I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me. I live in Moab. I can be in Arches National Park in 15 minutes, Canyonlands in 45 minutes. Indeed, life is good. And yet, I often find myself off in LaLa Land daydreaming about places that aren’t, well…Moab. It’s my Mom’s fault. I inherited her wanderlust.
It leads me to wonder if all photographers have wanderlust in their hearts. No matter how photographically awesome our hometown, are we always dreaming of life somewhere else? Jackson, Bend, Missoula, Bishop, Taos, Bellingham…the list goes on.
In the middle of a Moab summer, with the temperature soaring, I find myself wishing we lived in Jackson or Missoula. I’d be at the Tetons or Glacier, frolicking in wildflowers and hiking to alpine lakes.
When fall rolls around my mind wanders off to Durango, or maybe Ouray. Yellow aspens stretch as far as the eye can see with jagged mountains towering overhead dusted in the first snow of the season. Oh yes, I would fill memory cards daily.
If only we lived in Bishop, I’d be out photographing the Sierra’s and bouldering in the Alabama Hills. No wait, I’d rather be in Bend. I’d snowshoe into the Cascades every winter and photograph waterfalls in the spring. Oh, oh, oh…Bellingham! I could escape to the North Cascades or Mt. Rainier, where I’d backpack the Wonderland Trail and photograph The Mountain from every angle.
I lived in Phoenix for 18 years. I moved away from the Sonoran Desert in 2002 – three years after developing a passion for photography. How many images do you think I made of stately saguaros and rugged desert peaks during that 3 years? Probably about a dozen. I was too busy wandering off to the Rockies or the Cascades, or taking road trips to anywhere else. I didn’t realize just how good I had it there in Phoenix. The Superstitions and Picacho Peak were so close I could shoot sunset and be back home in time for dinner. But no, I’d spend all my time at home dreaming of fabulous trips to non-Phoenix locations instead of taking advantage of all the amazing-ness that surrounded me.
And now, I’m here in Moab. Canyon Country. Two national parks, a state park and over 2 million acres of wild and rugged BLM land all waiting to be explored literally right outside my door. World class? You bet. I do still daydream and I do road trip elsewhere at every given opportunity. However, I don’t take for granted that I live in Moab. I get out regularly and when I detect that I’m getting bored, I start seeking out local places you don’t find in the tourist brochures.
What’s the moral here? I’m really not certain. I guess if there is one, it’s that no matter where you live, there will always be some place cooler. And, if we keep our minds open we can always find and photograph the beauty that surrounds us. We just need to look for it.
When it comes to finding my way around the digital darkroom I’m a little on the lazy side. I don’t mind doing things the hard way if the hard way is the only way. But when an easy way exists it’s a pretty sure bet I’m gonna take it, so long as the results are at least as good as those gained from doing things the hard way. Such is the case with black and white image conversions done using Nik Silver Efex Pro.
I started using Photoshop in 2002. In the 8 years since I’ve converted a few color images to black and white. Some turned out well, others not so well. Okay, they sucked. As Photoshop, and now Lightroom, have progressed it has become easier to do conversions with the built-in tools. Even so, the results I’m getting with Silver Efex Pro are far better. Remember that part about how I like things to be easy? Well, Silver Efex Pro is pretty much idiot proof once you watch the free video tutorials on the Nik website.
Enough chatter. Here’s what I like about Silver Efex Pro:
- Film types – Waaaaaaaay back before digital capture we used this stuff called film. Photographers were weird about film. We all had our favorite films, in both color and black and white, and we used them religiously. Silver Efex Pro has a library of black and white film types that includes 18 popular films. Mouse over a film type and you see an instant preview of your image as if it were photographed on that film. When you find one you like just click on it to select it. Cool!
- Here’s where things get super duper interesting. Let’s say you select a film and you mostly like the results, but you’d like more or less grain, more or less contrast, a vignette, or a brighter or darker image globally or locally. No problem! All of this and more can be accomplished within Silver Efex Pro, making it easy for you to quickly customize your black and white image.
- Remember using colored filters with black and white film to darken skies or brighten foliage? No? Me either. But, Silver Efex Pro includes a selection of filters that digitally create a similar effect. With film if you didn’t like the effect you didn’t find out about it until after you processed the film, which resulted in wasted time and money. With Silver Efex Pro if you don’t like the result, just de-select the filter and you’re right back at square one.
