From Boring to Dramatic black and white in lightroom 2021

[@Bloggerky]

Dodge and burn -- the best technique for b&w in the past of film, still the best post-processing tool today for digital. Merci beaucoup.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

With pleasure :-)

[@DPG1963]

Serge, you are a pleasure to watch. Your enthusiasm is really inspiring.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Thank you so much! That’s awesome :-)

[@EmpySoul]

You are awesome Serge!!!! Thanks for all your tutorials!!! Cheers!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

You are so welcome! :-)

[@vernonalvares8440]

Superb video.. great technique.. cheers Vernon Alvares from Mumbai India

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Thank you!

[@iphoneography]

So much emotion in black and white, love it.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Yes I agree!

[@jpdj2715]

Dodge is simply a way to locally prevent light from falling on the photographic paper and burn is a way to locally allow light to fall on the paper longer. The "negative" is the processed film and in its processing we can influence contrast and density (sort of exposure). The paper is again negative and the result is a positive image. In general, the dynamic range of the film is, or can be, much wider than that of the paper. That paper, by the way was available in different contrast versions from soft to hard contrast. A contrasty film that had been processed to be contrasty (adding to the total contrast) thus could be "printed" (projected) on a photographic paper, which was subsequently processed (developed, stopped, fixed, rinsed). There was a technical art in observing subject circumstances for contrast, imagining what a specific film would do with that, adapting the processing of the film to the desired result and next going through the process of choosing paper and its processing. In the end, the timing for printing was a matter of choice": print-expose for the midtones and accept some highlights to be bleached out, as well as the "blacks" losing detail in that all black (i.e. dark grey) levels wold become black. Softer paper might be able to give you more contrast envelope, but the midtones would lose spice. So you took a paper that gave pop to the midtones. Because the film is a negative, print-exposing for the midtones already ruins the darkest areas (where the film negative is lightest), so by inserting a mask over the darkest area during print-exposure, we prevent losing detail in there. Now the whitest grey levels still lack detail and need some additional print-exposure time and this is the burning. These brightest parts in the subjects are the darkest in the negative and in another language, the burn might be called to push through. Adams wanted to show landscapes with lots of detail and a bit of drama. The amount of "manipulation" he needed to do to create his landscape art, bordered on today's "Photoshopping".

[@wudl83]

It's the theme. Senior year is one heck of a time.

[@passionographer]

Great tutorial Serge!! Thanks for sharing your homage to one of the greatest landscape photographers. I always found the Zone System to be very challenging. So glad you brought us from the darkroom to the lightroom.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

No problem! My pleasure it is always so much fun :-)

[@vinashvinisingh]

Serge! I really love and appreciate your videos your work and enthusiasm keeps me inspired! Thank you for sharing your valuable knowledge and advice. Cheers!

[@photospike3603]

Hey, Serge, you're the best, most entertaining. no bullshit photographer, I own my interior shooting career to you :) Cheerzzz!!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Niiice thats so cool! Thank you!

[@ceciliainnes2586]

Thanks Serge. You make it look so easy! I will now take your knowledge and apply to my images. Play and explore. I look forward to seeing more of your tutorials.

[@eugene8524]

Thanks, Serge, this is exactly was I was looking for! Subscribed!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Awesome thanks :-)

[@MichaelKantormusic]

Always a great video. Can’t wait to visit France.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

You will love it!

[@chevy2die]

Woooow sir. You have taught me a lot today. Thank you so much.

[@norrinRadd026]

Great job Serge!!!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Thank you!

[@laynieree4536]

Thank you Serge. Is it possible to do all of this in ACR instead of LR?

[@VineeStudio]

Thank you serge. You are awesome man. Keep inspiring

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Thanks a lot that means a lot!

[@tomaszbela9256]

Hello Serge, great video ! Where is the link to your book, which you mentioned in the video ? as I can't find it . Thanks in advance

[@elmono3939]

" I don' t know if that is a spot .. Let''s get rid of that ... " LOL

[@BartRos1980]

I have noticed you post less on YT Serge. Welcome back. Another great video.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Thanks! I am trying to get back to it!

