoy the rest of the week!
Is there anything you’d like to see here? Do you have a question? Share your thoughts here or at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!
Showing posts with label tonal range. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tonal range. Show all posts
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Developing for Your Vision
Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! Welcome to another delayed post.
Lots of things going on have delayed posting for several days, yet again! So here we go, continuing our last post about exposing for your vision.
We posted a photo that we referred to as N development, or normal. That going to be our starting point. Going back to our RAW conversion, we’re going to change that some. Since I use Canon’s Digital Photo Pro that came with my camera, I’ll refer to that.
Our first step is to adjust the slider for exposure. I took it down to -.33 stop. That added some depth to the sky and brighter areas, allowing for some slight texture and tonality. Then I set the white balance to color temperature, at 4200. You’ll see why I did that later.
After that, I crushed in the levels some, the method is shown below. That increases contrast and allows you to bring your levels at the extreme end in some. It gives deeper shadows and highlights. Some of this will be offset, while allowing the levels to be set in our next step.
Looking at the arrows, you can see how the levels are crushed in using your sliding limits. This adds clarity, contrast, and depth to an image.
Bringing the contrast up to 2, and the highlights to –2, allowed for some slight increase in highlight detail along the snowy roof of the church and in the snow on the fields. Bringing the shadows up to +2, added depth to the forest and some detail to the church tower and tonality to the almost black barn. It also allowed the shadows to move higher along the exposure scale, increasing the open feeling of the spaces and the shadows from the buildings.
After setting my monochrome filter to red, which darkens greens and blues, the snow appeared brighter without fading or washing out, while adding some shadows back to the open parts of the further hill and forest. Adjusting the color temperature down to about 3900 cleared things up a little.
After rotating the image to a more suitable angle, due to my camera not being level while I shot, I was ready to sharpen, convert, and save. Below is the finished image.
ISO 400, f/16, 1/500, 115mm
Our finished shot of this charming village.
Here is the photo in color with almost the same settings, with the biggest change coming from the color temperature. Outdoor shadows, and snow, usually have more blue light, so bumping up the color temperature allowed for white snow, blacker shadows, and still retained the color on the far hills.
ISO 400, f/16, 1/500, 115mm
Our color shot of this charming village.
Some small edits in RAW can save tons of time fixing photos. They also allow us to create our vision, not just re-create what we saw. Using some dodging and burning tools and sharpening brushes, as well as the other tools, in editing applications can further that vision to a concrete expression of what our mind saw and wanted to show.
I hope to see some of your vision soon! Start sharing your work and showing us how you saw something, not what you saw. Making great photos is a great way to spend some time, and get in touch with the world around you! I hope you have a wonderful week and enjoy the weather we have right now!
Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!
Lots of things going on have delayed posting for several days, yet again! So here we go, continuing our last post about exposing for your vision.
We posted a photo that we referred to as N development, or normal. That going to be our starting point. Going back to our RAW conversion, we’re going to change that some. Since I use Canon’s Digital Photo Pro that came with my camera, I’ll refer to that.
Our first step is to adjust the slider for exposure. I took it down to -.33 stop. That added some depth to the sky and brighter areas, allowing for some slight texture and tonality. Then I set the white balance to color temperature, at 4200. You’ll see why I did that later.
After that, I crushed in the levels some, the method is shown below. That increases contrast and allows you to bring your levels at the extreme end in some. It gives deeper shadows and highlights. Some of this will be offset, while allowing the levels to be set in our next step.
Looking at the arrows, you can see how the levels are crushed in using your sliding limits. This adds clarity, contrast, and depth to an image.
Bringing the contrast up to 2, and the highlights to –2, allowed for some slight increase in highlight detail along the snowy roof of the church and in the snow on the fields. Bringing the shadows up to +2, added depth to the forest and some detail to the church tower and tonality to the almost black barn. It also allowed the shadows to move higher along the exposure scale, increasing the open feeling of the spaces and the shadows from the buildings.
After setting my monochrome filter to red, which darkens greens and blues, the snow appeared brighter without fading or washing out, while adding some shadows back to the open parts of the further hill and forest. Adjusting the color temperature down to about 3900 cleared things up a little.
After rotating the image to a more suitable angle, due to my camera not being level while I shot, I was ready to sharpen, convert, and save. Below is the finished image.
ISO 400, f/16, 1/500, 115mm
Our finished shot of this charming village.
Here is the photo in color with almost the same settings, with the biggest change coming from the color temperature. Outdoor shadows, and snow, usually have more blue light, so bumping up the color temperature allowed for white snow, blacker shadows, and still retained the color on the far hills.
ISO 400, f/16, 1/500, 115mm
Our color shot of this charming village.
Some small edits in RAW can save tons of time fixing photos. They also allow us to create our vision, not just re-create what we saw. Using some dodging and burning tools and sharpening brushes, as well as the other tools, in editing applications can further that vision to a concrete expression of what our mind saw and wanted to show.
I hope to see some of your vision soon! Start sharing your work and showing us how you saw something, not what you saw. Making great photos is a great way to spend some time, and get in touch with the world around you! I hope you have a wonderful week and enjoy the weather we have right now!
Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't forget, we're on Google+, too!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Home On the (Tonal) Range
Greetings, volks. Welcome to Hohenfels Volks, THE place for our place! I hope you’re staying warm; this cold can be a killer.
Today we’re introducing a new concept. We’re going to discuss tonal range. Usually tonal range is a term used in monochrome photography. But it can also be used in color, with a slightly expanded meaning.
Tonal range in B&W photography refers to the range from darkest black to whitest white. This is a vague definition; so let’s get more detailed here.
First, tonal range is limited by 3 factors. The first is your camera or film, the second is your monitor in digital photography, and the third is the printer or paper selected.