Those are the technical bullet points. From a less technical, more emotional standpoint, what I really like about Silver Efex Pro are the results. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve never been all that good at conversions. It was an area of the digital darkroom where I was certainly deficient and that’s a bummer because I thoroughly enjoy good black and white photography. With Nik Silver Efex Pro, I can now enjoy my own good black and white photographs.
What don’t I like about Silver Efex Pro? The U-Point technology for making selections isn’t as refined as it could be. I find that it doesn’t make selections as precise as I’d like but it does do a workable job. Aside from that, I can’t think of anything negative to say. It’s just a solid piece of software that does exactly what it’s supposed to do.
Wanna see some black and white images created with Silver Efex Pro? Okay…see below.
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- Racetrack Rock Portrait
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- Mt. Moran and Oxbow Bend, Grand Teton NP
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- Tree in Canyonlands NP
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- Garden Wall, Glacier NP
I have no affiliation with Nik Software. I’m just a happy customer. There are lots of us, too. If you’re one of ‘em, or even if you aren’t, feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts about Silver Efex Pro.
Hasselblad recently unveiled their spankin’ new, 40 megapixel medium format digital camera that retails for, are you ready for this - $19,995. Yes, you read that right. The Hasselblad H4D-40 costs $20,000. Oh, but it does come with a viewfinder and an 80mm lens.
I suspect that I’m a lot like the everyman. I don’t have an extra $20,000 lying around. But reading the press release did get me thinking. No, it got me daydreaming. What would I do if I had an extra $20,000 to blow on whatever the hell I wanted?
I would gather up my lowly Canon 5D MKII and all my lenses. I would buy some extra memory cards, pack up my laptop and all my hiking gear and hop the first plane to Patagonia. I would spend weeks trekking in Torres del Paine, making ridiculous photos of ridiculous mountains in ridiculous weather. When I got tired of that, I’d head over to the Himalaya for a few weeks on the trans-Himalaya trail. I’d eat Top Ramen and choke down yak butter tea so I could stretch that $20,000 as far as humanly possible. I think I’d spend some time in Iceland. And New Zealand. And Alaska. Maybe the Canadian Rockies. I’d make thousands of stunning photos of far away places so that, when the $20,000 ran out, I could return home and write a book about the experience filled with all my photos. And then I’d sell that book to make more money to travel to even more far away places. And the cycle would repeat itself.
Now, I’m a married guy and a new Dad so we all know that even if I did have that kind of spare change sitting around I wouldn’t wander off to the far reaches of the world. I love my wife and son way too much to be without them for such a long time. But it was fun to escape reality for a few minutes and enjoy all those far off places visited in my daydream.
Now I ask: If you had an extra $20,000 dollars, what would you do? Buy a new medium format digital camera? Travel the world? Donate it to me so I could take my family along on the adventure? 
What photographic dreams would you make a reality? Be imaginative, have fun and enjoy the trip!
Candlestick Tower in Fog
I recently re-read a blog post written by my good friend Guy Tal, titled “Visualization (aka Postprevisualization)”. Guy is a nature photographer and writer based in the tiny town of Torrey, Utah. Actually, it really isn’t accurate to call Guy a “nature photographer and writer”. He is both of those things. But his talent for both is on a level so far above that which most of us will ever reach simply calling him a “photographer and writer” may well be the understatement of the decade. He is also one of the most humble, passionate, compassionate, articulate, giving and just downright genuine people you’ll ever meet. I kind of hope he never reads this because if he does, he probably won’t be all that happy with me for gushing about him for all to read. Sorry, Guy! I’m in kind of a reflective mood so I’ll blame this entire post on that.
Guy’s post is a bit of a warranted rant on the misuse of the term “previsualization” to describe the act of ”anticipating a finished image before making the exposure”. (Thanks, Ansel!) In reality this is visualization, not previsualization. I recommend that you read Guy’s post to understand the difference. While you’re there, pour yourself a nice cup of coffee and surf through his entire blog/journal. You’ll find it to be an amazing literary adventure.
For two years I had an image in mind that I wanted so badly to make but it required a combination of elements that don’t exactly coincide on a daily basis. Candlestick Tower in Canyonlands NP is a prominent sandstone tower that soars several hundred feet above the desert floor. The image that haunted me was that of Candlestick Tower looming large above a sea of low lying clouds. Perhaps now you can see why one can not just show up at any given time and make this image.