[@BartRos1980]

@@SergeRamelliPhotography youtube is always great. I am working on an Udemy course about bluehour myself

[@tminusnyc2915]

Thank you. Really helpful.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

So glad thanks

[@agb1965]

Thanks, Serge. I think I'm gonna review my photographs and apply this b&w process

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Nice! Please do! It is so much fun you will see :-)

[@lieslwalshphotography]

Great tips for dramatic black and white! Thank you!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Thanks :-)

[@CarlosCruz-pw5cg]

Straight up, if you're looking for that b&w film feeling, this aint the place, welcome to saturation Kingdom

[@jeffrogers4251]

Great video. One question I have about your work in general but it could be illustrated in this photo above. What about noise? Since you manipulate the image so much is noise a problem in your work, whether in print or in publication? Thanks!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Yes I have a video specially for that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faqsnHyVjr6Go8U

[@MarkMetternichPhotographyLLC]

FIRST: BRILLIANT and absolutely inspiring Ansel-like black and white work!!! I'm a professional and I'm going to watch more of your videos for sure! THANK YOU! ***PROBLEM: at 16:49 you go into Sharpening saying: "...about 100 (amount) of Sharpening, I always like the sharpening at about 100 and masking at around 50... I printed this photo, it prints really well..." ALL images that are not shot at the lowest ISO and also shot "to the right" on the histogram, and the exposure brought down (meaning the images are totally luminance noise FREE) and are intended for print enlargement should N E V E R be pre-sharpened (Lightroom Sharpened/Capture Sharpened) at the native size, AT ALL!!! NEVER! ALL this will do is make noise issues noticeably worse and introduce obvious nasty artifacts that will massively hinder print sharpening and quality! Also the settings of 1.0 Radius and Detail at 25 are ideal for no photo! About 90% of photos sent into print labs today have similar settings baked into the the file that do nothing positive for the file, but do A LOT of damage that massively hinders critical "Output Sharpening" (the sharpening we do after we size up) and the potential for overall quality. This is because almost no-one understands how to sharpen correctly. We teach all of this at out "The Ultimate Mastering Fine Art Printmaking Workshop" yearly (guaranteed the most complete, comprehensive and cutting edge print workshop in the photography industry. Also, it is important to note that "Clarity" has a moderately wide diameter Sharpening built in (and is a mid-tone contrast slider too) and "Texture" is nothing but a wide diameter sharpening. BOTH are enhance noise dramatically, also halos and all sorts of nasty artifacts locally or globally. Even the masking (which is a great idea) creates all kinds of artifacts in the Transition Zones of where is sharpens and where it does not (the in-between areas) and also does some other artifacting that most people do not know about. So when people want to make a big masterful enlargement, these areas always have noticeably more artifacts and and hopefully the photographer has the skills to fix the areas. It is true that for WEB images or very small prints, the issues are not usually a problem. Bottom line: NEVER bake in "Sharpening" into native files! If a person has a HYPER CLEAN file, then a Radius to the left/Detail to the left (Deconvolution sharpening) can be carefully brushed into a LAYER in Photoshop in the detailed areas, as long as the person is on the right monitor (one that has a pixel size of 0.23-0.25mm - 100-109ppi - QHD monitor - 2560x1600 or 2560 1440 - 27 or 30 inch - the 30 inch being best). This can NOT be evaluated accurately on a laptop, a 4k or a 5k display. Also at a certain size on up (about 60 inches + or 1.5m or larger) these artifacts can always be seen and it is best to never pre-sharpen the native file. If people are unsure, it is best to NOT sharpen the native file at all!!! If a person is N E V E R going to make a print, then it does not matter. Actually over-sharpening damage can even look good when images are downsized for WEB. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lambfKR_jqloh9U spark.adobe.com/page/BKAIJCC5kfnJj/ kzbin.infovideos

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Nice thanks for sharing that was very interesting :-)

[@MarkMetternichPhotographyLLC]

@@SergeRamelliPhotography My pleasure. This is our expertise and if you want any other help in this area please let me know. Also we now have Adobe 32-bit Raw Layers n Photoshop so that every adjustment made including using luminosity masks and blend modes and things like that are absolutely non-destructive. And we can work in many raw layers. It is the absolute highest quality Workflow available in the world today and is way ahead of the curve! Almost no Photographers know about it because Adobe has not done a good job of marketing it. Blending 32-bit Raw Layers with 43-bit Raw Layers using many of the awesome finesse tools and masking Photoshop has that Lightroom does not have..

