Creative Post-Processing HAROLD DAVIS

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1 Creative Post-Processing HAROLD DAVIS

2 >> Book Proposal Digital photography is one part camera work and one part software processing. Software post-processing can involve straightforward rendering with the intent of matching the aspects of an actual scene. At other times, post-processing can be a creative process closer to painting using a computer than to photography. Beyond workflow, this book uses fully-worked examples to open the eyes and hearts of learners to the immense universe of post-processing possibilities in the digital darkroom. Topics covered include: in-camera versus in-computer processing, shooting and combining multiple exposures, shooting and combining images with multiple focal points, multi-raw processing, photocomposition, masking, layering, blending modes, channel operations, using color models, LAB color, and cross-processing. This is largely an Adobe Camera RAW and Photoshop book, but it is independent of a specific version of Photoshop. There will also be an indication of what functionality can (and cannot) be done in applications such as Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, and Aperture. As participants in Harold s acclaimed workshops have noted, Harold s methods of post-processing photographs are unique. Readers of Creative Post-Processing will find a synthesis of new information and approaches to processing digital photos that is truly liberating and exciting. >> Audience Creative Post-Processing is intended to expand the universe of possibilities available to photographers who are already familiar with the basics of software such as Photoshop. >> Competition Of course, there are many books about Photoshop aimed at photographers. For example, Martin Evening s Adobe Photoshop for Photographers (Focal Press) presents a good outline of the Photoshop features relevant to photographers. The Creative Digital Darkroom (Eismann & Duggan, O Reilly) presents good workflow information for digital photographers. The first of these titles is

3 very high-level compared to Creative Post-Processing, and the second presents the electronic darkroom as a virtual extension of the chemical darkroom (in distinction to Creative Post-Processing, which treats digital post-processing as an entirely new and vital digital medium). Some of the information in Creative Post-Processing is available in other books, for example, LAB color is explained thoroughly in The Canyon Conundrum (Peachpit). But Creative Post-Processing goes beyond the narrow scope of a single technique to demystify the entire gamut of concepts that converge in post-processing. This includes color spaces, channels, layers, and masking. At the same time, Creative Post-Processing is no cookbook. This book is meant to encourage experimentation and understanding, not the narrow duplication of recipes. >> Book Format Creative Post-Processing is 4-color throughout with approximately 100 digital images reproduced in a book of 192 pages with a trim size to be agreed upon with the publisher. >> Delivery Pre-flighted InDesign files with press-ready profiled CMYK digital images will be delivered on a mutually agreed-upon schedule. >> About the Creative Team As a creative team, Harold Davis and Phyllis Davis have photographed, written, and designed photography titles including The Photographer s Guide to Yosemite & the High Sierra (Countryman), Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers (O Reilly Media), and 100 Views of the Golden Gate (Wilderness Press). Harold is the author of more than thirty books on a variety of subjects. He is a well-known photographer whose work has been widely published in art posters, on book covers, and in giant photo murals. Harold writes the popular Photoblog 2.0 at www. photoblog2.com. His other websites include and Here s what Rick Smolan, photojournalist and creator of the Day in the Life series, had to say about Harold s Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers: If you buy only one photography technique book this year, make it Harold Davis s Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers. This book is an instant classic, and is the first to provide the information you need to really understand exposure from the perspective of the digital (as opposed to film) photographer. And Davis doesn t just talk about technique, he walks the walk Davis s example photos are creative and awe-inspiringly beautiful. Best of all: he explains the tools and techniques used to create each photo in Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers. Phyllis is the well-regarded author of many books about image manipulation software. She s an accomplished designer, with books, posters, and advertisements to her credit. Harold & Phyllis live in Berkeley, California with their family. Photo by Derrick Storey

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5 Introduction 1: Setting the Wheels in Motion Finding the digital in digital photography Tools of the trade: software for post-processing Input devices: cameras, scanners, and more Camera and computer processing Exposing with creative post-processing in mind Towards an alternative workflow Understanding necessary checkpoints Creating a personal workflow 2: The Art of Imagination The chemistry of translation: film emulation Color spaces Layers: the building blocks of transcendence Blending modes LAB color Inversions and more Cross-processing Working with filters Painting and photography 3: A Pixel Does Not Know Its Origin When is a photo not a photo? Layers and masking Multi-RAW processing Combining captures and HDR images High Focal Range images Photocomposition Transcending the origins: beyond the captured pixel

6 >> Post-Processing: Dragonfly As part of an assignment, my client asked me to create an image of a dragonfly. According to the client s specifications, the features of the dragonfly needed be recognizable, and almost human. In addition, the image needed to be highly colorful, and, in the words of the client, almost transcendent.

