Dark, gloomy b&w landscape editing techniques

[AlexGard]

Hi all
I have been fumbling around with photoshop for a few years now and still haven't quite seemed to 'master' it yet and achieve what I really want. My results usually end up looking really disappointing and either overcooked or cooked the wrong way. I have got the book "The Digital Darkroom" and have followed some of the tutorials in it, particularly when it comes to dodging and burning (and with layer masks etc) but still seems like I'm doing something wrong (could also be that my original images to begin with aren't 'right' for the kind of editing I want to do)

I even went so far as reading some of Joel Tjintjelaar's tutorials however his work is quite surreal and probably not as 'far' as I want to go. I really appreciate darker, gloomy, lonely empty landscapes (you know, lone trees, fjords, misty mountains etc) and I thoroughly enjoy making longer exposures upwards of 5 minutes, also use a red 25 filter and am waiting on deep red filter to use with Ilford sfx200 film. I really dig the black/darkened skies and dramatic clouds that can be achieved with or without long exposures and these filter/film combinations

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FRqbqEgN-dQ/UW6c-i_q1KI/AAAAAAAAqVQ/QM3CQOcs_6M/s900/tree_88rgb2.jpg

I have attached a picture of something similar I am talking about by photographer Andy Lee. I have a feeling some of his work is done in infrared, too.

I really like burnt edges, very dark images. I read in a tutorial about never quite going as far as 'zone 0' or 'zone 10' to retain detail. This makes sense, but I still have a lot of trouble putting this into practice in photoshop. I do not have access to a dark room to print my own paper however I do develop my own film. I use 4x5 and 120.


If anybody could point me in some kind of direction or give me any tips and pointers, I would really appreciate it.

thanks

[AlexGard]

also, any books or reading material that could help out would be good particularly for negative-to-digital photo editing. I've seen some books on amazon about b&w digital photography but don't want to jump the gun. I only use film.

[Jon Shiu]

You don't have to retain detail in all parts of the picture. So, use any and all zones you want to achieve your vision.

Jon

[Ari]

I find the dodge/burn function in LightRoom 5 to be quite superior to anything in CS6.
It actually looks more like a darkroom manipulation, and is very easy to learn.

If you can, try it out and see the difference for yourself.

[Tin Can]

The last few days, I have been shooting dirty city snow and grey bridges in overcast daylight, then I invert, solarize and torture it some more and I get gritty old looking images that look like night shots.

no rules

[AlexGard]

thankd for replies all. I think I only have lightroom 4 at the moment, I went and had a play with the 'burn/dodge' (is it just the brush with 'highlights' and 'shadows' selection? I couldn't seem to get it to work how I wanted it to..)

I want to try and avoid adding grain if possible. Just play with the tones, shadows and highlights to achieve very dark, ethereal looking images.

[AtlantaTerry]

Alex,

You might want to take a look at a couple books by Vincent Versace on editing landscapes with Photoshop.

Welcome to Oz
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0735714002/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1K9153PTWPZUX&coliid=I31VODOVAIZCO

From Oz to Kansas: Almost Every Black and White Conversion Technique Known to Man
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0321794028/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1K9153PTWPZUX&coliid=I3LUBUQ1XGXPG9

Welcome to Oz 2.0: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop (2nd Edition) (Voices That Matter)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0321714768/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1K9153PTWPZUX&coliid=I1MS054J8B6OPL

[Ari]

thankd for replies all. I think I only have lightroom 4 at the moment, I went and had a play with the 'burn/dodge' (is it just the brush with 'highlights' and 'shadows' selection? I couldn't seem to get it to work how I wanted it to..)

I want to try and avoid adding grain if possible. Just play with the tones, shadows and highlights to achieve very dark, ethereal looking images.

I forget how LR4 looks, but in LR5 the burn dodge tool is one of the icons right of the main screen; it looks like a glowing magic wand.
Click on it, and a set of sliders should pop down.
Apply the tool wherever you want, then use the sliders to change its parameters.
You can change the size of the b/d tool by hitting these keys: [ and ].
Once you see how the tool is integrated into the rest of the system, it becomes much easier to use, it just takes a little time to get to know it.

[ROL]

You don't have to retain detail in all parts of the picture. So, use any and all zones you want to achieve your vision.

Jon

Indeed, and to my eye a very lovely picture even if not totally resolved, and not an uncommon style these days in any format.

Attribution aside, and as a reminder, I assume that you (the OP) have retained the rights to reproduce Mr. Lee's work. If not, a simple link would have sufficed.

