Even fairies need them sometimes.

Stock credits listed on the deviantART page.

A lot of my favourite photographs from my travels are now on my RedBubble account. Some of my other creative photomanipulations will also be going up (as soon as I get permission from the stockers to do so).

I actually need some extra cash to buy a lampworking kit to make pretty beads, like this…

If you feel like donating to the cause, please consider buying a print or a card. Every little bit helps.

Alternatively, if anyone’s got any good quality photos of their kids, I am happy to take on a commission or two.

Or design some jewellery…

Guardian

Full stock list can be found on my deviantART page for this work.

Noir Magazine - Conceptual mazine and masthead design.

I must apologise for the lack of content here recently.  As a design student now in my second year of my course (part time) I am pretty busy with homework a lot of the time. I hope to have a range of different tutorials up over the coming weeks though.

Not to mention photos and assignment pictures.

*** The above assignment features photography by yours truly. The image is one I took of up and coming singer, Katie Weston.

Tam in colour. So preeeety.

Converting Colour to Black and White, the Cool Way.

In the Beginning, God (in this case, Adobe) created Photoshop. And on the seventh day, He edited his photographs in Photoshop and was pleased; for they were good.   And on that day, He bade his subjects go out into the world and teach.

“Lead my people home!”

And that’s when Ren decided she knew everything… and so the story continues.

This is a demonstration of how I create most of my black and white images. I’m presuming you know about layers and adjustment layers however if you don’t, either look up a tutorial ot two – there’s heaps online – or just head on up into your Layer menu in Photoshop and start playing. It’s easy. Don’t be afraid. Go now. I’ll wait…

While we’re waiting, I’ll say many, many thanks to Tam for the use of her lovely face and apologise unreservedly for any offense or boredom that may be caused. Please note, there are umptymillion ways of getting a single result in Photoshop for just about anything you want to do. This is just one method of creating black and white images – there are heaps that I’ve discovered but this is my favourite so far.

Ok, onto the tutorial.

But first, some general stuff that Ren doesn’t like.

Ren doesn’t like people who just use the Desaturate option.  Yep. Yank the colour out. It’s black and white now. Right?

WRONG!

More often than not, it’s grey and grey.  No tone. No depth. Nothing.

Even worse… Ren doesn’t like people who Greyscale their images.  Like the Desaturation, it’s grey. Grey, grey, grey, grey. Only flatter.

Sometimes the flat grey works, other times it really, really doesn’t.

Example:

Greyscale conversion. BORING.

A simple conversion to greyscale means that the image is flat tones of grey.  It’s soft and can be pretty on some lighter images and if you like it, more power to you, but I don’t.

Desaturation. Better, but still lifeless.

Using Desaturation is slightly better than greyscale. There’s a bit more tone but because it’s just had the colour pulled out, many tones that were different colours are now mashing into each other, still giving that flat, dark appearance. Again, straight desaturation may work for some images. I rarely think it does and prefer to spend a few minutes more on photos I really like.

Here’s the photo after I’ve converted it to black and white my way:

Cool B&W conversion a la Ren

I think it’s better. There’s tone, definition, contrast and it’s definitely black and white.  And here’s how I do it…

Once you’ve done all your pre-post-processing (before you decided to make it black and white, that is) we’re going to play with the Channel Mixer.  The Channel Mixer is a fabulous tool which is not only excellent for adjusting colours but tone in black and white.

Select Layer (top menu) – New Adjustment Layer – Channel Mixer.

You will get a “New Layer” dialogue box as the program will be adding the adjustment on a separate layer (this is where an understanding of how adjustment layers work comes in handy).  Name this layer B&W Conversion, or something to that effect, like so:

Click OK on that and then you are presented with the Channel Mixer dialogue box as pictured below.  Check the Monochrome box to to do the basic conversion to black and white then, and here’s the bit where you get creative, play with the sliders.  Please be aware that even while your image looks black and white, Photoshop will still be accessing the red, green and blue values of the image to make the adjustment.

