Toning b/w images...

kelly1

Hello all,

Just wondering if anyone else has been in the same boat but have you ever looked at a monochrome image in a magazine and wondered what kind of toning the photographer used on the b/w image?

I used to do sepia and then switched to true black and white, finding that sepia has limited application IMO.

So I was missing around with toning in Lightroom and I came up with a tone that I'm happy with. It's basically a hue value of 52 and saturation set to 20.
Not saying this is anything special but I like it

Does anyone have any toning secrets you'd like to share?

ditpaintball

I find that it depends on the images. Some images can get away with a hit of a tone where as others look better in a pure high contrast black and white.

Thecageyone

I created a preset in LR3 that is basically all saturation sliders set to 0. I can change the tone and contrast of each colour still, using the luminance sliders as well as all other controls still available, unlike straight grey-scaling. I usually take the processed B&W from there to Cs5 and do a layer or two of high pass and some other minor tweaks I just prefer in Cs5. I like B&W nice and contrasty, anything but greyish and flat.

I have a soft spot for Sepia tones and Aged photo look too though, but I know many people who have mixed feelings on those. I would offer them as options when processing images for others.

dave_brent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_g9kiIAT78&feature=channel

Lynda tutorials, really good...

Heebie

This would be very similar to what I use. usually around 49 with saturation of 10-15, although I usually do this in Photoshop. (The engines that do the work are probably identical, so they probably would look the same in eithe rone.)

kelly1 wrote: »

Hello all,
So I was missing around with toning in Lightroom and I came up with a tone that I'm happy with. It's basically a hue value of 52 and saturation set to 20.

Thecageyone

I often wonder on that, though both programs do things very differently, they're working from the same core. But, why then do I find the exposure adjustment brush so much better than the dodge & burn tools in PS? Even though the ones in PS offer more control!

mehfesto

I love toying with the brightness/contrast after I convert. I burn and dodge a fair bit too. I use the colour sliders for the B&W conversion, but even after that the changes you can make in the image>adjustment bar amazes me.

Can't imagine this is everyone's cuppa tea, but I love this effect I get:

kelly1

Thanks for the replies folks.

jaybeeveedub

hate to be picky... but what you describe is tinting as opposed to toning...

tinting applies the color to the whole image in the same way as a filter would...

sepia tone only applies to areas where there is detail... this is especially noticeable in high contrast images...

in a true sepia tone image the black faded to brown leaving the White areas White... as they were just paper colored ( of course the paper color could change too...)

to achieve a true tone you need to apply a mask so the color change applies only to those areas of the print receiving ink... leaving the paper color for White areas...

kelly1

Thanks J, sounds interesting. So would I create a mask from an inverted high contrast version of the image?

jaybeeveedub

yup something like that would be a good starting point....

experiment with caluclations and see what you can come up with, then you can use levels on that and maybe a bit of blur if you're approaching it for a vintage sepia tone as there is usuallly uneven fading of old un-fast inks from black to brown....

I'm pretty sure you'll be happier with the results, sepia tinted images always to my eye scream "showhouse apartment lifestlye shot"

I cant even begin to count the number of "seaside dunes with bockety fence" in sepia tint I've seen when photgraphing showhouses