Your techniques with contrast filters for B&W photography?

[Alan Edward Klein]

Indeed. You've also managed to totally blow out a considerable amount of highlight detail in the process.
Had you used a more sensible curves adjustment, this wouldn't have happened.

Btw, given the fact that Philippe seems to know his way around monitor calibration and ICC profiles, I doubt there's very much need to explain the basics of a histogram to him. I have a feeling he knows this pretty well.

I wasn't trying to perfect the picture but to show him where his problems are and how to correct them by using levels. Curves certainly could help fine tune afterwards. But I was not working with the original scan but his already blown file on the web.

At least I told him how to correct it from being too dark. Your comment post #48 was that he couldn't do anything, which was incorrect and no help whatsoever. Additionally, he made no mention of checking his histogram when he edited.

 

[koraks]

Curves certainly could help fine tune afterwards.

Not just that. The whole thing could have done with curves. But levels could have done non-destructively as well. And no, the highlights weren't blown out on the web version.

Your comment post #48 was that he couldn't do anything

That's not accurate.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Not just that. The whole thing could have done with curves. But levels could have done non-destructively as well. And no, the highlights weren't blown out on the web version.



That's not accurate.

Until this post, you gave him no suggestions how to brighten his dark picture other than this in #48:

"Just outputting to sRGB will do. The rest is beyond your control anyway, as you noted.
Btw, your images render a little dark on my (calibrated) monitor as well."

 

[koraks]

I'll respond in PM @Alan Edward Klein ; this is going off-topic quite a bit.

 

[koraks]

Yes, a considerable part of my message to Alan was really offtopic in this thread. The ontopic part was more about digital editing than the use of filters for B&W, so I'd still consider that not really ontopic here and better suited for a separate thread in the Digital Editing section of the forum. It was really only tangentially related to the question this thread started out with, and I'm being generous at that.

If you want to discuss it further, please feel free to open a thread about it here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/forums/digital-image-editing.362/

 

[DREW WILEY]

Thanks. The two aspects should really be divided. It's difficult enough just to get people to understand what contrast filters are really for, and how to properly use them, without going off on a whole other wild goose chase only peripherally related, and only to applicable to post-film digital workflow.

 

[Keith Tapscott.]

Because of the oft-repeated advice, I kept a yellow filter permanently in place for several years. I did get some nice shots when the sky was important, and not just when there was blue sky between the clouds. Apologies that I can't show you this one without a filter, you'll just have to believe me.
View attachment 353217

But when the sky was not really related to the subject, it could be distracting. And because I live in England, a lot of my photos had overcast skies, and were none the worse for it.

Furthermore, on a very sunny day, it could be difficult to meter for the (deepened) shadows in a hurry, and a few chance-of-a-lifetime shots were spoiled by impenetrable shadows. (Of course, a properly experienced photographer would have allowed for this, but there isn't time left in my life to gather so much more experience.)

So now I leave the yellow filter off, but carry one in case of need. It is gradually carving a groove in its plastic box. I never use orange or red filters because drama isn't what rocks my boat.

Was that photo taken on Dartmoor?