Let me start with a short introduction – I am a photographer. Started many years ago with film cameras, negatives and darkrooms and now, use a DSLR camera.

From the very beginning of my digital workflow, I tried to reproduce the “filmic” look of my photos, especially the black and whites. It was always a work-around, consumed a lot of time and effort and many times, resulted with some compromise…

Then came Lightroom and I realized that I can get there with its magnificent presets logic, so I started developing a workflow, that will be similar to the darkroom workflow.

Let me be honest with you, it was for my personal usage at the beginning.

After a couple of years of experiments, lots of trial & error and many trashed presets, I was able to establish my workflow and packaged it in PSKiss BlackMagic.

The purpose of this workflow isn’t creating fancy effects (although you can create stunning effcts with it – more about them in my next post…).

It is, first of all, meant for recreating the old traditions of Black & White photography.

Let me show you what I mean.

This photograph is under-exposed because there wasn’t enough light and I didn’t want to extend exposure time that would end with movement smears.

Step #1

Choose one of the 03 Wide Rang Grayscales in order to pick the best contrast and tone transitions. For this kind of photos, the best practice would be 1a-Natural Standard which will maintain the tones of the photo:

As you can see it is still quite dark and lacks details in the shadows, however contrast is good and there are many tone transitions.

Step #2

Use the Additionals > 5a-Add illumination preset to reveal shadow details:

Now the image is brighter, tones are clearly defined and there are much more details in the dark areas. The downside is that the marble floor is a too bright and looks flat.

Step #3

Use the Additionals > 5-Highlight Recovery preset:

Looks better, but I prefer more shadow details and I refuse to give up on the reflections in the windows…

Step #4

Use the Additionals > 4a-Open Shadows 1 preset:

Now the image looks great.

Its gray tones are rich, it is detailed in the shadows as well as the bright areas and contrast is good for monitor display and for print.

Note – Since we work with Lightroom presets, you can always modify the results of each step, if needed.

Tip!

Sometimes I plan my photos to be black & white while shooting. In these cases, I use Lightroom’s feature – Apply During Import and select the preset that fits the photos lighting conditions:

• For standard and under exposed photos select 03 Wide Rang Grayscales > 1a-Natural Standard

• For over exposed photos select 03 Wide Rang Grayscales > 1b-Natural Standard – Darker

1. Quit Lightroom if it is running
2. Extract the .zip file downloaded from PSKiss
3. Double-click “setup” to start the installation:

Click “Run”:

Click “Yes”:

Click “Next”:

Click “Install”:

Click “Finish”:

That’s it, BlackMagic presets are installed and ready to use in Lightroom.

Installing BlackMagic – Macintosh

1. Quit Lightroom if it is running
2. Extract the .zip file downloaded from PSKiss
3. Double-click “PSKissBlackMagic.dmg”:

Double-click on “Install”:

Click “Ok” and you’re done:

Uninstalling PSKiss BlackMagic (Macintosh and Windows)

Right-click on a folder of presets you want to uninstall and select “Delete” from the drop-down menu:

To learn more about how to use BlackMagic,

view the Free Tutorial.

Original Image

Aging Film  - Expired (Lightroom and Photoshop presets)

Original Image

Mono-Tone 1 – Bright Steel (Lightroom and Photoshop presets)

Original Image

Night Palettes 1 – Redish Pale (Lightroom presets)

Original Image

Mono-Tone 1 – Bright Steel (Lightroom and Photoshop presets)

Original Image

Aging Film  - Expired (Lightroom and Photoshop presets)

Original Image

Aging Film  - Agfachrome 50 Style (Lightroom and Photoshop presets)

BlackMagic presets create outstanding results for almost any lighting conditions! This unique set of Lightroom presets and brushes, is designed to convert color photos to Black & White, while keeping the tonal range as wide as possible. They were designed with the understanding that lighting conditions are not optimal most of the time, while the dynamic range of the camera is wide enough to capture tones, in these conditions.