Tip: Red represents your darkest tones.  Pull this slider back for dramatic shadows and use the green and blue to balance out your highlights.

The image below shows the settings I was happy with.  Once you’re happy with what you’ve done, hit OK. You should have an image that’s fairly dark in the shadows but with some contrast without highlights being blown out.

How’s it looking? A little better than Greyscale and Desaturation, I hope!

Alright, next step!

Have a cup of tea and congratulate yourself for getting this far.  You can also take a peek at your Layers palette (if you can’t see your Layers palette, go to Windows – Layers or hit F7).  You’ll see your original photo, still in colour at the bottom, with a new layer sitting over the top. Toggle the visibility button to turn it off.

Then on.

Then off.

Then on.

Then off.

Then on.  We need it on.

Then make a new Adjustment Layer!  (Surprise!)

This time we’re going to adjust the Levels a bit.  Levels are cool. They let you mess around with the highlights, midtones and shadows a bit more.

Again, go to Layers – New Adjustment Layer – Levels.  You’ll get another new layer dialogue box up, just call it whatever and hit OK.

Now, with the Levels, it’s good if you can understand histograms. If you’re an experienced photographer used to using histograms, this is very familiar. If not, just trust Ren, she’ll take care of you.

Play with the sliders.  If you think the highlights should be a little brighter, pull the right slider in towards the middle a bit.  If you think the shadows should be deeper, pull the left slider in a bit, if you think the tones between the highlights and the shadows should be lighter or darker, move the middle slider towards either side.  The following image shows what I was happy with for my image.  Hit OK when you’re happy too.

If you’re happy and you know it, hit OK…

Sorry. Just keeping myself entertained.

Anyway, check out the Layers palette again. New layer! Cool, eh? Toggle visibility, just for gits and shiggles…

Alright, next bit.  Just guess what you’re going to do now?

Yep, new adjustment layer.  This time we want the Curves option.

Mmm… Curves….

And I’m not even going to tell you how to find it.  (Hint:  Layers – New Adjustment Layers – Curves.  D’OH!)

Actually, we’re doing Curves now because when I made my highlights and midtones a little lighter, I lost a bit of detail with the shadows.  The levels tool could bring them back but not in a nice way.  It looked a little rough.  Curves allows for ultra-fine tuning of contrast and I want to add some more depth.

So what you want to do once you’ve got your Curves dialogue box up is make a very shallow S-shape by clicking and holding on the line and dragging one side up and then clicking and holding on the line again somewhere else and dragging the other side down.  Have a play with this. Go to extremes.  You can even add extra anchor points for ridiculously minuscule tuning.  We’re not going that far.

It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

The changes can be as subtle or dramatic as you like.  What I tend to do is take it to the extreme and then pull back until you think it looks great.

Click on OK once you’re happy.  This next image shows where I got my happy:

There. That should be it. End of tutorial.

Sorry, that’s a little anticlimactic.

TADAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Cool B&W conversion a la Ren

See?  Nice B&W image.

Because this is fairly labour-intensive I would recommend you do this only on the photos you think are great, though you can create actions in Photoshop which will automate the process as much or as little as you like – but that’s a tutorial for another day.

Last tip:  Because everything you’ve adjusted is on a separate layer, you can go ahead and tweak or, if you’re feeling ultra brave, add MOAR layers.  Or even delete them, because that’s fine too.  Just double click on the specific adjustment layer you want to mess with and start playing again!  You can even duplicate the layers to keep building up the effects.  Like I said, endless ways of doing things.

I hope this was of some use, in my next manic tutorial, I will show how to pull detail back out out of shadowy images.

Coastal Woodlands... and not a vignette to be seen.

Vignettes, those wonderful dark edges in photos and artwork alike are the bane of my existance. Why? Because they are overused and they are used in the wrong flippin’ way.

