The Zone System and Digital Printing

Ansel Adams developed the Zone System for darkroom photography. Here is a clever digital conversion.

0 > 0
1 > 25
2 > 51
3 > 77
4 > 102
5 > 128
6 > 153
7 > 179
8 > 204
9 > 230
10 > 255

source: Photoshop 6 Artistry - Barry Haynes p.118-123

Removing Scratches

Open Photoshop

1. View at at least 200%.
2. Double-click on the third brush from the left which opens a Brush Options dialog box. A film processor scratch is 4 pixels. Change the brush diameter from 5 pixels to 4 pixels.
3. Put the cursor 1/8" away from one end of the scratch and Option-click.
4. Click the actual end of the scratch.
5. Shift-click the other end of the scratch. The scratch should disappear.

Correcting Light Sky

Open Photoshop

Must be in TIFF format

1 Select Eyedropper from tool palette.

2 Click on desired color.

3 Select Magic Wand from tool palette. The keyboard shortcut is type the letter w. Set tolerance at 32. The tolerance determines how close in value pixels must be before they arer selected. The lower the tolerance, the more similar the colors must be, and the higher the tolerance the greater the range of color.

4 Click on desired area to apply color

5 Select Paint Bucket from tool palette

6 Click on desired area to apply color

Digital Workflow

Producing a digital file that is good enough to print is complex. Here is a set of steps that you can use to help ensure that you will a have a file that is suitable for high quality printing.

1 Shoot in highest resolution
2 Transfer photographs to the computer
3 Open the file in Photoshop
4 Assign a profile
5 Convert the file to 16 bits
6 Change resolution to 300 dpi
7 Adjust file in Levels
8 Adjust file in Curves
9 Adjust file in Hue/Saturation
10 Local adjustments
11 Crop
12 Retouch
13 Sharpen


1 With a camera of your choice shoot a series of photographs at the highest resolution possible. This would be highest quality JPEG on most cameras. With a camera that has both JPEG and TIFF options choose TIF. With cameras that have RAW file capability, choose RAW not TIFF or JPEG.

2 Transfer photographs to the computer with a card reader. This is the fastest and easiest way to transfer photographs to a computer. I use a USB card reader. It has no cords to plug in, needs no special software, is fast and was inexpensive.

3 Open the file in Photoshop.

4 Assign a profile

5 Convert the file to 16 bits by going to Image>Mode>16 bits/Channel. With JPEG files Save As a TIFF. RAW images are 16 bits.

6 Go to Image>Image Size… The resolution should be 300. To change it uncheck Resample Image and then click OK.

7 To adjust the brightness and contrast of a black and white image, or to adjust the brightness and color balance of a color image, Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels. "Levels" opens a complex window with several buttons and a graph. The graph is called a histogram and is showing the tonal range of the image with the shadows on the left, the midtones in the middle and the highlights on the right. The 3 little triangles running along the line below the histogram are referred to as the input sliders. The color of each one (black, gray and white) shows what part of the tonal range that each one represents. There are 3 boxes above the histogram showing the numerical representations of every tone in the image. 0 is jet black and 255 is paper white.

To the right of the input slider bar appear 3 eyedroppers. Notice once again that they are colored black, gray and white. Click on the white one which is the one on the right. When you move the cursor into the image you will notice it has changed from an arrow (or whatever else was the previous cursor shape) to an eyedropper. Click on the lightest area of significance. In other words, don't choose something like a bright white reflection off of a mirror or something similar. The image should look somewhat different after doing this and the histogram should change. Do the same with the shadows using the eye dropper on the left. For the midtones move the midtone input slider to the left to lower the contrast and to the right to increase the contrast. Ignore the midtone eye dropper. Click on the OK button to complete the procedure and then save the image.

8 Fine tune adjustments in Curves

9 Fine tune adjustments in Hue/Saturation

10 Make local adjustments with the Magic Wand tool.

11 To crop the image, go to the vertical tool bar and click on the top left icon. A sub-icon menu of five icons appears. Choose the one on the right. Take the cursor and place it in the corner of the image. Click and slowly drag to the opposite corner eliminating areas on each side that you no longer want. Click on return to complete the operation.

12 Remove flaws with the clone stamp tool

13 Sharpen the image

Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask

Start with
Amount 300
Radius 0.7
Threshold 3
source: Digital Photography, 2nd Edition - Eismann, Duggan + Grey p 513 - 520

Start with
Amount 200
Radius 0.3
Threshold 0
or
use Optipix software set at Safe Sharpen
for both sharpening can be reduced with Edit>Fade in Photoshop
source: Digital Photography (2006) - George DeWolfe p 38

Amount 45
Radius 2.0
Threshold 1

You can preview the sharpening effect. Be careful not to oversharpen. When you oversharpen you will often see a strange grainy dot pattern somewhere in the image. Sharpening should always be your very last step in the editing process because it magnifies any image editing that has been done.

