The Black and White Tool Tab
October 13, 2011 4 Comments
Capture One Pro 6 comes with a powerful Black and White tool located in the Color Tool Tab. Besides this tool, Capture One Pro 6 also has a specific Black and White Tool Tab which includes a number of relevant tools to perform Black and White conversion.
As there are many Tool Tabs in Capture One, the Black and White Tool Tab is not visible by default. If you produce Black and White work often, I would strongly recommend enabling this Tool Tab.
Remember, you can always customize a Tool Tab. If you are missing a tool or find one you never use, just add or delete it. By default, Capture One remembers how you arrange the tools, and Capture One’s layout is stored in the default Workspace. You can always save the current layout as a named workspace to allow you to return to that specific layout again.
The left image is straight out of the camera. The center image is a black and white version made by simply desaturating the colors in the image, and this is by no means a very interesting image. The last image is made with the Black and White tool as well as some of the other tools found in the Black and White Tool Tab. This image is based on the Black and White tool preset called “Color – Landscape 1”. This preset brings down the lightness of the blue sky which gives a dramatic contrast to the dunes and the light tower, creating a much more interesting image.
To enable the Black and White Tool Tab, simply right click on the Tool Tab bar. That gives you the opportunity to select the “Black and White” Tool Tab in the “Add Tool Tab” menu.
The image above shows the layout of the Black and White Tool Tab. In the Black and White tool, the preset “Color – Landscape 1” has been selected. You can use the tool presets as inspiration for how you would like your image to appear. Scroll down the preset list, and you will immediately see the effect of each selected preset. Start by selecting the presets that gives you the overall look and finish that you want. Then, you can fine-tune the result using the other tools. For example, a Black and White image will often need much more contrast than a color version of the same image.
Stay tuned for more Black and White tips next week.
The articles on B/W conversions are fine; however, it appears most of the procedures used do not apply to the TRUE B/W images. I have about 1000 old B/W prints going back to 1910 I would like to turn into digitals. What work process would be used on prints, like scanned prints.
There are numerous articles on conversions, and almost none on the true B/W. Guidance in this virgin territory would be truly appreciated. Thank you. Dornie
Hi Dornie
I assume that you want to make a digital copy of your old B/W prints. So the material is already in gray tones and “just” needs to be digitized using a digital camera.
From my experience, I would do it this way:
1) You need to light your original evenly. I have previously described a technique to do so on this blog. See the post “Flat Art Reproduction” for further details. The idea here is to use the LCC feature in the Lens Tool to ensure an even light on the target.
2) If the print is bending, you can place it under glass and photograph it at an angle different from straight 90 degrees to avoid reflections. Later you use the Keystone Tool to correct for the distortion.
3)In Capture One, you can use the linear curve in the Base Characteristics. Because the print is only 2 dimensional the dynamic range is quite limit compared to photographing a 3 dimensional object. Using the Linear film curve gives you, under this limited dynamic range setup, a true reproduction of the tones in your original.
4)White Balance is also important if you want to keep the tones of the original. You will then need to create a white balance on a real WB target not just a piece of paper as this is typically far from neutral.
5)With the combination of real even light and a linear film curve, it should be fairly easy to use the Levels Tool to ensure that you get the full range of tones from true black to pure white.
All the best
Niels
Scanning a bw print or neg gives you a greyscale image, with limited amount of data to manipulate. C1 bw conversions use all the colour info contained in a RAW file to really isolate tones by pushing each colour around, displaying it in bw. All you can really do with a bw scan is match the original, maybe boost contrast – nothing as dramatic as what’s being discussed here.
My question may be a bit off-topic, but it’s along the same lines as the previous comments.
I have tried to scan panoramic b&w negatives. (on top of a lit light box, and with a piece of plexi-glass on top to keep it flat) I have left the room lights off, as well as the 4 studio lights (@ 90 degree angles) that normally help light other artwork or maps that I scan. The results have not been good. The negative is well-exposed. Can you make recommendations on what I could be doing better? I am using the Capture One 4 on a Power Phase FX digital back, with a Rodenstock Sironar Digital 90mm lens.
Thanks
Marge