Darker Blacks…

I have not posted here for a while and it is time to get a little more on it. Recently I have been asked by some in the Smug Dailies Community how I get the black backgrounds on some of my shoots so black and the subject so well lit. So my posting here today will go over some of what I do. There are many sites with details on how to set up a technically correct set up, so I am going to try to cover what I do beyond what is found.

But still, I must cover some basics in still photography to get to where I am going. Generally – for a white background the background and subject are both well lit – for a black background the subject is focus of the lighting and the background must get as little light as possible. I'll go thru my set-up in a later posting so you have an understanding of where I start and the lighting I use. But for now I feel what is posted here will give you more of what you are looking for.

Basics, black flat non-reflective craft paper back drop works well and cheap. As stated above concentrate as much of your lighting on the subject and away from the background – as best you can, a well lit subject if the first consideration. Now take a picture or two…

Okay, now that you have taken your shots, we are off to Photoshop… For those that do not believe in using a tool as powerful and versatile as Photoshop – stop reading…you are now on your own.

Here I am only going to address what it I do to get the background blacker, not everything that can be or should be done to a shot. Currently we use CS4, but in the past we used PS Elements 7, both have the ability to complete the following processes that I use. I always shoot in RAW, and CS4 offers much more in the way of ability when converting from Camera RAW to the PE files used by Photoshop. Basically, I use the settings to get the most from the subject while darkening the background as much as possible.

I'm using my recently posted Toad Chair shot to show the differences here. I'm not going to cover all the adjustments I make, that could take paragraphs and days to write and read… Just the key ones that affect the blackness for now.

The original shot below, notice it shows a lot of light on the background giving it a blue hue. The seam of the two sheets of paper I used is also visible, then so is the sprinkler pipe I had the shroom stuffed into to hold it up.

 

Now in Photoshop, in the RAW converter use the normal adjustments you would use for you own work. The key ones here to getting the background dark are the black and fill light on basic PS. For CS, these, then darks and shadows on curve tab, then on the color tab the luminence, saturation of the blues as black will show up in tones of blue for the most part with too much lighting. Don't be too concerned with the background here; the most important is to adjust your subject the way you want it to appear. These are simply the adjustments that affect the black background the most. Play around with the adjustments, you'll see what happens...

Open your picture in Photoshop. Now the final step and the one that will have the most impact – using the Adjustment, Replace Color feature, setting the dropper to pick up the largest average setting. Select a section of the background that is too light. Adjust the lightness bar setting to the far left, darkening the shade picked. You may need to do this step twice. You will need to watch the affect this has on your subject and it can make some of it too dark too, this will depend on the amount of blues in your subject.

If the adjustment darkens your subject too much, use the selection tool to select the background and separate it from the subject before adjusting. If there are a lot of blue tones in your subject you will more than likely need to do this.

In the sample below I only made the Replace Color adjustment and did no other RAW conversion setting, left everything at default settings. Just this step alone darkened the background to where it needed to be. You no longer see the seam in the background and most of the sprinkler has disappeared. Using the paint brush, the rest is easily corrected…

 

A Little On Photoshopping…

Another opportunity to share… While I do not in any way consider myself an expert on the use of Photoshop, I am always willing to share what I do. This is how I got most of my knowledge, thru others sharing what they did. Sometimes the unusual affects that others use can lead to new ways of creating the affects that you like. They do not always need to be the same ending results as person sharing, with knowledge comes growth… As you know more about the inner workings of Photoshop, or any software, you will improve.

There are many aspects of Photoshop that I feel are really great, top on my list is Layers… I use many, they can be used for so much, and they add depth to the photos. I always make modifications to new layers and save my work before combining most of the time.

I was asked how I got the textures on this photo, mainly the rock wall and branches… For almost all my shots I use a standard processing to start, first I will go thru those steps, modifications are done afterwards. After reading this, and trying it out (hopefully), experiment with it… I shoot in RAW and these instructions cover what I do after that conversion. The only thing I feel needs to be said while doing the RAW conversion is that I tend to under saturate during the conversion. I feel you will get better results, especially with reds, by bringing the colors back up later.

I start by making two to five layers depending on the shot and what I think it needs. There are at least two things I do with each shot, and more if needed. The top layer, Unsharp Mask, I always put this one on top, just my preference. The settings I use are: Amount 150%, Radius 62, Threshold 8…or there about. Yes, these are extreme settings and will not look right. Click Okay. I then use the layer opacity adjustment starting at 0 and add until I get the look I want. Usually between 5% and 15%...it does not take much.

The next layer down will either be Shadows/Highlights adjustment or Color Saturation/Hue adjustment. Shadow and highlights do not always need to be adjusted, on this shot they did. Shot on an overcast day, camera adjusted to meter for this light, gave a flat shot. It also darkened areas that needed to be brighter. You will notice as I go on, that all my adjustment layers are done to an extreme and then adjusted using the layer opacity slider. This one is the same, it tends to be the least extreme and opacity may be up at 50% or more. I bring the shadows up and drop the highlights down to a point where details are brought out clearly. Remember, overkill here will be adjusted out…

Color…hard to bring out in these overcast winter days… I've read internet articles on making colors "pop" in photos by using the Adjust Hue/Saturation, this is my rendition. Once again, I use a separate layer and extremes. On this layer the first thing I do is move the Saturation slider at least half way from the center to the right to over saturate. Sometimes, this is enough. To bring in the reds and greens, great for those gray winter shots, I move the Hue slider just a little to the left. You will notice the reds and green tones coming out; adjust to get the tones to fit your taste. Generally, I adjust the Lightness slider a little to the left as I feel this helps to compensate for the adjustments made on the other layers. Remember, this will be an over stated layer; the opacity slider will be used to put just what you want of the colors into your photo. The percentage used will depend on the colors of the original and the colors of this layer. Adjust to taste.