Noise Removal and Sharpening

Noise Removal

If a photograph has unwanted little specks of color, it has "noise." You can remove noise by following these steps.

In Camera Raw under the details tab there are 3 setting - Sharpness, Luminance Smoothing and Color Noise Reduction

1 Set Sharpness at 25
2 For Luminance Smoothing zoom in as far as you can go. Start with a setting of 6 to 10.
Luminance noise appears as random speckles concentrated in darker tones. This does soften the image so limit it.
3 For Color Noise Reduction settings can be more extreme because this does not affect sharpnes as much as Luminance Smoothing. Color Noise appears as random green and magenta splotches in dark areas.

It doesn't matter whether you start with Luminance Smoothing or Color Noise reduction first. Start with the worst of the two. Take sharpening higher if necessary to get a good preview.
source: Camera Raw with Photoshop CS - Bruce Fraser p. 96 - 97

In RAW view the image at 300% with slider set all the way to the left. Move the slider to the right until the noise disappears
or in Photoshop CS2 Filter>Noise>Remove Noise
or use Noise Ninja software
source: Digital Photography (2006) - George DeWolfe p 37


Another way to do reduce noise in Photoshop is

1 Open Channels palette and inspect Red, Green, and Blue for noise. Determine which channel has noise.
2 With the noisey channel selected go to the main menu and choose Image>Mode>LAB
3 Click on channel a and select Filter>Noise>Median. Set the radius to 3. Go higher if necessary.
4 Click on channel b and select Filter>Noise>Median. Set the radius to 5. This channel usually needs a higher radius than channel a.
5 Click on channel L and use an aggressive Unsharp Mask filter setting. It should look uncomfortably crisp.
6 Select Image>Mode>RGB to complete the process.

source: Digital Photography, 2nd Edition - Eismann, Duggan + Grey p 584 - 586

Always start with the camera's internal noise filter

•Photoshop Camera Raw has a noise control. Luminance and chrominance noise are filtered separately. If the image is to be converted to grayscale, chrominance noise is less important
Source: p. 106 + 107 Mastering Black and White Digital Photography – Michael Freeman 2006

Sharpening

Whenever you take a photograph or make a scan, it is good idea to sharpen it.

Start with
Amount 300
Radius 0.7
Threshold 3
source: Digital Photography, 2nd Edition - Eismann, Duggan + Grey p 513 - 520

Start with
Amount 200
Radius 0.3
Threshold 0
or
use Optipix software set at Safe Sharpen
for both sharpening can be reduced with Edit>Fade in Photoshop
source: Digital Photography (2006) - George DeWolfe p 38

Amount 45
Radius 2.0
Threshold 1

I use the above settings with high resolution images. Higher amount settings seem to lead to oversharpening.

There are two books on sharpening. Both authors have well established reputations as Photoshop experts.

Image Sharpening - Bruce Fraser 2007

Photoshop Sharpening, (download Version) 2006
Tim Grey
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470072733.html

Aperture and Shutter Speed Together

The 1:1 relationship between shutter speed and aperture is the most difficult concept to understand of how to use a camera. You will only understand it by trying it over and over again a couple of hundred times. Fortunately most camera meters will let you ignore this concept. However if you plan to use the Zone System method of making photographs you must understand this relationship between shutter speed and aperture.

Cameras that allow no control of shutter speed or aperture choice will make this decision without your assistance. Cameras designed during the 1970s or earlier that allow control of shutter speed and aperture choice generally provide some type of meter indication as to when you have chosen a shutter speed and f stop combination that will also expose the film just the right amount.

Cameras designed during the early 1980s that provide control of shutter speed and aperture choice allow you to choose either the shutter speed or the aperture and then the meter automatically sets the other one. Cameras designed during the late 1980s that provide control of shutter speed and aperture choice allow you to have the meter set so that both the shutter speed and the aperture are set automatically. This is called a programmed setting. Programmed settings are a tremendous asset to both amateur and professional photographers. There are many situations that happen so quickly you don't want to have to think about the proper shutter speed and aperture. The quality of the photograph is in no way inferior to one made with manual settings. It is just a less controlled photograph in terms of motion and what is in focus.

