Photoshop Channel Mixer - Black & White Film Settings

I couldn’t think of a better title, so there you have it! I’ve been reading a book over the last couple of days which any serious Digital Photographer should probably have in their library, called “Black and White in Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop Lightroom: Create Stunning Monochromatic Images in Photoshop CS3, Photoshop Lightroom and Beyond” by Leslie Alsheimer; I know it’s a big old mouthful, but it’s a great book, and whilst it’s not complete rocket science front-to-back (for example anyone that’s been using Photoshop in anger for a couple of versions should have at least some of this down already) I can almost guarantee that there is useful content in here for even the most seasoned professionals, and for the rest of us mere mortals, there’s a stack of useful information that goes way beyond the basics. So if you’re serious about editing or developing your B & W images in a controlled way, it’s money well spent. It also covers workflow using Adobe Lightroom in some detail too.

Now to the meat of the post, which was the whole reason for this post, that is within the book Leslie talks about some basic Channel Mixer settings which give the appearance of traditional black and white films, the list includes some old favourites like Kodak Tri-X and Ilford HP5, it covers something like 15 films in total. I sat down the other evening playing with these settings, and whilst I quite like the general feel that they use, I’m afraid I have a hard time telling a deal of difference between all but the most extreme ends of them. But my shortcomings aside, for those of you that are interested, I’ve saved them to a Channel Mixer settings file which you can download and import into your own Photoshop. They were created in CS3, but I’m guessing that they’ll work in CS2 and possibly CS also; in CS3 they are also picked up inside the new Black & White Adjustment tool (which is really just a fancy front end to Channel Mixer anyway, but obviously gives you the additional control over the CMYK aspects of the image along with hue and toning capabilities. Anyway, enough waffle, I hope you find them of use, if you don’t believe that they accurately represent the films… Don’t Shoot The Messenger!! I’m simply sharing something I did with anyone that wants to use it. Of course, no one would point out a problem without offering a solution would they?? So if you tell me that they don’t represent the films closely enough, I’ll be expecting your new improved settings in the same message, then I’ll probably amend (or addend) the settings appropriately with your offering. Click on the link at the very bottom of this post for a handy zip (about 6KB) file of the following settings: Agfa 200X, Agfapan 25, Agfapan 100, Agfapan 400, Ilford Delta 100, Ilford Delta 400, Ilford Delta 400 Pro & 3200, Ilford FP4, Ilford HP5, Ilford Pan F, Ilford SFX, Ilford XP2 Super, Kodak Tmax 100, Kodak Tmax 400, Kodak Tri-X.

I know there is much more to making a digital image emulate film, these just offer a simple starting point to work with in terms of RGB response, again, don’t shoot the messenger!!

You’ll need to save them to wherever your user presets live, in the case of a Mac it’s in your user directory under “Library -> Application Support -> Adobe -> Adobe Photoshop CS -> Presets -> Channel Mixer” or alternatively you can save them anywhere and simply use the “Load Preset” option inside Channel Mixer and navigate to the directory at that time.

Disclaimer - Obviously I offer no warranty of any kind with these settings, they’re offered as is, and if you make anything explode, implode, or they screw with your images in any way, don’t blame me. If you’re not sure what you’re doing find someone to help you who does.

Download The Channel Mixer Settings Here!!

One Last thing, if you like these, and find them useful, leave a trackback to this post or if you don’t have a blog or don’t know what a trackback is then just leave a comment on here. It gives me the ability to know whether it’s worth me doing something like this again or not.

UK Photography Legal Guide

I stumbled across a pdf recently which is UK legal guide to photographers rights in the UK. It’s ideal to keep with you for easy reference, and according to the website that this pdf came from, it’s been written by a lecturer of law specialising in media law, IP, etc. Obviously at only 2 pages long, it’s not intended to be definitive, but it’s a great tool, to give you a pointer or two when you get told you can’t be doing something, and give you a starting point for further research. If you like, let people know where you got it from and let the authors know you’ve found it useful!

The Thinking Persons Photography Book

Every now and then I read a book which I find particularly illuminating or useful, I can’t always pigeon hole them into book of the month or book of the year, because there are so many good books out there, so I normally grade a book with a time scale that is commensurate with the level of esteem in which I hold it. This time I’m voting for what has to be the best photography book I’ve read all year (so far). The vote for my “Book for Spring 2006″ goes to David Ward, with his recent (2004) title “Landscape Within: Insights and Inspiration for Photographers“.

There is no discussion of f/stops or shutter speeds except in the broadest most general terms, almost no discussion of technique. But what this almost philosophical photography book will give you is perhaps the sort of information on artistic interpretation within the context of photography that most other books fail to cover. Some people may find David’s writing a little terse or overly complex, but words have very specific meanings and David strives to use an extensive vocabulary to convey his exact thoughts and feelings about any particular subject. This is not something you can hop, skip and jump through, but if you can give this book the patience it commands then in my opinion, it holds great rewards and enlightenment for the reader. I’d love to hear from any one else that has read it to know their thoughts. David Ward is a contributing writer for Outdoor Photography and is a tutor for Light and Land Photography, which runs photography courses/holidays taught by some of the very biggest names in the world of landscape photography.