COVERING OUR TRACKS
JANUARY 2002
by John
Mantzefield
copyright 2002
Before
I bought my digital camera I had a short list of
cameras I was considering, but I wasn’t able to decide
on a specific make and model. I was finally able to
make a decision due to a single discovery; finding one
of the best web sites about digital photography on net.
At www.steves-digicams.com I found independent reviews
of the cameras I was considering and numerous links to
user’s web pages that were filled with testimonials
about their favorite or least liked dig-photo gear. The
site also offers reviews and detailed information on a
wide range of camera accessories, storage devices,
software and more.
The digital camera I finally bought was the Nikon 990 because of it’s superior optics and the accessories that Nikon offered. I wanted to be able to shoot digital images that had sufficient resolution to create exhibition quality black and white prints on a desktop printer. I knew this was possible because the process was described in detail in lengthy articles about desktop “Quadtone” printing in several issues of Camera Arts magazine. These articles detailed the various techniques employed by different photographers who make these type of prints. FYI - these people were real picky about the amount of detail in their prints and the tonal range that the printers could produce. The prints they would show in galleries had to rival that which could be produced by traditional chemical based photo systems.
DIGITAL PRINT MAKING
The process begins by shooting two or more digital images of the scene that you want to print. Next combine the images into a single fairly high resolution file, with measurements in the range of 3600 X 2000 pixels at your cameras capture resolution. The next step is critical, use the Photoshop plug-in Genuine Fractals (the $150 RGB/Grayscale version - another versions is also available for CMYK, Lab Color, etc.) to create the higher resolution Grayscale image you’ll send to the printer. This amazing plug-in creates a encrypted copy of your file (with a .stn extension) that is then opened with Photoshop’s “Open” command. [NOTE: I am now using GF with Photoshop-CS2 - this new version does not require you to save files in the .stn format, you just scale a Flattened .psd file] In the GF dialog box that appears is where you enter the higher resolution numbers for you print.
The preferred printers for this process are any of several of Epson’s inkjet models that are supported by Cone Tech’s system. The pivotal part of this artistic equation is that Epson’s ink and software driver are NOT used with their printers - instead the PiezographyBW driver and inks from Cone Technology (www.inkjetmall.com) are used to create true continuous tone black and white prints (color inks are also available). If you think this isn’t possible click through to the area on their site where you can request a free sample print - with a 16X magnifier I still couldn’t see any dot pattern in the sample print!
DIG-PHOTOS IN THE PARK
This months cover image was shot at Laurelhurst Park on a perfect summer day a few months ago. I shot four (panoramic) images with the camera mounted on a tripod. Only two of the shots were used for this cover picture. The camera was set to shoot in the Black and White photo mode, and to it’s highest JPG image size of 2048 X 1536. A 72mm #092 “B&W” brand (dark red) filter was attached to the lens using a series of step-up rings.
An extremely dense red filter (like the Wratten 87C) is usually used with infrared film, but this type of filter doesn’t allow enough light to enter the lens of the 990 for it to focus correctly. The #092 is a dark red filter used primarily for black and white (infrared type) photography. It blocks a portion of
The digital camera I finally bought was the Nikon 990 because of it’s superior optics and the accessories that Nikon offered. I wanted to be able to shoot digital images that had sufficient resolution to create exhibition quality black and white prints on a desktop printer. I knew this was possible because the process was described in detail in lengthy articles about desktop “Quadtone” printing in several issues of Camera Arts magazine. These articles detailed the various techniques employed by different photographers who make these type of prints. FYI - these people were real picky about the amount of detail in their prints and the tonal range that the printers could produce. The prints they would show in galleries had to rival that which could be produced by traditional chemical based photo systems.