So, I kept it there in my tiny little mind consuming memory that likely should have been used for something else. My wife constantly reminds me that I am forgetful. I think it’s because I have so many future images stored in memory that other, less important things, are automatically purged. I cycle through these images occasionally, usually at night when I’m struck with a bout of insomnia.
On Dec. 31, 2009 I awoke early and looked out the window and saw…nothing. A beautiful, white nothing. Thick fog encircled the building to the south and I could barely make out its outline. I had a gut feeling that today was the day.
I quickly dressed, grabbed my camera gear, kissed my wife and son good-bye and headed out the door. I drove through fog in the darkness as I ascended to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands. Once on top of the mesa the fog slowly dissipated until finally, stars shone brightly above. Oh yes, today was in fact the day I had been waiting for.
I made it to the small, unmarked pull-out from which my favorite view of Candlestick Tower is accessed. The temperature was 4 degrees. I had been here before and I knew the image I wanted to create would require a long lens. I swapped my 16-35mm lens for the 100-400mm monster, threw on my down coat, fleece hat and…gloves, where are my gloves? Ah yes, they are at home sitting on the printer, right where I left them. Undeterred, I opened a package of chemical hand warmers and started walking through crunchy snow to the edge of a cliff where I would set up my tripod and wait in the waning darkness.
As the sun began to rise I watched wisps of fog slip over the canyon rim, encircling me, and then disappear back into the canyon. The handwarmers kept my fingers toasty in my pockets until the time came to trip the shutter. Sunlight diffused through thin clouds warmed Candlestick Tower and it cast a long shadow onto the surrounding clouds. Click. Click, click, click. I made several images in no more than a couple of minutes. Some with a neutral density filter attached for a long-ish shutter speed that would smooth the slow moving fog and some without. I knew before even seeing my images that at long last my vision had been realized, and I smiled.
I packed up my camera gear and stood in place for 15 minutes, watching the clouds ebb and flow. Despite the cold it was a very relaxing and fulfilling moment. I heard a car door shut and looked back to see another photographer exit his car. It was time for me to go.
I walked back to my truck, climbed inside and started the engine. Warm air issued from the heater. I took a swig of tea, put the truck in drive and headed home with one less image nagging in the back of my memory.
I know I’m not the only one who has been thrilled to fulfill a creative vision through photography. Let’s hear your story. Be sure to post a link to the image that dogged you for weeks, months or years.
These days in the digital age pretty much every image is rendered in color. Software like Photoshop or Lightroom have some nice tools to convert those color files to B&W and there are always other options like Nik Silver Effects which gives you an amazing amount of control over conversions. You load the images from your camera to the computer, open a file, press the magic conversion button and Shazaam! You’ve got a great B&W image suitable for printing, right? Not so fast…….
- Zone 1-(black with no detail) The shadows at the base of the posts sticking out of the wall.
- Zone2-(shadows with detail) This is best observed in the deep shadows inside the bell tower.
- Zone 3-(dark grey) The shadowed part of the wall of the bell tower and the sky in the upper right corner of the image.
- Zone 4-(18% or middle grey) The shadowed part of the cross.
- Zone 5-(1 stop brighter than 18% grey. Same reflectance value as Caucasian flesh tone) This would be the sunlit wall and some of the darker undersides of the clouds.
- Zone 6-(lighter grey) The lighter parts of the clouds.
- Zone 7-(white with no detail) The sunlit edge of the cross.
William C Bean Photography
This image has a good tonal range. Too much contrast would expand the tonal range causing the detail in Zone 2 and Zone 6 to be lost. Too little contrast would cause the tonal range to be compressed losing Zone 1 and Zone 7 and causing the image to have a flat muddy look.
So there you have it. In the old days of film the saying was “Expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights.” If you are careful about setting your black and white points in post processing, the tonal range of the rest of the image will follow.
Bill Bean lives in Parker, CO where he spends almost every free moment in the outdoors adding to his extensive stock list. He remembers when black and white images were made on black and white film, not converted from a color digital file on the computer. See more of Bill’s work on his website where you can also read more of his entertaining and educational essays.
