JPEG version of Original RAW file as it imported into LightRoom 3
I captured the above image of The Old Mission Point Lighthouse on a trip to Michigan's Grand Traverse region last Summer. I really liked the composition but like almost all RAW files it needed some post processing to bring out its best.
I took a look at the photo, and noticed a number of things that needed attention in order to make the image reflect what I saw that day.
Marked up for post-processing
Three of the major problems are shown above. What was a gorgeous blue sky looks faded and boring in the photo. The clouds lack definition and the rails are way overexposed distracting the eye away from the centerpiece of the image, the lighthouse. The entire image looks flat and lifeless.
I opened the photo in Lightroom's develop module and began to process the image.
- Basic Tab - Auto as a starting point
- I adjusted the exposure until it looked right
- I adjusted the black point
- I chose "Strong Contrast" in the Tone Curve Tab
- I set the Vibrance to +43
- In the HSL Tab, I set Luminance Blue -48 and Green -57
- I used the Adjustment Brush to tone down the exposure on the rails
Result is below.
Color Processed version
I thought it looked pretty good except for the fact that I over saturated the sky so it looked a bit garish. That is easily fixed but before I started correcting it I thought, "ya know that might look pretty good in Black and White."
There are a number of ways to convert a color image to B+W. The controls found in both Lightroom and Camera RAW work very nicely and of course you can go through a bunch of steps in Photoshop to get there, but I find working in NIK Software's Silver Efex Pro 2 both satisfying and intuitive.
I opened the image in Silver Efex Pro and started to play with the myriad of presets that come with the program. After sampling a number of them I settled on "High Structure Harsh" ending up with the results below.
Output from Siver Efex Pro 2
Not bad, if I say so myself. Of course there is that nasty bit of flare in the sky (circled). Back in Lightroom I used the Adjustment Brush in Healing mode to replace the flare with clouds. I also further darkened selected spots on the rails to even things out a bit.
The final result is below. I really like the way the clouds form a halo around the tower. I think I'm going to keep working on this one to refine it even more, but as far as I'm concerned this result is not too bad for only about 25 minutes work.
Old Mission Lighthouse at the tip of the Old Misssion Peninsula in Grand Traverse County, MI Half way between the equator and the north Pole (45 degrees North)
Playing around with black and White conversions is fun and rewarding. While I find using Silver Efex Pro easy and fun, if you have any other image editing software, you too can create great Black and White images, just like in the days of Film.
Give it a whirl!
You can see my earlier post about the Old Mission Light here.
© 2011 Tim Marks
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