Aperture

The aperture is a circular opening inside of the lens. It's diameter is varied by a group of metal flower petal like parts. When the button on the camera to take a picture is pressed all of the petals move together to change the diameter of this opening so that it is set to correspond with the light. If it is a very sunny day the meter will set the aperture to a very small circle perhaps the size of the head of an average carpentry nail. If it is a very overcast day the meter will set the aperture to a very large circle perhaps half the size of the diameter of the lens. If the aperture is open too little the photograph will be too dark. If the aperture is open too much the photograph will be too light. Many cameras allow the photographer to choose an aperture. The advantage of this type of camera is that by varying the aperture the photographer can control how much will appear in focus in addition to what is seen in focus through the viewfinder in the finished photograph. Aperture settings are also called f stops. The term "stopping down" refers to setting the aperture to a smaller circle

45 maximum amount of focus

32

22

16

11

8

5.6

4

2.8

2

1.4 minimum amount of focus

Shutter Speeds

The shutter is a mechanical shade in the back center of the camera directly in front of the frame of film you are shooting. When the button on the camera to take a picture is pressed this shade opens for a fraction of a second. If the shutter is open for too little time the photograph will be too dark. If the shutter is open for too long the photograph will be too light. Many cameras allow the photographer to choose a shutter speed. The advantage of this type of camera is that by varying the shutter speed the photographer can control how motion will appear in the finished photograph.

1/8000 will stop any motion

1/4000 high enough speed to take pictures while walking

1/2000 will stop most motion

1/1000 will stop bicyclists and runners

1/500 will freeze a person jumping in the air

1/250 will stop some motion

1/125 to avoid camera shake

Speeds that blur motion. Use a tripod for these speeds.

1/60 slight blurring of motion

1/30 very good speed to show a bit of blur when photographing dancers

1/15 the blurring of motion becomes clearly evident

1/8 the blurring motion becomes more pronounced

1/4 the blurring of motion becomes extreme

1/2 high speed motion begins to become invisible

1 medium speed motion begins to become invisible

2 all motion begins to become invisible

4 more motion begins to become invisible

8 motion develops a fog like quality

B this one allows you to keep the shutter open as long as you want

When choosing a shutter speed to control motion, it must also be a shutter speed that correctly exposes the film so that the photograph is neither too light nor too dark.

Levels-Setting Black+White Points

To adjust the brightness and contrast of a black and white image, or to adjust the brightness and color balance of a color image, go to the Image menu and choose "Adjust." A submenu appears with 15 options. The first option "Levels" opens a complex window with several buttons and a graph. The graph is called a histogram and is showing the tonal range of the image with the shadows on the left, the midtones in the middle and the highlights on the right.

The 3 little triangles running along the line below the histogram are referred to as the input sliders. The color of each one (black, gray and white) shows what part of the tonal range that each one represents. There are 3 boxes above the histogram showing the numerical representations of every tone in the image. 0 is jet black and 255 is paper white. To the right of the input slider bar appear 3 eyedroppers. Notice once again that they are colored black, gray and white. Click on the white one which is the one on the right. When you move the cursor into the image you will notice it has changed from an arrow (or whatever else was the previous cursor shape) to an eyedropper. Click on the lightest area of significance. In other words, don't choose something like a bright white reflection off of a mirror or something similar. The image should look somewhat different after doing this and the histogram should change. Do the same with the shadows using the eye dropper on the left.

For the midtones move the midtone input slider to the left to lower the contrast and to the right to increase the contrast. Ignore the midtone eye dropper. Click on the OK button to complete the procedure and then save the image.

Choosing Light

Midday light on a sunny day is difficult to work with. It is harsh and leads to a contrast range where often either the shadows or highlights are severely compromised. For sunny days the best light is early morning or late afternoon. Cloudy days are easier on the contrast range and overcast days are ideal for getting a full contrast range for what you are seeing. This contrast range problem is so annoying to some photographers that they limit their shooting to a half hour before and after sunrise and a half hour before and after sunset.

Dog Photography

Many people new to photography as art want to photograph their dogs as subjects. Seeing these photographs makes the process easier.


http://www.cliffordsmithgallery.com/01junehorenstein.html

http://howtoclimbamountain.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/elliott_erwitt_photo_dog_new_york_city_1946.jpg

http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424480162/william-wegman-leaf-line.html

http://www.artnet.com/artwork/177234/william-wegman-show-of-shadow.html

http://www.artnet.com/artwork/177249/william-wegman-chest-of-drawers.html
http://www.tonymendozaphoto.com/pages/bob.asp?image=7

Digital Black and White

Many digital cameras have a setting to shoot in black and white. Some cameras do a direct conversion, others show what it would look like in black and white and then have the user do the conversion in Photoshop instead. The advantage of the latter is that the image quality is higher when the conversion is done in Photoshop instead of in the camera.

To convert an image to black and white start with the channel mixer

Image>Adjustments>Channel Mixer

or Layer>New Adjustment Layer> Channel Mixer

Channel Mixer

Set the check box to monochrome.

Try 60 Red - 30 Green - 10 Blue.

The sum total of the three should always be 100%


Colors that contain very little red appear dark. The red channel is like a deep red filter. The Constant slider adjusts the values of the output. Going left makes it blacker. Each of the channel sliders has a 200% range.

Source: p. 32 + 33 Mastering Black and White Digital Photography – Michael Freeman 2006

Using Channel Mixer and Adjustment Layers

Source: p. 40 + 41 Mastering Black and White Digital Photography – Michael Freeman 2006