Today’s blog post is short and sweet. It comes to you after having paid $50 to have the positively filthy sensor of my 5D MKII cleaned by Pictureline. I’m not complaining as they do a fantastic job and I always receive the camera back with nary a speck of dust to be seen anywhere on the sensor. That lasts for a few days and then the dust bunnies start appearing. Oh well, such is life with a digital SLR.
However, there is one quick tip that can help you keep your sensor free of dust a little bit longer. When you change lenses, always turn off your camera before initiating the lens swap. When your camera is on the sensor is magnetized. Now, I am no physics or engineering guru but as I understand it, a magnetized sensor means you are far more likely to attract dust than a non-magnetized, i.e. OFF, sensor. Here are the steps I take to change lenses in the field.
- Try like hell to compose the image without changing to a different lens.
- Realize that I have to change lenses.
- Curse.
- Dig out the lens I’m switching to, place it front element down in my pack (WITH the front lens cap on!), and loosen the rear lens cap.
- Turn off the camera.
- Holding my camera, turn it upside down so that the front of the camera is facing the ground so gravity works for rather than against me.
- Remove the lens and quickly place it in my pack while continuing to hold camera face down.
- Remove rear lens cap from lens I’m switching to and attach lens to the camera all the while moving as fast as I possibly can to minimize exposure to the elements of the sensitive internal camera components. During this entire maneuver my camera is always face down.
- Once lens is in place I compose and make the image.
- Zoom in to 100% and curse at all the dust specks showing up in the sky.
- Leave lens on until I absolutely, positively have to change it again.
That’s it. 11 steps to less sensor dust.
I’m often asked on workshops how I clean my sensor. The answer depends on how dirty it is. If it isn’t bad I use the Dust-Aid wands to remove all but the really tenancious stuff. When the sensor gets too bad for me to deal with I drop it off at Pictureline in Salt Lake, pay ‘em $50 and pick it up in a couple hours all shiny and clean.
So, turn off your cameras and keep ‘em turned face down when you change lenses to minimize dust collection on your sensor. Or, if you’re really rich and have a strong back, buy several of the same camera body and attach a different lens to each one. Then, you’ll never have to change lenses again.
How do you minimize sensor dust? Leave a comment and help your fellow digital photographers maintain their sanity.
My interest in landscape photography evolved as a natural extension of my love for the outdoors. I hike and backpack to gain access to high alpine lakes surrounded by jagged mountain peaks and deep desert canyons carved by raging rivers. Why not use the time in between sunrise and sunset to expand your photographic horizons by shooting adventure images?
The words “adventure photography” conjure up images of daring climbers clinging precariously to granite cliffs and river rafters navigating huge rapids. But such high adrenaline pursuits aren’t the only outdoor sports that make for dynamic adventure photos. Day hiking, backpacking, mountain biking and even car camping can offer opportunities for interesting photography all day long. With a little practice and a little knowledge you’ll soon be making photos on par with those in Backpacker, Outside and the now deceased Adventure magazine (RIP). Here are some tips to get you started:
Spouses Make Great Models
Spouses work for free, they’re usually with us while out exploring, they don’t complain a whole lot and they won’t give you flak about signing a model release. Just remember: even if you’re married to a professional model your better half will need a little direction during the shoot. Be patient with them and explain exactly what you need them to do for you, i.e. turn left 1/4 turn and gaze lovingly at that big mountain. Okay, maybe just gaze at that big mountain.
Adventure Couture
Since we’re on the topic of models, let’s talk about what they should wear. A photo of a hiker wearing jeans and a cotton flannel shirt isn’t going to make it into Backpacker magazine no matter how dramatic the scenery. Your model should wear clothing and gear appropriate for the activity and environment. Additionally, your model should know how to properly use any gear in the photo. I once received an image request from an outdoor magazine for a “hiker fording a waist deep creek using trekking poles and wearing a pack with the hipbelt and sternum strap unfastened.” Why? Because it’s the proper technique when fording a creek.
Here’s the part your model spouse will really like - they’ll probably get some new outdoor clothing out of the gig. Choose colors that will contrast with the environment. For example, a hiker in the mountains wearing a bright red top will stand out dramatically from a background of green trees. That same red top won’t contrast as strongly against the red rock of Canyon Country. Maybe a green or blue top would work better. Think camoflauge, in reverse.