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8 >> Capturing the dragonfly How To start with, I looked through my library of existing dragonfly captures to find a starting place. I quickly realized they just would not do because of the position of the insects, backgrounds and lack of transparency in the wings. I bought this dragonfly at a natural specimens store, and photographed it straight down using a lightbox as the lighting source. I used a telephoto macro lens and a tripod. I exposed the image for 2 seconds at f/32 and ISO 100. Why If you look at the capture on the right (reproduced with default ACR settings), you ll see that it is overexposed. This would be shown in the exposure histogram, which will appear pushed to the right. The point here is to completely lighten the background without giving it a cut-out look. Next steps In many ways this capture is not beautiful, but significantly it is all ours and ready to become a thing of beauty. To start with, the push pin placed by the store needs to be removed (I didn t just pull it out because the dragonfly would have disintegrated). Besides minor additional retouching, the image will need to be rotated and cropped. push pin

9 >> Retouching and adjusting luminosity Clone out the push pin and add density to the wings How I created a new layer and cloned out the head of the push pin. At the same time, I took care of minor cosmetic retouching. I made the wings darker by blending a darker version of the dragonfly with itself using a luminosity blend. I masked out the new layer, and painted in the areas I wanted. Rotate and crop in I used a straightforward rotation and crop to position the dragonfly. Why The removal of the push pin sets the stage for an insect that has been released to apparently fly, rather than one held to earth. Once I ve completed RAW conversion and cosmetic steps, I can then crop and format the image as I d like. Next steps The image will need to be inverted to appear on a black background, and color will need to be added.

10 >> Masking and using LAB color Inverting the B channel in LAB color flips blue and yellow values Combining LAB channels using different blending modes gives a huge variety of color possibilities Adding color I created a duplicate of the image and converted the dupe to LAB color. Next, I used inversions and equalizations on the LAB color channels and the image itself to create a palette of color possibilities. I used the L (luminance) channel to create a layer mask (also called an alpha mask). Having a mask allowed me to apply color without worrying about the background (and other areas that I wanted to leave alone). This layer mask was created from the L (luminosity) channel of the dragonfly The trick was to take the color I wanted from specific areas of the different possibilities I created. Sometimes I ll paint directly on image to create a special effect (see the example on page 111). But I prefer to use color-modified duplicated of the original image to create color effects, because I find the results appear more authentic. When the color gets close, it s time to play. Sometimes adding accents of color in small areas can make a big difference. Viewers may not even be conscious of what you have done, but they will respond differently to your image. The power of masking combined with color blending modes is to have specific and granular control over your color results.

11 >> Channel operations and adjusting color LAB Color inversions and equalizations The LAB color model creates all colors in a gamut that is larger than CMYK or RGB using three channels (see pages for more about LAB color). These channels are: L : contains the luminance, or grayscale, information from the image A : contains the Magenta and Green color information in an image Inverting the L (luminosity) channel a second time gives an additional color channel that can be blended back into the black background version B : contains the Blue and Yellow color information in an image. To invert an image, or a channel, means to reverse the information in the channel. For example, in a luminance channel black becomes white and white becomes black. To equalize an image, or a channel, means to redistribute color values so that both brightness and darkness are maximized. Since you can invert and equalize an overall image in LAB, and perform these operations on each separate color channel as well, there are seven possible variants using color inversion and equalization easily accessible off every image. The trick is to use the parts of the variants that you want, and not to be stuck with the entire version. Yet another inversion gives some green that can be used to contrast with the predominant magenta in the insect

12 Harold Davis is a well-known, widely collected, professional photographer and the author of more than 30 books, including Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers (O Reilly), 100 Views of the Golden Gate (Wilderness Press), and The Photographer s Guide to Yosemite & the High Sierra (W.W. Norton & Co.).