Really like the Leica Q2 B&W High Contrast ... but how to apply to DNG files

[TheLaird]

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I like the JPGs produced but they are of course JPGs.

Are their profiles/presets that I can apply to the RAW to make it look the same as the JPG output? I have tried in LR but to no avail.

Is one of the Silver Efex profiles a good match?

 

And on a related topic, do you process your RAWs like any colour RAW and then covert to mono, or do you convert to mono and then process?

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[250swb]

Use ACR to convert your colour picture to B&W as a monochrome RGB file (NOT Greyscale). Then try starting with brightness and contrast controls in Lightroom.  

You may well find a preset in Nik Silver Efex that you like, but it's always a case of how your starting colour photo looks will influence how the preset interprets it. So some other work may be necessary but within Silver Efex to tweak a favourite preset, but it's very easy. Again Silver Efex needs an RGB file to work.

[marchyman]

2 hours ago, TheLaird said:

And on a related topic, do you process your RAWs like any colour RAW and then covert to mono, or do you convert to mono and then process?

First edit in color.  Convert to B&W.  Adjust the color filters to get the desired tones.  Then finish the edit in B&W which often re-adjusts sliders initially set when editing in color.

That is the process recommended by someone (forget who) in something I read (or was it a video?) many years ago.  I tried it. I got better results than I got doing whatever it was I did before.   As a result I've kept doing it that way.   HOWEVER: the tool available now are much different than they were then.  Perhaps there are better ways using current editing tools.

[ianforber]

3 hours ago, TheLaird said:

I like the JPGs produced but they are of course JPGs.

Are their profiles/presets that I can apply to the RAW to make it look the same as the JPG output? I have tried in LR but to no avail.

Is one of the Silver Efex profiles a good match?

 

And on a related topic, do you process your RAWs like any colour RAW and then covert to mono, or do you convert to mono and then process?

I process the DNG to be a reasonable colour picture and then export to Silver Efex as a TIFF file that can be re-edited in SFX if I wish. “Reasonable” not a perfect finished version because I want to see what looks like when I’m editing in SFX rather having to undo edits I made in the colour version. That’s just me though. 

I change which SFX profile I use depending on what style of picture I’m looking for, and I’ll almost always use it as a starting point and make a few tweaks before sending it back to, in my case, Capture One. I almost always apply one of the film simulations too, often Scala 200. 

[TheLaird]

After some playing, I think Silver Efex Fine Art is pretty near the High Contrast BW in-build filter on Q2.

Then again perhaps it is the full spectrum ... ah well, plenty to choose from.

However this is easily solved if I get the image 100% correct in camera and then I can use the JPG !!

[ianforber]

4 hours ago, TheLaird said:

After some playing, I think Silver Efex Fine Art is pretty near the High Contrast BW in-build filter on Q2.

Then again perhaps it is the full spectrum ... ah well, plenty to choose from.

However this is easily solved if I get the image 100% correct in camera and then I can use the JPG !!

That’s fair. I often use Fine Art or More Silver. Even more often though, I just stick with the jpeg!

[M11 for me]

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Am 4.3.2024 um 19:58 schrieb marchyman:

First edit in color.  Convert to B&W

I just do the opposite. I wonder if there is the best way that Adobe would propose.

[250swb]

Editing first in colour is kind of a crazy idea because you should be dealing with tones and not colours, but perhaps it means basic editing like contrast, spotting, getting the horizon straight, etc.?

In Silver Efex you can import a file and then you use the colour filters in SFX to change tones, so a red filter will darken a blue sky, green will lighten leaves and grass, etc. all using the original background colour information. But I don't see how you can accurately pre-imagine that effect by working directly on a colour file. Regarding presets if the image is 'close' in an SFX preset this can of course be edited and saved as a new custom preset of your very own. For these to work accurately the base image needs to be standardised as much as possible, so in ACR you can press 'Auto' to adjust to the Adobe 'standard' for the brightness, contrast, tone etc., and/or in Lightroom or Photoshop also press 'Auto Contrast' and 'Auto Colour'. The image can then be imported into SFX with as many parameters set as possible which means the presets or the general editing isn't swayed too much by the donor image being too bright, or too contrasty. 

[ianforber]

13 hours ago, 250swb said:

Editing first in colour is kind of a crazy idea because you should be dealing with tones and not colours, but perhaps it means basic editing like contrast, spotting, getting the horizon straight, etc.?

I think we’re (almost) in the same place. Aside from basic edits, all I do is perhaps lift shadows/recover highlights to get a file that I think I can work well with in SFX - the presets and film types affect the contrast, tones etc of the picture before I start delving into the finer adjustments, global or localised. I’d rather not have a high contrast file to start with if that’s not what I’m aiming for in the end. I suspect I could do that in SFX but it’s just not the way I’m used to doing it.