Get Low. Get High.
Just as in landscape photography, you can use unusual camera angles to create dynamic images. Lay down on your belly or climb up above your subject. Shoot from in front, behind and to the side of your subject. One angle may work better than another. The more you experiment the more creative your images are likely to be.
Go Wide. Go Long.
Altering your perspective isn’t the only path to creative adventure photography. Get down low with a wide angle lens and shoot close to your subject’s feet. Use a telephoto lens to compress the distance between a hiker perched on a rock outcrop and the snow capped mountain behind them. There is no “right” technique. Each situation calls for a different approach. As you experiment in the field you will discover what works and what doesn’t. Chances are you’re shooting digitally. Carry lots of memory and don’t forget that it doesn’t cost you a penny to push the shutter button.
It isn’t always easy to convey motion in a still image. Using a slow-ish shutter speed and panning the camera with your moving subject works great for trail running, kayaking and mountain biking. Your subject remains reasonably sharp while the background blurs into streaks that imply fast movement. Or, set your camera to motor drive and fire off several images in a row and you might just capture your subject in transition with both feet (or both tires!) off the ground. A human hovering in mid-air is pretty much a dead giveaway that they’re not standing still.
Show The Whole Story
The adventure begins long before you step foot on the trail. Photos of friends setting up a tent, chilling around a campfire and performing seemingly mundane tasks like cramming gear into every available inch of the SUV are all part of the story. Find a fun way to depict the action. If your spouse or friends are willing to look a little silly, use a wide angle lens and photograph a tight composition of their puffy cheeks filled with air while blowing up an air mattress.
Location is a big part of your story. Show it off in your photos. Include a prominent, well known peak in the background with your subject hiking in the foreground or show a hiker standing in awe on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Found a killer campsite near an alpine lake? Scout out a composition that shows your tent surrounded by wildflowers next to that jewel colored lake and your friends who bailed on the trip will cry tears of regret.
While this primer is by no means everything you need to know about adventure photography it does give you a few things to consider on your next adventure. Don’t waste mid-day. Get out there and burn through some memory!
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- Mid-Air Motion
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- Hiker Gazing at Mountains
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- Get Low and Go Wide
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- Tell the Whole Story
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- Storm Clouds Force Hiker Retreat
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- Show Off the Landscape
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- Adventure Couture
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- Go Long for Compression
Adventure Photographers Who Inspire Me
Adventure Photography Resources & Training
Rocky Mountain School of Photography Adventure Photography Course
Adventure Photography: Capturing the World of Outdoor Sports
Don’t let the adventure stop here. Ask a question, leave a comment or tell us how you coaxed your spouse into being your adventure model. Got some cool adventure photos online somewhere? Feel free to link to ‘em.
I could have just as easily titled this, “How To Be A Good Photo Workshop Participant” but it didn’t sound sensational enough to me. Gotta have a headline that jumps out and snags people, right?
So my post/rant about workshop leaders gave me another idea. Now that you all have some ideas of what to look for in a photography workshop instructor I thought I’d tell you what I, as a workshop leader, like to see in those brave souls who sign up for one of my workshops. I’ll bet if you polled other workshop leaders you’d hear a similar wish list.
First and foremost, I love, love, love workshop participants who want to have fun. News flash: nature photography is fun. Why make it anything but that? I promise you will learn a lot of stuff about photography while we’re together but we’ll also have tons of fun. I cut jokes, I make fun of myself and I’ve been known to get down on all fours and howl like a coyote because I was asked to do so by a client. Wait a minute, that didn’t sound right. Let’s just move on. All I’m saying is arrive for the workshop with a good attitude and be prepared to have a good time. I’ve only ever had to fire one client and that’s because he was a complete ass. He bitched and moaned about everything and never once did I see the guy smile, even when the sun came up and the whole canyon lit up like it was on fire. After a half day with him I gave him his money back and told him to get lost. Sorry, but if a killer sunrise doesn’t make you happy I feel so very sorry for you.
