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The longer answer involves more questions -
1 – Do you know what black & white points are?
2 – How they affect your image?
3 – How you set them?
Illustrated answers & more follow….
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Click to enlarge
Yet Another Big Oak Image, 3
I never get tired of this tree
This image, as compared with the example that follows,
Illustrates what I look for in an infrared image -
Lots of blacks & whites that are truly black & white
Otherwise, without contrast, things tend to blend together
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Click any following image for a larger view
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1 – Do you know what black & white points are?
They define which areas of an image should be black and which areas should be white
They are an image’s
Darkest and lightest points
Usually just short of pure white or black
These may not exist in your image as captured, but
In most images they’re needed and
Can be achieved in post-processing
FYI – The white point is where your printer stops printing
And allows the paper’s white show through
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2 – How do black & white points affect your image?
They control the tonal range of your image which
Maximizes the image contrast
This is true for both B&W and color images
Most images look best when using the full range of dark to bright
Not all though – consider a moody low-contrast fog scene
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3 – How do you set black & white points?
First ask yourself -
Is there a part of the image which should be completely black or white?
Secondly -
Does the histogram show this?
To achieve the proper histogram appearance
and thus proper black & white points
The Levels & Curves feature of most post-processing programs can do the job
Here is an excellent tutorial
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I’ll illustrate the general idea of setting black & white points
Using a feature of Capture NX2
a. Starting with this captured (infrared) image (provided by a friend)
Q – We ask whether the black & white is represented?
A – Image contrast is too low for my taste (it is a matter of taste)
Confirmed by the histogram
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b. NX’s histogram allows the problem to be handled directly
1. It allows B&W point thresholds to be found
2. Done by enabling the double threshold (green check)
3. And dragging threshold sliders
until the image’s darkest and lights points are revealed
4. Below I’ve dragged the dark threshold until black shows
Red circle, middle right
5. Lower left notations show this is at a tonality of 64 (0-255)
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c. Similar to the above, I found the white point by
1. Dragging the right slider from 255 to 203
Notice the new histogram below which now encompasses
The entire 0-255 Tonal range
Also notice the actual point that was selected for
The white point (red circle near center)
Black point can be seen in the roof of house at right
The strength of these points can be adjusted to
Change pure black or white to something less, like
Maybe 5 and 250 (or whatever) instead of 0 and 255
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d. Here’s the before|after
Q – Why the color shift?
A – The “black” point I selected wasn’t a neutral color
It should be (especially for a color image)
Not doing so will introduce a color cast
Obviously some red leaked onto the “black roof”
It makes no difference in this IR image since
The B&W processing step will take care of it
Fatal in a color image though
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e. The final step is to do normal post-processing
But – you must do the point setting first
Here is the view in Silver Efex Pro
Once the IR conversion to B&W is complete
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For the complete story enlarge this next image
It’s the upper left & lower right images we’re comparing
A future post will describe the Color Efex Pro step
Giving digital infrared the more surreal IR film look
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No particular goal, just whatever struck my fancy
Decide to try this fire hydrant
Got quizzical looks from passers-by
.
Click to enlarge
f/2.8?
I wanted as little background detail (distraction) as possible
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One as Nikon built it
One after conversion to infrared
(by LifePixel, recommended)
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Click to enlarge
Yet Another Big Oak Image, 2
This is YABOI, 2 (#1 was yesterday’s post)
I went back today after realizing I missed a better foreground than the one used with #1
Also, I wanted a color & infrared side-by-side comparison
Color
Infrared
I usually shoot IR at a high ISO
Noise is characteristic of the original infrared film
f/8 IR vs. f/16 color?
I prefer the IR on the “softer side”; again film driven
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Captured in RAW, Aperture Priority, Manual White Balance
Left – as Captured
Right – after post-processing
Click for full screen
Color “after” – Color Efex Pro
Infrared “after” – Silver Efex Pro
Post-processing intent in both was
Improved contrast
This is an example of where I’d choose the color version
The reason?
The foreground is better with the splashes of color IMO
Also the foreground leaf/sky contrast is better
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[Apologies for the post "false-alarm" yesterday PM that got you a 404 Error. I hit Publish instead of Schedule by mistake. That post will appear on 5/23. Ed]
Concentrates on tonal & color contrast
The heavy lifting is done in the camera
Yet Another Big Oak Image (YABOI?)
Nikkor 70-200 2.8, circular polarizer, tripod
Composition includes most of “my favorite things“
A foreground element, the subject, background – and a frame
All contributing to the illusion of 3-D depth
The overlap of the birch branch and the oak is
Unfortunate 
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With the D800E’s dynamic range and high ISO performance
I’m comfortable shooting at ISO 800 when necessary
In this case to deal with the moving branches in the “frame”
No noise removal was needed
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Captured in RAW, Aperture Priority, Manual White Balance
Click for full screen
#2 – Color Efex Pro
#3 – Silver Efex Pro
This particular B&W conversion (low contrast) was
Made with the blending step in mind
(& not to create a stand-alone B&W)
The detail in the sky was “small” and difficult to capture
but it was there
Also the facing side of the birch frames needed some help
Luminosity blend with the right B&W conversion did the trick
I have three custom luminosity oriented presets in SEP
They are all basically low contrast conversions
Below is an illustration of what I mean by low contrast
Note the difference in luminosity between
The original color image & the blended B&W
I’ve added the histogram for one of my other 3 presets for further comparison
These latter two are typical of what you’d find if
You converted a Monet painting to B&W (trivia)
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Provide unlimited options for the
Final appearance of images
Dark & Dramatic
Nikkor 70-200 2.8, Canon 500D close up lens, circular polarizer, tripod, outdoors with natural light
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Captured in RAW, Aperture Priority, Manual White Balance
Click for full screen
1. Capture 2. After tonal & color contrast adjustments
3. #2 after B&W conversion 4. Blend of #2 & #3
#2 – Color Efex Pro
#3 – Silver Efex Pro
#4 – PS Multiply blend at 64%
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Stop at #1 (or not)
Your choice, no one else’s
Click for slide show
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