problem with Gormans BW conversion

asamuel

Having experimented with Gromans action. I have found that the step asking to 'merge visibile' is a real pain. If I want to Print at a LAb and their are problems then I no longer have all the Layers for tweeking in case my monitor is not calibrated (which I can be sure it isn't).

the merge seems to enable the overlay (which I like). any reasons why you cannot overlay without merging files?

Here is the link to gromans action

http://www.gormanphotography.com/gorman.html

here is the link to my previous post

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=38148

aztec36

Hi Asamuel,

I had the same problem but figured it out. You need to hold Ctrl and Alt while clicking and holding down the left mouse button on the Layer palette extension arrow >.

Move the mouse up to "Merge visible" and then let go of the Left mouse button.... Voila!

Good luck!

Cheers,
Patrick

www.pbase.com/aztec36

mercphoto

I can't figure out why he doesn't just give the action itself away. I found the steps difficult to follow in CS2 to make my own action. I wonder if the menu items or names have changed slightly which is why the directions don't always match what I see in CS2. I finally gave up trying to record my own action.

cerement

Tried playing with this earlier ... classic case of "can do, can't teach" ;P It's not your fault, mercphoto ... his PDF is completely unreadable ...

Basic process is: create grayscale from Lightness channel of LAB, copy shadows and fill with color then multiply blend, merge visible, apply local contrast enhancement.

Hmm, gonna try rephrasing things (and getting rid of the all caps) and see if anybody finds this a little simpler ...

Create Grayscale from Lightness
1) Convert to LAB -- Image => Mode => Lab Color
2) In Channels palette, select the Lightness channel
3) Convert to Grayscale -- Image => Mode => Grayscale -- select "Okay" when asked to "Discard other channels?"

Colorize Grayscale
4) Make a Luminance selection -- Control-Click the Gray channel
5) Invert your selection -- Select => Inverse (or Ctrl-Shift-I)
6) Convert to RGB -- Image => Mode => RGB Color
7) Create a new color layer with your selection as the layer mask -- Layer => New Fill Layer => Solid Color ...
8) Select your color choice in the color picker
9) Change layer blending mode to Multiply

Local Contrast Enhancement
more details at Luminous Landscape but instead of using USM, Gorman uses a High Pass Sharpening variation (allows more finetuning than USM)
10) Create a new merged layer -- Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E (sorry, I have no idea what the menu command for this is)
11) Filter => Other => High Pass... -- radius 50 pixels
12) Change blending mode to Overlay
13) Change opacity to 20%
14) Double-click the layer to bring up the Layer Styles palette
15) Adjust the Blend If sliders -- pull in black point arrow to 50 then Alt-click on right half of the arrow to split it and drag it to 70
16) Pull in the white point arrow to 185 then Alt-click the right half and drag it to 205 (basically restricting the contrast enhancement to the midtones)


Adjustments
a) Double-click the color layer and pull up the color picker again to change your color choice
b) Change opacity of the color layer
c) Add a Curves Adjustment Layer just above the color layer to tweak tones
d) Change mode of contrast enhancement layer between Soft Light, Overlay, Hard Light, or Linear Light
e) Change opacity of the contrast enhancement layer
f) Adjust the Blend If sliders to enhance different tonal ranges


I hope the above is readable and makes more sense to everyone ...

wxwax

Why not save the file before flattening? If you name it first, surely you can build a "Save As" into your action?