After an earnest desire to have fun, the next most important attribute is a longing to learn, to accept constructive criticism and an open mind to take in stride whatever may come. I can’t control the weather. Only Todd Caudle has the power to will clouds into place at just the right time. That’s why they call him “The Cloud Man”. I am more like “Blue Sky Man”. Some times I’m “Rain and Overcast Man”. Regardless of the weather you can still find value in a workshop if you are willing to set aside your ego and expectations for a couple days. Show your work and ask for critique. Not just from the workshop instructor but from everyone in the class. It’s a tremendously valuable exercise for photographers to critique the work of others and to have their own images critiqued. Even in the worst of weather we can still huddle at a coffee shop and talk about camera settings, hyperfocal focusing, finding your creative vision, how to use the light you’re given and whether dark or milk is the better chocolate (dark is, by the way).
So you’re willing to have fun and you checked you’re super eager to learn. What else? Come prepared! Write down a list of questions that have nagged you and bring the list with you. Realize that there are no stupid questions except the ones you don’t ask. If you’re not comfortable asking in the group environment flag down your workshop instructor and ask them in private. You’re at the workshop to learn and if you spend a little time preparing for the event you’ll get even more out of it. As a side note, a good question to ask before you even pack your bags is what kind of weather to expect and what kind of gear to bring with you. You can have the most awesome attitude on the planet but if it’s 20 degrees and all you brought was a windbreaker it’s going to be awfully difficult to have a good time!
As part of “come prepared” I’ll add a few things that may seem obvious but you’d be surprised how often they crop up. Bring extra batteries and extra memory cards. Bring your battery charger. Bring a laptop and, if you use one, an external hard drive to back up your images. Don’t forget your camera manual. I shoot Canon and I don’t know the first thing about Nikon cameras. I’d love to help you figure out why your camera isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do but I probably won’t figure it out without your manual handy. Most importantly, don’t forget your camera. Go ahead and laugh but this actually happened once. Luckily, I had an extra camera to loan out!
Communicate your goals to the instructor. We should ask at the beginning of the workshop what you’d like to get out of it. If we don’t, feel free to volunteer the information. It’s a huge help to know that you’re struggling with composing intimate landscapes or that you just can’t figure out what the difference is between f/4 and f/22. Seriously, this is good stuff and it will help any workshop instructor worth his or her salt to get you over the hurdles you’re facing. When you return home after the workshop and realize that you forgot to ask an important question, send the instructor an email or call him up. Chances are he or she will be more than willing to help you out.
Last, but not least, be realistic about the experience. Workshops come in all shapes and sizes. There are one day seminars and multi-day, full-immersion workshops, and everything in between. Even the most intensive workshops can’t possibly teach you everything you will ever need to know about nature photography. If such a monster did exist I can assure you I would have already taken it! Pick up as much as you can and enjoy the experience. You’ll be back at work in no time, showing off your photos to co-workers and wishing you were somewhere looking out at a gorgeous landscape with several new friends by your side.
Did I leave out anything? If you’ve got a thought to share I encourage you to leave a comment. We’re all friendly around here!
I received a really good and quite timely question about soft proofing earlier this week. I’m in the process of searching for a new printmaker and soft-proofing is a critical step when you’re working remotely with a lab, especially when your prints will be delivered directly to a client without you ever actually laying eyes on them. I queried the experts and received not one but three awesome answers from Nat Coalson, Guy Tal and Andy Biggs. All three of these guys offer killer workshops, some of which include comprehensive digital darkroom and printing components. Thanks for the great Q & A, dudes!
The Question:
I have a question to submit, one that I haven’t found a straightforward answer to online, despite a lot of looking. It regards soft proofing, in my case using downloaded profiles from print labs before ordering prints online. I’m using CS4.
I understand how to use Proof setup>Custom, I even feel like I understand rendering intents pretty well, but I don’t quite understand how to proceed once I’ve activated the proof setup and my image begins to look dull. What is the workflow from here? I assume the next step is editing the image until it looks more acceptable. Any tricks or advice for this stage? And how should the resulting image be saved once it is ready (taking into account that many mail-order labs specify sRGB files)? How do “Assign Profile” and “Convert to Profile” figure in here?
The Experts Respond:
First, Nat Coalson said - Even with a perfectly calibrated display and great profiles your monitor will ever perfectly match any print. The reason is simple: your display is transmissive (emits light) and a print is reflective (reflects light). On your display, pure black is the absence of any light being emitted. On a print, pure black still reflects some light.
In other words, the black on your monitor will ALWAYS be “blacker” and deeper than what you see on a print. At the other end of the scale, the whites will ALWAYS look brighter on the monitor than on a print.
