FINE ART ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHY - Editing Tutorial - 7 Step Workflow for Black and White Mastery!

This fine art architecture editing video was appreciated on my other channel, so I thought I'd re-share it here for those of you that missed it. This photo editing tutorial delves into fine art black and white editing. Specifically for architectural photography. I've broken the workflow down into 7 steps.
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The Concept
The concept is to sculpt the architecture using brightness values. Enhance areas of highlight and shadow to control your vision for the photo. I prefer a low key photo with minimal areas of highlights that demand the viewers attention.
The basic Editing Process
Create a good base layer that contains a full dynamic range from white through to black and has no clipping. This should be created from a RAW photo. Before converting to black and white, select the various facades of the building that you wish to change. After converting to black and white we then use curves to control the brightness of the different regions. We then make global adjustments to contrast including vignetting if need be. Utilise a creative tool such as Luminar to push your creative vision to the next level.
Below is an overview of the steps we follow in the fine art editing workflow:
1. Create a base layer with a good dynamic range
This can be done in Lightroom by boosting the shadows and controlling the highlights. The black and white points should meet the end of the histogram but they shouldn’t clip off the edge. A raw file should be used at this stage for the best results
2. Create selections of the different areas of the building
Utilise selection tools to isolate the building. The pen tool is great for this
3. Convert the image to black and white
There are so many black and white conversion methods. Most aren’t great but there are a few that stand out. The more flexibility the better. For this example, we’re going to use the Black and White adjustment layer
4. Use the premade selection to brighten and darken. Enhance the 3D feel and add emphasis based on your aesthetic preference. Use a curve adjustment pulled downwards to darken and use a curve pushed up to increase brightness. Also, consider giving areas of your building more visual interest by adding contrast with an S curve.
5. Make global adjustments to contrast by adding an overall Curve adjustment Layer with an S Curve.
6. Let your creativity loose by loading the image into a tool such as Luminar for the finishing touches.
7. Consider adding a vignette to control the highlights that are at the edge of the frame. Do this by again adding a curves adjustment layer and this time bring the right-hand point that controls the highlights downwards. Then create a radial gradient mask to control where the effect is applied. Refine this with a brush if necessary.
8. Post to Instagram and look like a photo ninja!

[@archiphoto]

This was originally posted in 2020 on my other channel. It was well received and has one of my favourite sub-genres of architectural photography: the fine art edit! So I thought Id re-share here with you guys. Do you want more on the fine-art and more stylized editing or do you prefer more traditional style of edit?

[@pauldunphy8790]

It was great to see how a very dramatic stylized image like this is produced. I’d definitely like to see more videos like this. Thanks Anthony.

[@darrenblight9854]

Love this style of editing/photography. Just never knew how! Thank you and more please! Ignore the haters!

[@archiphoto]

Thanks so much Darren!

[@PhilipDurkin]

The perfect Fine art tutorial :) ive been looking for a while for something like this and you've made it so simple to follow. Many thanks Phil

[@archiphoto]

Thanks Phil 😀

[@curtstevens6178]

Anthony, I very much appreciate your presentation style. It is clear and concise which is what I am looking for in my quest for tools to shoot and edit real estate and architectural photography. I would like to see more edits using Lumenzia and more about how and when you use flash. Thanks for all you do, it is truly a gift!

[@archiphoto]

Thanks so much Curt! I'll see what I can do with those videos in future. Thanks for watching and the kind feedback!

[@jaguarjj]

Beautiful

[@archiphoto]

Thank you!

[@nicholascorby3109]

Love your work!

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Thanks Nicholas!

[@ChristophePETYT]

Vey cool one ;)

[@rogerwalton8160]

Ignore the negative comment - it says more about the poster than it does about you!

[@archiphoto]

Thanks Roger.

[@konkretnyfacet]

Hi Anthony. I wonder how in the case of FINE ART ARCHITECTURE PHOTOGRAPHY it is possible to bypass the stage of tedious outline of individual parts of buildings. Would Lumenzia help with this somehow? Your videos are very helpful. I learned a lot from them. Thank you and greetings from Poland ;)

[@archiphoto]

Hi. As far as masking goes it really depends on the image and the contrast differential between building and sky. Lumenzia can certainly help in some instances though.

[@Berlinboeg]

I really like your videos on architecture they really are inspiring . But keep in mind that tiny changes in exposure and contrast can't be seen on KZbin films. And, dear Anthony, you haven't yet solved the problem of the clouds in the window! It would be interesting to know how you would do it.

[@archiphoto]

Thanks mate. Great feedback. Yes, it's easy to forget that those subtle changes may not show after a video is compressed, shown via youtube and re-rendered on a different screen etc. Thanks for the reminder. Regarding the windows... yes, I know it breaks the illusion and I may address the fix in a future video. This one was just getting on the longer side.... Cheers for the comment and for watching!

[@ArminHirmer]

that was great :) I just wish one could do proper masking either in LR or Luminar, so one could skip PS :)

[@archiphoto]

Thanks Armin. Cheers for watching and often leaving a comment. From one youtuber to another - I appreciate you! :)

[@denys40patrick]

hello is it not possible to attach a free raw file with your clips it's so much easier to learn it many photographers do this nowadays

[@AnthonyTurnham]

Hi mate. Yes I do that on some videos for the peeps helping me out with the channel who have joined with the "members + downloads" option. I've been giving away heaps of training for years for free, so it's my way of saying thanks to those who have thrown me a bit of beer money.