Help on duotone - DPChallenge Forums

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

02/14/2015 08:27:13 AM · #1

Hi, would someone be prepared to help me with this challenge pls? Specifically, I have used "Topaz B&W 2", "Opalotype Collection", "Hand Tinted Cream" and wanted to know if that is allowed for this challenge? What I mean is, is that considered a duotone.

I also used quite a noticeable vignette, is that OK for Advanced?
Thanks you.

Yo_Spiff

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

02/14/2015 10:20:05 AM · #2

Originally posted by kasaba:

Basically, this is a b/w challenge, but if they called it that, someone who enters a sepia toned image might get blasted with some lowball votes for DNMC. So that covers all the bases for a monochrome image.

Originally posted by kasaba:

I also used quite a noticeable vignette, is that OK for Advanced?
Thanks you.

Yes, unless it changes the viewers perception of the scene in a major way. I debated on this image but eventually entered something else. The vignette is hiding a tangled cable to the right side. That could be considered removing major elements. Maybe. I think it's borderline for that rule.

Message edited by author 2015-02-14 10:26:28.

jomari

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF-S DX 18-105 f/3.5-5.6 ED VR

02/14/2015 04:27:05 PM · #3

Originally posted by kasaba:

That particular Topaz preset is not duotone. It leaves muted versions of the original colour. If you can make a duotone version of your image first and then use hand tinted cream, it would probably give a nice effect, but be careful that it doesn't remove too much from around the edges.

mefnj

Nikon D7100

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

02/14/2015 07:44:25 PM · #4

for anyone working pp on an iPad... i would def recommend iColorama app. in addition to 40+ duotone presets, i am finding it more and more useful for all sorts of processing, and they keep adding features and improving it.

-m

Canon RF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS USM

02/15/2015 01:11:58 PM · #5

Thank you all for your helpful comments.
Marion, I was afraid that was the case, that is why I specified what I tried to do. Actually I am still confused between a monochrome and a duotone. I keep "thinking" that I "get it", but then look at stuff and just see 1 color, which to me is a Monochrome.
I will have to look into an android alternative to iColorama, but for this challenge I ran out of time. I entered something along the lines of what you suggested Marion, but it is nowhere the same as the original processing I did.
Anyway, either way I don't think its something that appeals here, Ijust set myself some targets re DPC and want to stick with them :-).

hajeka

Canon EOS R5

02/15/2015 02:59:52 PM · #6

Always wrestling with the definition of duotone. Isn't it an image that can be printed with only 2 colors, black and a color of choice? Luckily white doesn't need ink.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

02/15/2015 03:32:18 PM · #7

A true "duotone" is an image specific to the commercial printing process -- it is designed to simulate a photographic process.

Photographs are "continuous-tone" -- different parts of the picture will have various shades of gray (or color) depending on the exposure. In the early days of B&W photography, a paper print could be placed into a "toner" bath after development to add an overall tint to the image; the most common being what we call sepia-tone, adding a brownish tinge.

Printing (offset, letterpress, laser, etc.) is a "binary" process, there is either ink or no ink. The various shades of gray or color are simulated by printing tiny dots (halftone screen) of various sizes at a resolution which fools the eye into seeing shades/colors. To imitate the photographic toning process printers will create two different halftones of the same image and print them with two different color inks.

mefnj

Nikon D7100

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

02/15/2015 03:32:47 PM · #8

Originally posted by hajeka:

Always wrestling with the definition of duotone. Isn't it an image that can be printed with only 2 colors, black and a color of choice? Luckily white doesn't need ink.

i think GeneralE or one of the other venerable SC members pointed out that Doutone is really a PRINTING process, employing dithers and ink, so creating that in a photgraph that only exists in the ether isn't totally accurate. the "classics" would be sepia and cyanotype, i think.

but i like your like your DPC-applicable definition. black + 1 color , not counting white as a color.

-m

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

02/15/2015 03:41:17 PM · #9

Originally posted by mefnj:

... but i like your like your DPC-applicable definition. black + 1 color , not counting white as a color.

-m

That's how Photoshop's Duotone mode is set up -- it makes it look like a traditional duotone and limits the color palette for you. The two colors can be any two colors, black isn't required to be one, although it is ost commonly.

However, this particular challenge description specifically allows a B&W (technically a monotone) to be included as an acceptable image, though I wouldn't suggest making a monotone in any other color.

FWIW it is also possible to ake Tri- and Quad-tones using three and four colors of ink respectively. High-end prints of Ansel Adams' work are printed using a special combination of four different gray inks.

=========== Important Note ==============

If you use Photoshop's Duotone Mode, you must first convert the file back to 8-bit RGB Mode before you can save it as a JPEG for submission.

Message edited by author 2015-02-15 16:43:50.

jomari

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF-S DX 18-105 f/3.5-5.6 ED VR

02/15/2015 04:35:55 PM · #10

If you use Picasa's duotone you can select any two colours. Some combinations look good, others not so.

nam

Sony DSLR-A580

Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical ED Zoom Lens for Sony Alpha

02/15/2015 09:22:17 PM · #11

Originally posted by GeneralE:

. . .

If you use Photoshop's Duotone Mode, you must first convert the file back to 8-bit RGB Mode before you can save it as a JPEG for submission.

HELP! I cannot figure out how to get my image out of CS6. I saw this note of Paul's, but I can't figure out how to do this. The only save as options I have are PSD and then I can't see it or do anything else with it. And in the form it is in now in CS6 - duotone but that's it - I can't open my filters like Nik to do the final polishing I would like to do.

Never mind. Elements finally did it for me - or at least told me I had to do it and so I did. I think I'm good to go - but keep an eye on this thread in case I have more problems :)

I'm in :)

Message edited by author 2015-02-15 21:41:02.

Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD

02/16/2015 01:13:25 AM · #12

Well, despite my lack of knowledge on this challenge I really love what people have done. And I really like this challenge, I will try to do more along those lines, just for myself.
In the end I stumbled across Picasa's duotone and did a totally different image there (after already uploading my first one :-)). It just felt "safer" to do it that way. Actually quite happy with the image.
Looking at the definitions here and looking at my original image, I wonder if it wouldn't have been "legal". It seems to be using yellow and green ... surely that would have been OK? Will upload it again to post here for comments if that is OK, just as a learning curve. The one I entered is nothing like that, so I won't influence the voting in any way.

MadMan2k

Sony Alpha a6400

02/16/2015 01:23:08 AM · #13

Glad I had a placeholder in, but shot something that probably would have done better. Missed the cutoff time.

Caught a storm with freezing rain coming back east on I-40 - long and not so fun drive from western Oklahoma back to OKC at 40 mph in ice and hail.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

02/16/2015 11:49:48 AM · #14

Originally posted by kasaba:

Will upload it again to post here for comments if that is OK, just as a learning curve. The one I entered is nothing like that, so I won't influence the voting in any way.

At this point you need to wait until the voting is over and then post it to the outtakes thread which will be autoatically created for thsi challenge.