All that being said, you CAN and SHOULD expect to be able to get accurate, predictable color. Especially if you’re willing to soft proof and make adjustments for each print. This requires training your eye to correlate what you see on the display to how it will look on the print.
In Photoshop, start with your photo in whatever color space it happens to use (and always make sure to Embed profiles when saving).
Make sure you’re using the following settings for your proofing setup (note this is for photographic printing, not prepress proofing):
Choose View > Proof Setup > Custom
In the proof setup dialog box:
- Proof Conditions: choose the profile for your printer/paper combination
- Preserve numbers: NEVER ENABLED
- Rendering Intent: try both Relative and Perceptual (see next section)
- Black Point Compensation: ALWAYS ENABLED
- Display Options (On-Screen): BOTH should be checked – simulate paper color and simulate black ink.
These last settings for “simulating” the printed output is one of the most crucial parts to successful soft-proofing. It’s also one of the hardest parts to master. These buttons are what Jeff Schewe has referred to as the “make my image look like sh*t buttons”. But you’ve gotta use them. I’ll explain more about this in a minute.
Once you’ve got the settings just like this, make sure to save your preset. I would save one using relative and one using perceptual.
Here’s how do the actual soft-proofing and adjustments:
First, with your master working image open, choose Image > Duplicate; using Merged Layers is fine. We’re making a copy of your print file to use as a temporary reference. We’re going to keep the reference visible while we soft proof and make adjustments to the master file.
Now, with two windows open showing the same image, place them side by side or top and bottom, depending on the orientation. You can do this with the commands under Window > Arrange, or just drag the windows into place. You just need to be able to see your photo in both windows. Also, keep track of which is your original master image that will be printed, and which is your reference. I’d recommend arranging your windows in the same way every time to avoid confusion.
Click the window to make sure you’re in the original, master document and enable soft proofing for your desired proof condition. You will notice immediately that it looks different (and worse) than your reference.
VERY IMPORTANT: Don’t enable soft proofing on the reference window!!
Now, with soft proofing enabled, make adjustment layers in your master print file to try to get it to look as close as possible to the reference image. During this process, you can try both the relative and perceptual versions to see which one you like better for each image. But remember, like explained above, your soft proof and your reference will NEVER look exactly alike if you’re doing this correctly.
What you will see is that the reference file looks bright, vivid, and beautiful – just like your master file did before you enabled soft proofing. Your master file now looks dull, lifeless and flat. And depending on your paper and profile, some may look worse than others. For example, if you are printing to a photo paper, it will look closer to the reference than if you’re proofing for a canvas (which will look totally washed out!)
Here’s the part about training your eye and understanding the situation. What you see in the Photoshop soft proof really IS closer to your print than the reference version, because Photoshop is simulating the black ink and paper white as described by your profile. Which again, will never be exactly like that of the print.
(Sorry it took a while to get to the simple answer
You will need to add adjustment layers to get the soft proof to match the reference as closely as possible. I usually end up with a curve layer to open up shadow detail and brighten the image overall, plus a Hue & Saturation layer with Saturation set at somewhere between +5 for photo paper and +20 for canvas.
When you’re done, group the adjustment layers together and name them for your proof condition. You don’t need to save the reference file.
To save files for the print vendor or service bureau: After doing all your adjustments and flattening the file you can use Convert to Profile to change the file to a specified color space, such as sRGB, etc. (If you’ve been embedding profiles when you save files, “Assign color space” doesn’t have any use in the workflow.) Or, if the lab specifies it, you can convert to the same printer/paper profile and rendering intent you used for the soft proof. In any case, when you save the file, make sure to embed the profile.
With some practice, I promise that you can get to where you can tell from your soft proof what the printed image will look like. And you will find that what looks like dull, washed out blacks on your display actually comes out as rich, deep blacks on your print. Over time your eye and brain will begin to tie the two results together and doing soft proofing with adjustments will give you just what you expect.
Nat provided some screen shots to give you a visual on his technique.
Next, Guy Tal said - Nat already covered the workflow so I’ll just add a couple of things on a technique I teach at my workshop:
Rather than trying different rendering intents in case one just happens to fit, I always use Relative Colorimetric. In this mode, all in-gamut colors are preserved and I only have to worry about re-mapping the out-of-gamut colors, which I prefer to do manually (Perceptual, on the other hand, remaps all colors to fit into the target space, which usually requires more work to restore the right look later).
