# Monochrome HDR and Lightroom



## Ross (Mar 7, 2016)

Hi Guys !

I was wondering - does anyone have any thoughts on this, or links to any useful resources that they might be willing to share please ?

(btw - I _already _have Harold Davies' book !! )

Thanks in advance,

Ross


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## Dave Miller (Mar 7, 2016)

What exactly are you asking? 
I use the HDR feature for interior shots some of which are then converted to monochrome.


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## Ross (Mar 7, 2016)

Dave Miller said:


> What exactly are you asking?
> I use the HDR feature for interior shots some of which are then converted to monochrome.


Hi Dave !

Thank you for the prompy reply !  Good to see I'm not the only one up, this hour of the day !

I use Photomatix, for HDR ...  I use Topaz BW (Nik Silver Effects seems to be no more ..??)

I'm NOT any kind of "expert" on Monochrome, much less HDR Monochrome - and, whilst anxious to learn - did a swift "Google" -- and got about 84 million links to the Harold Davies book - which, as I say, I already own !

So really, it's kinda a vague question, I'm sorry - because I don't yet know enough about it all, to even frame the question properly ... !!  I guess it's a) about where to LEARN MORE ABOUT MONO HDR and b) trying (and I'm failing, miserably, at the moment - to "integrate" the whole thing, into some sort of coherent (AND repeatable) workflow.


Dave - we used, at work, to teach our students:

"Forget trying to learn all the answers.  You never will !  But once you understand how to ask the RIGHT question - you are more than halfway to answering it for yourself."

That was taught to me by MY boss, when I was a young "graddie" - and those students who think that way -- always seem to be the most eager and willing to learn - AND easiest to help !!


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## Dave Miller (Mar 7, 2016)

Coincidentally I'm in the process of preparing some recent shots of Lichfield Cathedral for uploading to my website, some of which are monochrome. My feeling is that if the image looks like an HDR picture then I've failed, unless my intention was to make something that looks unreal of course.

I've used Photomatix, which worked well enough but since moving to Lightroom I've used its HDR facility and been happy with it. The one difficulty I found was selecting the images I want to use together ready for selection; I do this by flagging and filtering them so that they are together on screen. I should add that I also use the Lightroom panoramic facility to join several HDR shots together. See here for an example. 

Since I have Creative Cloud and access to Photoshop I also use the HDR and Pano facility in that as it seems slightly happier with the large files that result from this method of mashing images together. 

I must add that I'm no expert and I'm sure others have a much better workflow for making this of image. I must track down a copy of the book that you refer to and have a read.


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## Ross (Mar 7, 2016)

Dave Miller said:


> Coincidentally I'm in the process of preparing some recent shots of Lichfield Cathedral for uploading to my website, some of which are monochrome. My feeling is that if the image looks like an HDR picture then I've failed, unless my intention was to make something that looks unreal of course.
> 
> I've used Photomatix, which worked well enough but since moving to Lightroom I've used its HDR facility and been happy with it. The one difficulty I found was selecting the images I want to use together ready for selection; I do this by flagging and filtering them so that they are together on screen. I should add that I also use the Lightroom panoramic facility to join several HDR shots together. See here for an example.
> 
> ...




Hi again Dave,

Thanks for your help.  I share you view - if it looks like a duck, talks like a duck and walks like a duck ...

But - I'm "experimenting" - and of course, I use the word in its loosest sense - to use HDR to get the sort of dynamic range that Ansel Adams used to get in his photos ...  A poor man's (idiot's ??) "Zone System", if you will.

Some results aren't THAT bad - not the "obvious" and "garish" HDR monstrosities one sometimes sees - others - well perhaps we'll stick to the decencies of debate, Dave - and not repeat the mutterings that spring to my lips sometimes ..!

Of course, it would be true to say, if I KNEW what I was doing ....!!

The Harold Davies book I mentioned, is available from Amazon:

Monochromatic HDR Photography: Shooting and Processing Black & White High Dynamic Range Photos: Amazon.co.uk: Harold Davis: 9780415831451: Books

You can "look inside", to see if Mr Davies is teaching his grandmother to suck eggs !  Personally, I find the book (I have not finished it yet) quite fascinating and inspiring -- albeit not (is anythiong ever?) perfect.  Decent buy !!

Thanks again for your help,

Ross


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## Ross (Mar 7, 2016)

Dave Miller said:


> What exactly are you asking?
> I use the HDR feature for interior shots some of which are then converted to monochrome.



Of course, all this is the *Girlfriend's* fault !!  Blame Sue - not me !!! 

First of all, she bought me an Ansel Adams book (Sigh, Sigh and Sigh again ....) 

Then - she started wittering on about "_chiaroscuro_" (hope I've spelled that correctly - it's Italian - means Light and Shade apparently (with special reference to *drawing*, but it's also applicable to *photography*, I've discovered !)  She pointed me to Caravaggio's work - esp. 'The Inredulity of St Thomas', as a good example of "_chiaroscuro_" in Art ... 

(She does have a post grad degree in Art - so I have to forgive her, for _knowing _about these things !!)

There is, apparently, a Wikipedia entry on "Chia" thingybob - which I hope to get to, time permitting !!


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## Ross (Mar 7, 2016)

Dave Miller said:


> Coincidentally I'm in the process of preparing some recent shots of Lichfield Cathedral for uploading to my website, some of which are monochrome. My feeling is that if the image looks like an HDR picture then I've failed, unless my intention was to make something that looks unreal of course.
> 
> I've used Photomatix, which worked well enough but since moving to Lightroom I've used its HDR facility and been happy with it. The one difficulty I found was selecting the images I want to use together ready for selection; I do this by flagging and filtering them so that they are together on screen. I should add that I also use the Lightroom panoramic facility to join several HDR shots together. See here for an example.
> 
> ...



Another example in Art - this by van Gogh:


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## Ian.B (Mar 9, 2016)

so ross; have you got an answer to your original question re: B+W HDR?


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