After installing the presets, you are ready to use the carefully planned progressive workflow:

1. Set your initial conversion with “Creative BW” or “Wide Range Grayscales”
2. Increase or decrease the gray tonal range, using our “Additionals”
3. Add and remove color toning
4. Add and remove special Grain effects
5. Combine special darkroom-style effects using local Solarize brushes

1. Set your initial conversion

Open an image in the Develop module and select your initial conversion from “Creative BW” or “Wide Range Grayscales“:

In this sample we chose HC 70′s Fashion:

2. Increase or decrease the gray tonal range, using “Additionals”

In this sample we chose – Open Shadows – 2:

Note: The “Additionals” presets are progressive – they are added (or subtracted if you are out of their scale) to the current look of the image. This means you can use Open Shadows, to brighten shadows of the image and then use Highlight Recovery, to darken its highlights. The presets will not replace the entire look. Each one works on a separated part of the histogram.

3. Add and remove color toning

Select the appropriate toning for you image. In this sample we chose Cyanotype:

To remove the toning and return to regular black & white, select Un Tone.

4. Add and remove special Grain effects

Grain effects (part of Additionals) can be added in 3 levels:

Soft

Med (medium)

Strong

To remove the Grain effect, select Undo Grain.

5. Use the “Solarization Lab” for special effets

This is actually a two step action – you can use these effects on their own, however it is a better practice to use them in conjunction with the special Solarize Brush presets. If you wanted to use only the effects, simply choose it from the Solariztion Lab list:

To combine it with a Brush preset, select the Adjustment Brush tool:

In the Effects menu, select one of the Solarize brushes. In this sample we chose Solarize5-Soft, adjusted the brush size and painted over the clouds areas:

Note: You can change the brush effect anytime, by clicking its “pin” and selecting another brush preset from the Effects menu. In addition, you can change the settings till they fit your image. In this sample we changed the Exposure, Contrast and Clarity. Note that the word (edited) is added to the effect:

5a. Use only a Solarize Brush

This effect is very useful when you want to emphasize hair areas in portraits:

The B & W image:

After using the Solarize1-Basic brush (edited):

Using the “01 Basic” presets

This group of presets sets the initial state of the image. In some cases, it recommended to use them, prior to any Black & White conversion:

Zeroed – Resets all the develop settings to default, without any change of crop.

Standard Color – Sets a “start point” of colors before the B & W conversion. Works best with daylight or flash lighting conditions. You can always return to this point, without any change of crop.

Classic Sharpening – Applies subtle sharpening to the image.

Chromatic Aberration - Turns on Remove Chromatic Aberration in the Lens Correction section of the Develop module.

Lens Profile - Turns on Enable Profile Corrections in the Lens Correction section of the Develop module. NOTE: Sometimes Lightroom fails to identify your lens automatically. Please check the Lens Correction section and if needed, select your lens manually:

LR4 Negative - Use this preset to make a negative scan turn positive and vice versa (if needed…).

Click here to get your BlackMagic Lab Now.

In this photoshop tip, I will use two PSKiss unique products:

1. PSKiss Skin and Scenery Color profiles – for deeper colors

2. PSKiss Outdoor Photography Toolkit – for specific enhancements

All you have to do is follow these very simple steps:

1. Open a landscape photo with Lightroom or Photoshop. This step is relevant only for Camera Raw files.
* The obvious profile choice (or Picture Style if you like) for this photo will be Camera Landscape:

Which will look like this (nothing to write home about…):

2. Now, switch to PSKiss Vivid Landscape Mode 1 profile:

This particular profiles darkens the shadows, so I opened them a little bit:

Much better:

3. Open the image in Photoshop (or use Edit in Photoshop, if you work with Lightroom).
Click Sky Density in the Outdoor Photography Toolkit to enhance the sky:

See the difference:

4. Now add some brightness and contrast to the Green areas. Simply click Green in the Outdoor Photography Toolkit:

5. For the final touch, click Clarte and enhance local-contrast of the image:

That’s all folks…

The basic image – developed with the Camera Landscape profile:

After quick 5 steps, using Skin and Scenery Color profile and the Outdoor Photography Toolkit:

Click here for more about PSKiss Outdoor Photography Toolkit

Click here for more about Skin and Scenery Color profiles 

Mark said that he has noticed that when he set the camera calibration of the D7000 in Lightroom, to match the D3 Standard profile, he got some posterization or banding in shadow areas of certain images. We asked Mark to send us the NEF files and the .xmp files (so we can track his develop settings) and it was as he said. Posterisation was certainly present in the shadows:

