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Boosting1Bar
6th of March 2004 (Sat), 17:55
I took this picture this afternoon. It's just a bunch of dead trees, and I have an idea of what I want it to look like, but I just can't get it in pshop. I've never really worked much in black and white in pshop, so hopefully someone can get me going in the right direction. I wanted the blacks and whites to contrast more and be sharper, but it still just has a lot of flat dull greys in it. Comments and suggestions are appreciated!

http://www.boosting1bar.com/canon/deadforest.jpg
clos
6th of March 2004 (Sat), 21:23
under the IMAGE menu choose ADJUSTMENTS and then choos CHANNEL MIXER. When the dialog box appears check the monochrome box in the bottom corner. This should turn your open pic to b&W. You can then play with the RED, GREEN, and BLUE sliders until you get what you are looking for. The rule of thumb is that they should all add up to 100 but you know what they say about rules.

Good luck!

-Clos
Boosting1Bar
6th of March 2004 (Sat), 21:28
That's how I got it the way it is now though! I fooled with it a bit in the mixer, but just couldn't get the effect I wanted. Back to the drawing board I suppose!
clos
6th of March 2004 (Sat), 21:48
Ooops sorry!

Trees are hard...

LOL no pun intended.

-Clos
Laziferous
6th of March 2004 (Sat), 22:30
Duplicate the background layer twice. Blend one as "screen", and the other as "multiply". Now adjust the opacities of each of the layers to your liking. Probably back the "multiply" layer off a bit first, to lighten it back up a bit. You can add a mask to one or both layers, and use the gradient tool (as black to white) to get the sky more dramatic, while maintaing the midtones in the foreground... or just the brush tool. Black will act as an eraser, and reveal the layer beneath, and white will paint it back in if you go too far. You can adjust the brush opacity while you're working with it also. Masks are very powerful.

Layers, masks, and blending modes are essential in PS (as it relates to photography). Learn how to use them, and your life will be easy... you'll gain 15 pounds of muscle mass, your breath will be fresh, complete strangers will offer to be your slave, and the chicks will dig you. I'm not making this up.