A film or image sensor can have wide tonal range, allowing for many levels between zone transitions. Though it has a wide range, it may not be capable of recording more than a few ranges at a time, which gives it more contrast. If you remember, there are 11 zones and that we generally want to get the bulk of our image in zones 2 through 8, with our true blacks in zone 0 and whites in zone 10. Zones 0 and 10 have no tone or texture; therefore convey no usable information to the image. This means we should be placing our extremes in zones 1 and 9 if we want any kind of detail. Tonal range in this context allows for more gradual shift between the extremes of each zone. As in the image “A Shot in the Dark,” narrow tonal range can increase the visual impact of an image immensely. Wider tonal range can be flat and lacking in impact if consideration isn’t given to the ranges you want to emphasize. You can use a wide tonal range, while limiting most of your imagery to one end of that range for more impact.
In film, light is recorded on a strip of film and silver halides. Where the light hits, the silver halides are concentrated, creating a thicker negative. This is referred to as your density. The greater your density, the greater the light recorded. A film's tonal range often corresponds to its density. A wide range of densities in a shot means a wider tonal range.
Your monitor also has a limited tonal range. The more modern LCDs have an incredible range, perhaps more than your camera or film. This will have an impact on your presentation and editing when using different monitors. This is part of the reason for calibrations for monitors and printers. We won’t discuss that here beyond this.
Your printer and paper also are limiting factors. As with monitors, papers and in digital, inks have different tonal ranges. One type of paper may have a wider tonal range and be capable of allowing the entire range of your image to be printed beautifully. Another type may not. The same with printers and inks.
In color photography, tonal range refers to all the above, but is applied to each of the colors, Red, Green, and Blue. Each color may have a different tonal range, in each of the devices we’ve discussed. That’s why on most newer cameras, your histogram can either show RGB, luminance, or both. This allows you to see each color in relation to the other colors.
When displaying your final image, you choose your presentation format- monitor, CRT, print, and so on. Giving the output and its tonal range the right consideration can go a long way to creating what you visualize and making your vision a reality. When you wish to print an image out, it’s best to have a test print from the target printer to ensure your monitor matches, then your image can be edited to match and you’ll get a great print. The same goes with film and silver based paper printing. Match your film to the paper that will achieve the results you desire and your photos will be better for it.
Later, we’ll look at more about this subject. In future posts, we’ll examining individual influences on, and aspects of, your tonal range. I’m looking forward to you joining us on our journey through photography.
I hope you’ll be posting your photos for this week’s theme, and get your vote tallied for next week’s theme!
Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't foget, we're on Google+, too!
Today we’re introducing a new concept. We’re going to discuss tonal range. Usually tonal range is a term used in monochrome photography. But it can also be used in color, with a slightly expanded meaning.
Tonal range in B&W photography refers to the range from darkest black to whitest white. This is a vague definition; so let’s get more detailed here.
First, tonal range is limited by 3 factors. The first is your camera or film, the second is your monitor in digital photography, and the third is the printer or paper selected.
A film or image sensor can have wide tonal range, allowing for many levels between zone transitions. Though it has a wide range, it may not be capable of recording more than a few ranges at a time, which gives it more contrast. If you remember, there are 11 zones and that we generally want to get the bulk of our image in zones 2 through 8, with our true blacks in zone 0 and whites in zone 10. Zones 0 and 10 have no tone or texture; therefore convey no usable information to the image. This means we should be placing our extremes in zones 1 and 9 if we want any kind of detail. Tonal range in this context allows for more gradual shift between the extremes of each zone. As in the image “A Shot in the Dark,” narrow tonal range can increase the visual impact of an image immensely. Wider tonal range can be flat and lacking in impact if consideration isn’t given to the ranges you want to emphasize. You can use a wide tonal range, while limiting most of your imagery to one end of that range for more impact.
In film, light is recorded on a strip of film and silver halides. Where the light hits, the silver halides are concentrated, creating a thicker negative. This is referred to as your density. The greater your density, the greater the light recorded. A film's tonal range often corresponds to its density. A wide range of densities in a shot means a wider tonal range.
Your monitor also has a limited tonal range. The more modern LCDs have an incredible range, perhaps more than your camera or film. This will have an impact on your presentation and editing when using different monitors. This is part of the reason for calibrations for monitors and printers. We won’t discuss that here beyond this.
Your printer and paper also are limiting factors. As with monitors, papers and in digital, inks have different tonal ranges. One type of paper may have a wider tonal range and be capable of allowing the entire range of your image to be printed beautifully. Another type may not. The same with printers and inks.
In color photography, tonal range refers to all the above, but is applied to each of the colors, Red, Green, and Blue. Each color may have a different tonal range, in each of the devices we’ve discussed. That’s why on most newer cameras, your histogram can either show RGB, luminance, or both. This allows you to see each color in relation to the other colors.
When displaying your final image, you choose your presentation format- monitor, CRT, print, and so on. Giving the output and its tonal range the right consideration can go a long way to creating what you visualize and making your vision a reality. When you wish to print an image out, it’s best to have a test print from the target printer to ensure your monitor matches, then your image can be edited to match and you’ll get a great print. The same goes with film and silver based paper printing. Match your film to the paper that will achieve the results you desire and your photos will be better for it.
Later, we’ll look at more about this subject. In future posts, we’ll examining individual influences on, and aspects of, your tonal range. I’m looking forward to you joining us on our journey through photography.
I hope you’ll be posting your photos for this week’s theme, and get your vote tallied for next week’s theme!
Don’t forget to post any of your images you’d like to see here at the Hohenfels Volks Facebook page. Of course, commenting on both Facebook and here is always appreciated, too! Don't foget, we're on Google+, too!
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