Once all these layers have been completed you can go back and adjust the individual layers opacity again. Now that they are all stacked up make sure they are where they need to be for the final photo.

Opacities used on the shot: Unsharp 20% (really high), Shadow/Highlight 63% (more for shadow details), Saturation/Hue 72% (I needed lots of color).

That is just for the basic picture of Five Mile Pool. I believe that is where the textures came into play, but for this picture I went farther… For now, I am not going thru all the stuff I did to add the daisies (layers, many more layers…). However, once I did add the daisies I used Topaz Adjust – Mild Color Pop to finish it off. The desired affect here was not to present a photo and reality, but to present a piece of digital art, a surreal presentation…

My original photo…I had very little control on the textures of the reflections…slight ripples…

The World In Motion…

Well I am new to this…

This is what I'm calling my shots that I post process in this manner. I have gotten several requests to share what I did in SmugMug so I'm posting this here. We use PSE7, but I'm sure that most good photo editing soft has the same abilities.

I shoot in RAW, and some work is done before really getting into the edit mod, but this really has minimal or no bearing on what I do to get the final affects. I have also used shots from a point and shoot just as effectively. When I am walking the dog in the park by myself, my Nikon is just too big and bulky, the point and shoot is so much handier in that situation.

The picture selected should be one that lends itself to this process. A subject should be centered in the photograph. Yes, you can have off centered subjects, but I find centered to be easiest. Look for shots that have details that can be highlighted in the picture later and ones that will lend to the blurring affect.

Sample: The finished shot is in my Abstract Gallery.

This picture has a subject in the center, an alder leaf, with lines and leaves all around that can be brought out thru the spin effect. I like to have something in the shot with some good color too, don't need much. Once again, check this one out in my abstract gallery…

Open the picture in edit mode. Using layers, duplicate the original layer twice.

Select the upper most layer in the layer section. Go to Filter, Blur, Radial Blur – you will get this popup…

For the spin effect, select Spin under Blur method. I have been using a spin amount of between 5 and 15 for most shots (showing above as 42). It does not take much to get the affect. In some shots more is better and others less is better, use your judgment, trial and error.

This method works with both the Spin and the Zoom blur method; check out my shots in my Abstract Gallery for examples of both… Most of what I have done so far uses the spinning style, but as I look for shots to use for 'The World In Motion' I look for ones for both methods.

Now make sure the "spun" layer is the upper most layer so that it will appear on the top of the picture. Highlight or select this layer as active. Now using the Eraser feature erase portions of the spun layer revealing the un-spun layer beneath. For areas that I want full un-spun I use an Opacity factor of 80 to 90%, then later use 100% while cleaning up the image, generally this is the subject in the center of the picture only. Adjust the opacity factor in other areas of the photo where you are just trying to hint at something there to 5 to 7%. You can always go over it again and again to bring out the background. I vary the size and opacity to get a smooth transition between the spun and un-spun layers and based on the size of the subject I want to bring forward. Also, use the Brush selections with soft edges as this gives you a soft line and better blending.

I vary the size of the eraser pixels and the % factor based on how much I want to show thru. A large pixel eraser with a very small factor produces the hints of a leaf or rock but still leaves it fuzzy. Play around and get a feel for what the differences are…

To get the hard edge, use a higher opacity or go over it more often until the edge appears. To get a soft edge use a lower opacity. Sometimes I use only one pass at 7% to bring out those fuzzy features. Blend using varying opacity factors in one direction away from any hard lines. Blending in one direction helps give that motion feel.

I click on the "eye" of the spun layer to view the un-spun layer a lot. Using the ruler feature, determine what and where something is you want to highlight, then re-click the eye and erase the area. With the spun layer on top you cannot see the objects in the photo, doing this lets you see them, place them in the photo, then erase the layer over them. I go back and forth doing this as many times as needed to get the end effects I want. Not sure I explained that well…

For the water valve shot, I used two different spun layers and erased both differently, this can add a little depth to the shot. I did not use this technique on the remaining shots. Something to keep in mind when doing this type of PP. Other layers can be added with colors or other affects. For the one below I used the artist dry brush affect on the spun layer only… Experiment…

The first one took a little time, but it gets very fast as you get a feel for the opacity levels and eraser sizes best for each situation. When in doubt use a small pixel eraser and a low % opacity. It is easy to go larger and increase the % if needed that to start with too much. If you erase too much, you may need to start over…I know…

Filter…..

Above pictures shows the spun layer as active and at the top. A close look shows I have erased some of it. The "eye" I refer to is the "eye" to the left of the picture in the layer section.

I'm a nut for using layers, you can always hide them by removing the eye, then bring them back later if you want…

I started out not using too much beyond basic editing and retouching. The more I get into PSE the more I find I do not know… What a powerful tool!

If I did not explain something well enough, please hit me up. Also, both Paula and I are always willing to share our techniques so if you see anything else we do that you want to understand better, let us know.