[Lenny Eiger]

I find the dodge/burn function in LightRoom 5 to be quite superior to anything in CS6.
It actually looks more like a darkroom manipulation, and is very easy to learn.

If you can, try it out and see the difference for yourself.


I avoid the burn and dodge tool in Photoshop altogether. Ia agree, it's awful. My favorite way is to burn is on a layer. It's simple: create a new layer, fill it with 50% gray and change the mode to overlay. Then paint on it with a brush at a low opacity, 3-15%. painting with black makes it darker, painting with white makes it lighter. Don't like what you did, go fill that area again with 50% gray. Don't like all of it, toss the layer, make a new one. The control (and repeatability during printing) is amazing, better than anything one can do in a darkroom. The effect can be very delicate....

Of course, if you really want to darken heavily, like this example, I would use a gradient of some sort as a make on a curve...

Lenny

[Preston]

I avoid the burn and dodge tool in Photoshop altogether. Ia agree, it's awful. My favorite way is to burn is on a layer. It's simple: create a new layer, fill it with 50% gray and change the mode to overlay. Then paint on it with a brush at a low opacity, 3-15%. painting with black makes it darker, painting with white makes it lighter. Don't like what you did, go fill that area again with 50% gray. Don't like all of it, toss the layer, make a new one. The control (and repeatability during printing) is amazing, better than anything one can do in a darkroom. The effect can be very delicate....

Of course, if you really want to darken heavily, like this example, I would use a gradient of some sort as a make on a curve...

Lenny

This is an excellent suggestion. And, As Lenny says, you can exercise very precise control. I always used the burn/dodge tools until I learned this method along with the one given below.

You can also create a layer with the blending mode set to 'Soft Light' with 50% grey fill and do your burn/dodge on this layer. The advantage of this is that if you want to burn a bright area (say), you paint with black and the existing dark areas will not be affected, and vice versa. I also use a very low opacity for the brush. When you paint over an area repeatedly, the effect increases. I use this a lot.

--P

[foster_jb]

Hi,

One other variation of what both Lenny and Preston mention: Create a "Curves" adjustment layer, but don't edit the curves. Instead, change the Blend Mode to "Multiply." Your entire image will now be substantially darker. Click on the Layer Mask of this layer, and then invert it (Crtl-I). Your image should now be back to looking "normal." Use the (white) paintbrush to now paint on this layer, which will result in darkening wherever you paint. Of course, adjust opacity of the brush, etc.. as you see fit. This now gives you one layer to control darkening your image.

To lighten parts of your image, do the same as above, but this time set the Blend Mode to "Screen."

If you want to add contrast, create a layer as mentioned above, and set it to "Soft Light."

In all cases mentioned above, if you find you want to darken (or lighten, or contrast) more than what is being allowed by that one layer, than create another layer. Or duplicate the one you have been working on, and then adjust opacity to suit.

Best,
Foster

[bob carnie]

I like and use most of the suggestions, thats whats so great about PS, there are many , many ways to skin the cat.

Now if I can only learn how to get a huge brush size on very large files to mimic the large burn and dodge that I do in the darkroom. I find this a very limiting in PS.

Hi,

One other variation of what both Lenny and Preston mention: Create a "Curves" adjustment layer, but don't edit the curves. Instead, change the Blend Mode to "Multiply." Your entire image will now be substantially darker. Click on the Layer Mask of this layer, and then invert it (Crtl-I). Your image should now be back to looking "normal." Use the (white) paintbrush to now paint on this layer, which will result in darkening wherever you paint. Of course, adjust opacity of the brush, etc.. as you see fit. This now gives you one layer to control darkening your image.

To lighten parts of your image, do the same as above, but this time set the Blend Mode to "Screen."

If you want to add contrast, create a layer as mentioned above, and set it to "Soft Light."

In all cases mentioned above, if you find you want to darken (or lighten, or contrast) more than what is being allowed by that one layer, than create another layer. Or duplicate the one you have been working on, and then adjust opacity to suit.

Best,
Foster

[AlexGard]

thanks everyone for the great replies. Been very helpful. The book "Digital Darkroom" covers both ways you have mentioned with both the brush as well as the 50% grey layer painted over. I found this worked to some degree but I have a very hard time trying to distinguish when enough is enough, and the burnt areas become very obvious compared to parts of the image that isn't burnt. Then to counter it I try to burn midtones a little bit to help blend it but it still doesn't look right.
I'll get home and upload some images soon to show you what I mean, again it could just be that the images I'm using aren't good enough material to start with. Just lots of practice I guess....

[Peter De Smidt]

Make sure to use a very soft brush with a low opacity.