Vignetting should never be used simply “because [you] can”.  It should be used to increase the appeal of an image – providing that the image actually calls for for that sort of treatment.  Unfortunately many photographers, including my very talented friends, are getting swept up in the evil power of vignettes.

THEY ARE VIGNETTING EVERYTHING.

Always, always, ALWAYS use vignetting sparingly.  Think before you use it; “Will this make my image look better?”

Please note that a craptastic photo will always be a craptastic photo. You cannot make a silk purse out of a pigs ear and no amount of digital fucking-with (oops, I sworeded) will make a craptastic photo any better. Believe me, I have tried and tried.  Many of my photographs have vignettes but these were all taken long before I learned precisely where vignettes should be applied.

Vignettes force focus to the centre of the image.  If the main subject of your photograph is not towards the centre of the image, then for Gods sake, do not use a vignette.

This is something I have picked up from my studies at graphic design school. Product placement isn’t as naff as it sounds. The layout of an advertisement is done in many different ways to provoke many different reactions but all are done in such a way that the viewers eye are led through the image with no bumps or roadblocks to the important information contained therein.

The same also applies to photographs. If you’ve placed your subject to one side of the frame, if all the details are very close to the side of the frame, then you should not be using a vignette.  The same goes with images which are absolutely saturated with colour. Do not vignette these. The impact is already there in the colour and hopefully in the image itself.  Why add a vignette that will just make it murky at the edges? And why mess with people’s natural discovery of the image itself by forcing them to look into the middle of the photograph when the eye may well lead them there anyway, thus making them appreciate the picture even more for it’s entirety rather than just the bit in the middle?  Seriously, if you’re going to add a vignette to an extremely colourful image, set the vignette layer to OVERLAY or SOFT LIGHT rather than leaving it on NORMAL or MULTIPLY blend modes in Photoshop.  What this will do is darken the edges by saturating the colour without adding a murky black which kills the colour altogether.

And I have to add this… if your images are white or very light around the edges, for the love of all that is good and right with the world, don’t murky it up with a grey-black vignette. That’s just all sorts of wrong.

Of course, rules are meant to be broken, you can add vignettes to anything but seriously folks, think before you apply.  Criticise your work – stand back from it, disassociate yourself from sentimental feeling and evaluate what you have done with it or what you want to do with is. Visualise, apply and, if it sucks, DELETE.

About the photos in this post:
These were taken in July 2009 in the front yard of a house situated just off the beach in Portsea.  The light was so beautiful – it had just been pouring with rain and there was a break in the clouds that lasted just a couple of minutes, I just had to try and catch it.

Coastal Woodlands... and still no vignettes!

Christmas at Casa de Mrs E was an understated yet frustrating affair.  Christmas decorations were broken. Cooking was started almost two hours late (around the time we were supposed to be eating) due to the inclement weather and cold, cold wind smothering the heat beads in the spit roast (which really pissed Mr Husband off as the cooking is really his thing and he takes it personally when things go wrong).  The kids ended up eating McDonalds for dinner. We finally ate at about 9.30pm. 

However, when all was said and done, the traditional Christmas Eve dinner – and event which has become ever smaller due to family breaking up and/or moving away – was still a quiet success.  People went home full and mostly happy.  The kids were lost in a sea of toys and wrapping paper.  The big kids were very pleased with their presents – especially this big kid who scored a 50mm 1.8 and a 35mm 1.8 prime lens from Mr Husband this year.  Can’t wait to play with them.

The kids, I might add, were entertaining enough on their own…

Hear no evil; see no evil; speak no evil.

Three little monkeys. (Yes, we set that photo up.)

Anyway, this wayward photographer wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Pudding Royales

Gingerbread House

It’s Spider Monkey!

From the boudoir shoot. Taken December 4 & 5th at “Stoneleigh”, Daylesford, Victoria.

The lucious legs of Kerry, post romp with real lipstick kiss.

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