[@MarkMetternichPhotographyLLC]

@@SergeRamelliPhotography Let me know if you would like to see this 32 bit Ultimate Quality adobe Workflow. It is absolutely incredible black and whites as well. But in terms of sharpening our native images, I already have free materials on my KZbin page about that but I’m going to be coming out with a new one that is going to really drive it home. Any sharpening on a native file is very damaging, unless the file has absolutely no native color noise to begin with, that has been eliminated by the color noise slider, which leaves luminance noise. For web or for social media etc. you can get away with murder. But for fine art quality enlargement, The key is to not create any artifacts in the image before we size up. Most people don’t even see the artifacts in their image because they’re on a monitor that is too high of resolution to see it at the correct viewing distances. All I do when I’m not doing workshops is make huge enlargements for top quality find art landscape and nature photography galleries around the world. We even have to fix where people have used texture or clarity in their images. Also at certain sizes, no pre-sharpening will benefit the image, only harm it. People might think they’re getting a nice print or enlargement, but what they don’t know is how much better it could’ve been. This is my expertise and if you wanted to talk to me personally about it I would do that for free. Just email me. I think you do phenomenal work.

[@throttleblip6544]

Fantastic video! Thanks 🙏

[@mesutozturk1667]

Dear Serge, thank you for the great video. It was a great opportunity to focus on the complexity and importance of BnW photography. 😊👌I definitely will use it for my pics.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Awesome :-)

[@juandonis2706]

Great video! Thank you for sharing.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

You are very welcome :-)

[@zeinhaydar8780]

What did you say about 5D I have one Do you think it really noisy 😅😅😅

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Much more than the Sony i use today for sure! :-)

[@Simonfphotos]

Serge, the comment you make about Moonrise over Hernandez isn't quite correct. The lighter image was how Ansel printed it initially. It wasn't until much later that he manipulated the negative and printed it differently!

[@rorylong314]

And he only had 1 photograph that he had to estimate the exposure and development for so it ended up slightly underexposed. The next capture, the other side of the DDS, missed the moment.

[@Manuel7544]

I have seen that every body does color pictures converted to black and white but apparently nobody knows how to use negatives. Do you know how to handle them?

[@adventuresofjandk]

Great video

[@850Tech]

Thank you Serge

[@Vijayan7381]

i am unable to download the FreeEbook on New masterclass., The link provided only takes us to Register for class and even after registering, there is no comment on downloading the book. Please provide the link

[@homesteadf80]

Great video, unfortunately i don't have time to watch the class to receive the free ebook

[@zeinhaydar8780]

You are great ❤️

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Thanks!

[@nikolayproychev1574]

THANK YOU! I really like this BnW tutorial :)

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Awesome!

[@DanielWOstler]

Nicely Done!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Thank you :-)

[@christopherbeckerdite4273]

Merci

[@homesteadf80]

watched the seminar but never got an email for the free book, just one to purchase

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Please contact our support team: [e-mail]

[@Emmermacher]

Great video, Serge. How much time do you need for get the experience to use dodge and burn? When I see you at work, it's clear what you do. Working with own pictures for the moment it's not easy for me. Regards, Dirk.

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

I see well you just need to practice but it is quite simple! Don’t overthink on it and follow my steps and you will be all good :-)

[@theeclecticphotographerajr5372]

Thanks!

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

You are so welcome ;-)

[@DB-jz1nf]

Serge, the light is coming from the distance in the middle of the foto. Therefore the "frontside" of El Capitan definately cannot be brighter than the dark area in the middle ground. Thats unrealistic although quite interesting .

[@BartRos1980]

Its art. It does not need to be realistic

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

I see what you mean that’s true honestly I wasn’t thinking about it but that makes sense :-)

[@bonetones63]

@@BartRos1980 Exactly .... Too many people get hung up on that and see too much into an image, the goal is take something we see everyday and make it come alive in a artistic point of view.....

[@oneeyedphotographer]

I have a book of his photos, some are like that, but a lot are not.

[@marcdeckard7064]

How to turn snapshots in to dystopian hellscapes like everyone else does.

[@ar_pixelsss]

😂😂😂 wow 3:18 is finished

[@alexturcin7390]

BW photos never got my attention, because, like you said they look washed out. Well not anymore, I will really try the technique out. 👍🏻

[@SergeRamelliPhotography]

Nice ;-)

[@MEDxPHOTO]

👍👍👍

[@babahash]

That is way to many clicks. Is there a way to do this in 1 click

[@CarlosCruz-pw5cg]

Pretty sure Ansel Adams didn't have that much extreme lightroom settings when he brought them photos out... Just keep it simple lad

[@kerder8660]

Ansel Adams.. Hehehe superb technician & just average photographer.. Just my opinion..

[@Nick-ox6gz]

u call this dramatic..?

[@Moodboard39]

Fake???

[@philipadam7870]

A shame that Ansel continues to be misunderstood, even by those that try to convince others that they know what they are talking about.

[@Nick-ox6gz]

very fake photo