In order to reign in those out-of-gamut colors, I turn on Gamut Warnings which will highlight them in grey. I find the most useful control for bringing colors into a small color space is Saturation, so I add a Hue/Saturation layer, and drag the slider left (de-saturate) until the grey warnings are gone. Of course I reduced overall saturation so the image looks pretty dull at this step.
Now comes the fun part:
Click on the Hue/Saturation layer mask, and fill it with black. This essentially eliminates its effect so color is back to normal and the grey areas are back. While the mask is still selected, use a soft white brush at 50% opacity to paint over the grey areas and watch them magically disappear.
Voila! You only corrected those colors that don’t exist in the target space. Everything else is just as vibrant as it was in your master file, and it only took one layer.
Finally, Andy Biggs chimed in - I do exactly what Guy does. It is quick and easy, and usually doesn’t need to be done very often. Keep in mind that soft proofing for me usually shows the deficiencies in the media type than anything else. In other words, matte papers do have a reduced gamut from a luster paper, and I usually do small tweaks to make my image look good for that specific media. For example, I may create a new layer in Photoshop to adjust the overall, not local, contrast of the image.
Update: I received an email from Melanie at West Coast Imaging with a link to another fantastic article about soft-proofing. Thanks, Melanie!
Got something to add? Don’t be shy. Leave a comment!
I recently had a discussion with a couple other photographers that got me thinking. Yeah, I know – it’s scary when I start thinking. It gives me a headache which is why I try not to do it all that often. At any rate, the gist of our conversation can be summed up with one question, “What makes a great photography workshop instructor?”. Ponder on that for a moment before reading further.
PONDERING
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I’ll assume that you’ve now given some thought to the question. Your reward? Another question. Let’s say that you’ve just broken your arm and the bone is sticking out and there is blood everywhere and you’re in mondo pain. You’re crazy tough so you ride your single speed mountain bike uphill to the ER. Upon arrival you are greeted by two doctors. They’re both tall and handsome, or maybe they’re short and fat – your choice, your thing. One of them introduces himself and says, “I’d really rather be doing anything else and I’m only here because I need the paycheck. Let’s go inside, photocopy your insurance card and put a cast on your arm.” The other one says, “I’m here because I’m passionate about helping people. I can see you’re in a lot of pain so let’s go inside and fix that arm so you can get back to doing whatever it is you love to do.” Finally, here is the question: which doc would you rather have mending your broken arm?
What does this have to do with instructing photo workshops? Everything. You see, there are some photographers who lead workshops only because they can’t make a living in photography any other way. They don’t enjoy it. They’d rather be out making photos or hiking or whatever else it is they’d rather be doing. For the 3 or 4 or 5 days during the workshop they do their best to smile and teach you everything they know about photography. You will probably learn something. You might even learn a lot. Chances are that the instructor will never let on that he’s not enjoying himself. If you’re asking me, that just freakin’ sucks.
I would much rather take a workshop from an instructor who loves to teach other people about photography. Someone who gets totally stoked when he or she is working with a workshop participant who all of a sudden says, “Ooooooooooh, now I get it!” I’m talking about workshop instructors who are passionate about teaching and helping other photographers realize their goals. These folks enjoy what they do. They have fun with the experience and engage their participants on a level not possible if they’re just in it for the money.
Let’s be honest here – everybody who leads workshops does so for the money. What kind of business would we be running if we gave away all of our services for free? Moreover, how long would we be in business? I’m thinking probably not very long. But there is a difference between leading workshops solely for the income and leading them because you genuinely want to help others become better photographers. Give me a choice between the two and I’ll choose the latter all damn day long. Wouldn’t you?
Have you taken a workshop from an instructor who you felt was truly passionate about helping you & the other participants become better photographers? Someone whose energy was contagious and motivated the group to push themselves and do better? Tell us about it! Let’s hear about your super positive workshop experiences. Feel free to include a link to the workshop website, even. Show ‘em some love so that others can benefit from your testimonial.
Workshop leaders: Don’t even think about posting a link to your own site. I’ll delete your post and make fun of you in public. This is for workshop participants to share their own honest experiences and NOT a place for you to market yourself.