DIGITAL PRINT MAKING
The process begins by shooting two or more digital images of the scene that you want to print. Next combine the images into a single fairly high resolution file, with measurements in the range of 3600 X 2000 pixels at your cameras capture resolution. The next step is critical, use the Photoshop plug-in Genuine Fractals (the $150 RGB/Grayscale version - another versions is also available for CMYK, Lab Color, etc.) to create the higher resolution Grayscale image you’ll send to the printer. This amazing plug-in creates a encrypted copy of your file (with a .stn extension) that is then opened with Photoshop’s “Open” command. [NOTE: I am now using GF with Photoshop-CS2 - this new version does not require you to save files in the .stn format, you just scale a Flattened .psd file] In the GF dialog box that appears is where you enter the higher resolution numbers for you print.
The preferred printers for this process are any of several of Epson’s inkjet models that are supported by Cone Tech’s system. The pivotal part of this artistic equation is that Epson’s ink and software driver are NOT used with their printers - instead the PiezographyBW driver and inks from Cone Technology (www.inkjetmall.com) are used to create true continuous tone black and white prints (color inks are also available). If you think this isn’t possible click through to the area on their site where you can request a free sample print - with a 16X magnifier I still couldn’t see any dot pattern in the sample print!
DIG-PHOTOS IN THE PARK
This months cover image was shot at Laurelhurst Park on a perfect summer day a few months ago. I shot four (panoramic) images with the camera mounted on a tripod. Only two of the shots were used for this cover picture. The camera was set to shoot in the Black and White photo mode, and to it’s highest JPG image size of 2048 X 1536. A 72mm #092 “B&W” brand (dark red) filter was attached to the lens using a series of step-up rings.
An extremely dense red filter (like the Wratten 87C) is usually used with infrared film, but this type of filter doesn’t allow enough light to enter the lens of the 990 for it to focus correctly. The #092 is a dark red filter used primarily for black and white (infrared type) photography. It blocks a portion of
the
visible light spectrum, but still passes some infrared
illumination thus producing the classic “infrared look”
typified by dark skies, white clouds and foliage. The
digital images produced with the #092 filter are very
low contrast pictures and so they required a lot of
adjustment in Photoshop.
DIGITAL IMAGE TWEAKING
The first step was to open both of the images on separate Layers in Photoshop, next I had to rotate the left image slightly to compensate for errors in the tripods setup. Once all of the picture elements (in both shots) were aligned I used the Layer Masking feature to paint a very soft edged, variable width mask down the left edge of the image on the right side, thus blending the two shots together. The next step was to Flatten the two images into one picture and begin adjusting the overall image contrast and density.
The
first thing I usually do when adjusting an image is to
open the Levels dialog box and click the Auto button -
this usually gives me a general idea of what needs to
be done. If the results aren’t usable, press the Option
key and the dialog boxes Cancel button becomes a Reset
button. Because the sky required a different set of
adjustments than the rest of the image, these two parts
were separated by Copying the entire image to a new
Layer and then using the Image/Extract feature to
remove the clouds and sky from one Layer. With each of
the two major picture elements now isolated on their
own Layers it became far easier to make the Levels,
Curves and Contrast/Brightness adjustments necessary to
optimize each part. The top part of the dialog box
image above shows the Levels settings for the
foliage/water part of the original camera image, while
the lower half shows what the image histogram looked
like after it was adjusted.
The
image to the left shows the Curves dialog box
adjustments that wee applied to the clouds. With these
adjustments I was able to reveal shadow detail in the
foliage and water, and still bring out highlights and
shading in the clouds. Doing infrared photography with
a digital camera is far easier than it was with
chemical based infrared film. The pictures you shoot in
both systems are very low contrast images, but it sure
is easier to get great looking results in the digital
“lightroom” with Photoshop.
DIGITAL IMAGE TWEAKING
The first step was to open both of the images on separate Layers in Photoshop, next I had to rotate the left image slightly to compensate for errors in the tripods setup. Once all of the picture elements (in both shots) were aligned I used the Layer Masking feature to paint a very soft edged, variable width mask down the left edge of the image on the right side, thus blending the two shots together. The next step was to Flatten the two images into one picture and begin adjusting the overall image contrast and density.