So, Balance the White Balance…

The first photo was to “cool”. The “As Shot” White Balance was set to 4500. A small correction of the White Balance temperature from 4500 to 5200, corrected the color hues and removed the artefacts immediately:

The second photo was to “warm”. The “As Shot” White Balance was set to 4000. A small correction of the White Balance temperature from 4000 to 3450, corrected the color hues and removed the artefacts immediately:

Summery

When you use PSKiss Cross Camera Color profiles or Skin & Scenery Color profiles, you alter the basic color scheme of your photo. If you see artefacts, such as posterisation or banding, especially in high ISO images, simply make some minor changes to the White Balance. In most cases, that will do.

Intro

All the filters in PSKiss Toolkits, create the result image on a separate layer. This fact should encourage you to try some extreme settings…

I call this technique – Process And Withdrawal or simply: PAW.

The principle is simple:

1. Use the full power of the filter
2. Put the result on a separate layer (done for you automatically)
3. Pull layer transparency back a bit, to mix the new result with the original image.

Sample 1 – A Dramatic sunset

The camera could not convey the Intensive colors and the feel of this sunset scene:

In this case, I decided to use the Look Factory (included in the Portrait Toolkit and the Photographer’s ToolBox):

Step 1 – Apply some extreme values to create a very strong impact. For this image, I used the following setting (without using any of the presets):

Step 2 – Reduce the Opacity of the Look Factory layer and let it blend with the original image:

That’s it.

Step 3 – Compare the final image to the original and adjust the opacity till you like it:

Sample 2 – Desert Bird

This was much easier…

The color scheme of this photo, is exactly where Jeweler works at its best (Jeweler is included in the Product Toolkit and in the Photographer’s Toolbox):
 

Step 1 – Full Jeweler power! Click OK and repeat this once more. This will create 2 PSKiss Jeweler layers:
 

Step 2 – Emphasize edges with Edge:
 

Step 3 – Merge PSKiss Layers and reduce opacity (click to see the full size image):

The final image:

Sample 3 – Quick Mega Boost

Well, I guess you got it by now. So let’s do another one and add a twist to the plot…

Step 1 – Full Jeweler power to boost color!

Step 2 – Boost details with Portrait BW (included in the Portrait Toolkit and the Photographer’s ToolBox):
 

Drag the Details slider all the way to the right:

Step 3 – Change the Blend Mode of the new layer to Luminosity (to keep the color):

Step 4 – Use Sky Boost to enhance sky color (included in the Outdoor Toolkit and the Photographer’s ToolBox) – set Boost to maximum:

Step 5 – Merge PSKiss layers, reduce opacity and let it blend with the original image:

The final image:

That’s it for this post.

If you have any comment or question, please Contact Us or join our Facebook page. I will be more than happy to reply!

Happy Photoshoping,

Nir Kaufman

Senior Developer @ PSKiss.com

After installing and opening your Photogram panel, it’s time to get to know it closely.

The Photogram panel contains 3 major parts:

1. The effects panel

Click on any of the effects and it will start immediately.

After you click it will be marked with light. In this sample we used Polaroid 600:

Any effects you click, will be added on a new layer, leaving the original image untouched.

Want to try another effects? Click it and it will replace the previous.

Use the scroll on the right hand side to reveal more effects (15 total).

2. The ratio crop slider

Select the crop ratio, click on the desired effect and you’ll get a cropped effected photo.

Don’t worry. it’s completely harmless. Select a different crop ratio, click the effect button again and it will first go back to the full image and re-crop it. If you wish to return to the original size, simply select No Crop and click the effect button.

Please note that cropping is done automatically from center outwards. If you need a specific crop area, first crop it manually with Photoshop’s native tools and use Photogram for it’s magnificent effects only.

