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M246: How do you post process your files?


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Hi there, fellow M246 owners!

 

I've been a Leica shooter for some years now, but "only" film so far. For a month ago i did buy the M246 and i have been testing the camera shooting some 2.000 pictures, to get to know the camera before i start to use the camera in daily shootings.

 

Please see my questions below

 

When i've been post processing my Tri-X pictures, i've just been doing some minor post processing. Mainly in Exposure, and if the pictures are more dull and grey for my style, i've just done some minor adjustments in the blacks/shadows and/or whites/highlights.

 

I have a some trouble getting the result i want from my new M246. It's just so much easier to get a b/w - i'm happy with - from of my M6 loaded with Tri-X or from my Fuji X100s. Therefore i want your help as a little quick start, since my strenght nor experience isn't in Lightroom or post processing.

 

To give you a feeling of,what i like and don't like what concerns post processing, the pictures in this review are pretty close to my own preferences: Leica M Monochrom (Typ 246) Review

 

Could you please share and tell me:

 

  • How do you post process your M246 pictures?
     
  • Which program do you use?
     
  • Could you please describe in details what you do? What are your settings?
     
  • Could you post some examples with pictures?
     
  • What were the specific settings in Lightroom in the pictures?

 

I don't want to copy your post processing style, i just want a quick starting point where i can begin, since i don't have so many experiences with Lightroom, being a film photographer for 28 years.

 

Sorry if this question already has been asked without me noticing. I did try to search this forum before posting, but i didn't find any dedicated post regarding this. Thanks for your help in advance.

Edited by BjarniM
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I use Adobe Camera Raw to adjust exposure (Exposure, Highlights, Shadows) and to increase global contrast by using the curve tool. I might also apply a gradient filter to increase or decrease exposure for a certain portion of the image if necessary.

 

In PS I then most of the time only do dodging and burning as needed before sharpening the image for output.

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You are basically looking for a workflow that will give you just "your look". You could always ask David Farkas how he edited them. I don't think he did a lot.

 

It can be a long road to you own look, and in film is was and is established in the chemistry used to a large degree.

 

In digital you have to choose which software and which controls to work with, and where to slide them to.

 

I use Lightroom and change the process to Process 2010 from the default Process 2012 so I can get more shadow details and an overall more natural look. (The Process 2010 is found in the botton right side of Lightroom under Camera Profile) And I edit with the skin tones as the key tone, and the rest of the image should usually go from completely black areas to completely white ares.

 

This sounds very easy, and it is when you have been through a lot and decided this is how it should look. 

 

Maybe start out with one or two TriX photos you really like, and then edit some M246 photos based on what you see of qualities in the TriX. I think that would be a good learning experience and fundation for decision-making on what to do, and how much or little to do. 

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The original Monochrom, like many scanned film images, typically exhibits a very flat image.  My experience is that the M246 produces considerably less of this flatness, but the processing is still conceptually the same.  You have to set the black point in almost every image.  And frequently white point and contrast, as well.

 

First, if you use color contrast filters on your M6 with Tri-X, use them in exactly the same situations for your M246.

 

Expose to get things right as much as you can in-camera, but unlike B&W film, where you would err on the side of more in questionable situations, with the M246 err on the side of less.  Just like slide film.  

 

Shoot in RAW.

 

In LR, the 'Auto' button is a good place to start.  It will typically change exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks.  In my experience, too much.  Dial those sliders to taste.  There is no one scenario, one preset, you can create that works for every scene.  But I frequently find myself setting highlights and shadows to ~25.  White point ('white') is nearly always a positive number.  Black point ('black') is nearly always a negative number.  A little clarity will bump micro contrast.  My experience is that the M246 requires slightly more clarity to create the same effect as the MM (e.g. 15-20 on the M246, versus 10-15 on the MM).

 

The biggest mistake I see with PP in general is overdoing it, especially clarity.  Less is often more.

 

Have fun.  The M246, like the MM before it, is pretty amazing.

 

 

the_dj.jpg

 

 

 

selfies_and_more.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Digital sensors have linear response, unlike film and the eye. I've been experimenting with adding a Gamma curve to M Monochrom files. That is the difference between response of film and the digital sensor used in the M Monochrom and M246. 

 

As you are used to film, buying Silver Efex 2 would be the fastest path to getting film-like curves added to your linear-response images.

 

An example.

 

As Shot:

 

19250270740_f9497e5575_o.jpgL1005593 As Shot by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

Gamma Curve added, mapped into 16-bit pixels,

 

19251661939_0a4f91600d_o.jpgG1005593 by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

Gamma/DNG-16 processed in SEFX2 using Panatomic-X emulation,

 

19431544742_db9e677534_o.jpgG1005593+Panatomic-X by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

The original as-shot processed in SEFX2 using Tri-X emulation.

 

19250270570_7115375830_o.jpgL1005593-Edit+ Tri-X by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

The latter is literally "one-Click" in SEFX2.

 

No noise-reduction, no sharpening, no adjustments in Lightroom. ISO 10,000 Canon 100/2, Wide-Open.

Edited by fiftyonepointsix
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Most people seem to go bananas with post-processing, and you should resist the impulse to reproduce what many call the characteristic look of the original Monochrom. That look - wiry, over-contrasted, and over sharpened - looks like the product of people going nuts with "clarity" in LR. Files are quite flat, and there is no reason to go overboard in post. That's the trap that a lot of Fuji X shooters seem to be in.

 

With the old and new (M246) Monochrom files, I use Lightroom and generally start with curves (-25 shadows, +25 highlights) and adjust exposure to taste. That gives you a reasonable S-curve. See attached.

 

Isn't Silver Efex still included with the camera? Guess I would know if I bothered to take more than the M246 and its neck strap out of the box before I put the packaging in storage (when you have an M240 already, who cares about the rest of the trinkets...). Unfortunately, I also upgraded LR to 6 a week before the camera arrived, so I didn't even have occasion to dig the TAN out.

 

Dante

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Thanks a lot for your answers, which without doubt will be helpful for me since i don't have much experience in Lightroom and post processing, shooting mainly film before. I will try every "method" you all have reported here.

 

I guess i have to turn off the phone, lock the door and dig into Lightroom on a weekend to get to know the program, though i rather would like to use 90% of the time shooting and 10% post processing and not the other way around. One way or the other, it seems inevitable that i learn to master the program to a certain degree.

 

Meanwhile today, i've been out doing some more test shooting. This time i went out shooting with one thing on my mind: Just how much dynamics is the camera capable of reproducing?

 

I was just blown away by the dynamic range it can handle, and not blowing the highlights or getting pitch dark in the shadow areas, even though i learned i might get a ND filter, since i had to stop down to f/3.4, and lost the narrow depth of field in this picture because it was so bright.

 

This test image is unedited, exported straight out of Lightroom without any adjustments, ironically, thinking about the topic in this thread. So maybe the camera just demands more contrasty scenes and light, than i've been throwing at it so far? It gets me thinking since this one isn't dull or grey, and is pretty muck okay straight out of the camera.

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Edited by BjarniM
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I agree that the files doesn't require that much work, after reading a lot about the previous Monochrom during the years I guess I expected getting much flatter files than the new one actually delivers.

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