3. The additional effects flick-buttons

Flick them to the right to turn them on:

You can turn them on separately as well…

Flick the Date Stamp on, click on the desired effect and the EXIF date will be stamped on your image*:

Don’t like the Date Stamp? Flick it off, click on the effect button (it is marked with light) and it’s gone…

Want to add Light Leak? No problem. Flick it on, click on the effect button and the light will leak in. Each time you click on the effect button, you get a different light leak. That’s how we like our old cameras, with a special and unique character…:

Light Leak #1:

Light Leak #2:

Want to get rid of the Light Leak? Flick it off, click on the effect button and it’s gone (if it could be that simple in the film days…).

* Please note – If the image was saved without EXIF, a special mark “– –” will be stamped instead:

That’s it!

Now stop reading boring manuals… Instead, go and have some fun with your copy of PSKiss Photogram!

Installing the toolkit – Macintosh* and Windows XP

* Important notice for Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) users – update Adobe Extensions Manager BEFORE you install PSKiss Photogram using this link:

http://blogs.adobe.com/cssdk/2011/12/fix-for-extension-signature-bug-on-mac-os-10-7-patch-posted.html

1. Quit Photoshop if it is running
2. Extract the .zip file you downloaded from PSKiss Shop
3. Double-click on the file named “PSkiss Photogram.zxp”
   
4. This will launch the Adobe Extensions Manager. Click “Accept”
   
   
5. Quit the Extensions Manager and launch Photoshop

Installing the toolkit – Windows 7 and Vista

1. Quit Photoshop if it is running
2. Extract the .zip file you downloaded from PSKiss Shop
3. Click the Start Menu > Programs.
4. Locate “Adobe Extension Manager CS5″
5. Right click on it, choose “Run As Administrator” and Approve it
   
6. In the Extension Manager’s window click “Install”, locate the folder you extracted in step 1
   
7. Select the file named “PSkiss Outdoor Toolkit.zxp” and click on the “Select” button
8. Click “Accept” (ignore and approve the validation notice, it is non-relevant to this kind of extension) and the panel is installed:
   
   
9. Quit the Extensions Manager and launch Photoshop

How to open PSKiss Photogram in Photoshop

Go to Window > Extensions and choose “PSKiss Photogram”

Now you are ready to run instagram style effects on your photos, with in Photoshop:

Back to Photogram product page

See the Photogram QuickStart Guide – Here

For the past couple of years, I’ve been working on a photographic series dealing with the changing of the arabic part in the city of Haifa, Israel.

As many photographers, I was used to work with film and it isn’t natural to photograph at night with film, due to problems with exposure and color. Using digital cameras, made night photography very intuitive and natural for me. Still, two main technical questions had bothered me artistically:

1. What is the appropriate color reproduction to reflect the sense of night time?
2. What is the appropriate exposure (histogram) that will reproduce the best luminance transitions, which reflect night time experience?

Color reproduction – this issue disturbs all photographers. The camera sees only “daylight”, it does not understand that my eyes are looking at night time and sees palish warm colors of street lights, while sky colors are dark. So the first thing I began dealing with, was the reproduction of color and sky luminance.

Appropriate exposure – as we all know, the “correct” exposure we pick is based on  histogram.
Actually, all of us work in a “zone system” when we use the histogram (making an exposure with all the details that the camera can reproduce). The camera however, is calibrated to 18% gray brightness. I felt that the photographs were to bright and when I darkened them, I didn’t receive the desired results, especially in darker areas (there were to many details in “correct” contrast). I decided to set the exposure so that the histogram would be “climbing” the left side with the Wide Range B&W presets and reconstruct the details afterwords using the Night Palettes presets.

This type of exposure and gleaning details in post production, makes the appropriate contrast for the very dark areas. Having the appropriate exposure and post production development of contrasts + one of the night palettes gives a very nice sense of night time, with very delicate warm colors.

I used the same workflow to create all the samples in this post – first apply Wide Range B&W preset and then a Night Palette preset.

You are most welcome to share your thought and night photos on our facebook page.

Sample photos:

Original photo:

After Wide Range B&W and Night Palettes 1:

Original photo:

After Wide Range B&W and Night Palettes 1:

Original photo:

After Wide Range B&W and Night Palettes 1:

Original photo:

After Wide Range B&W and Night Palettes 1:

Thanks for your time and effort!

Please visit the Wide Range B&W presets and the Night Palettes 1 presets product pages