Ric’s journey without direction

Ok, I messed up my mono challenge image by somehow not including the brightness layer after the fill layer or accidentally moving the layer which meant all my masking went AWOL. hope no one minds but I’m posting what it was supposed to be like here -
B0078BF7-723B-4356-89C6-E18ADEA2B694.jpeg
 
Ok, I messed up my mono challenge image by somehow not including the brightness layer after the fill layer or accidentally moving the layer which meant all my masking went AWOL. hope no one minds but I’m posting what it was supposed to be like here -
View attachment 182131
A mod could swap it for you, if that's what you'd like? MobiMods can do almost anything :D
 
Well here goes. I was talking to a photographer and was discussing my love for dark mono images. Now, I may have gone too far, after all I’ve destroyed the logical light completely and virtually painted light back into any areas I thought interesting. My first go but I’m trying not to copy what he said, rather create my own take on a technique he suggested.
I’ve probably brought too much light in and should have gone even more dark to keep a more painterly look but it’s a start, I think
View attachment 182103

infinity photo used due to editing technique needed.
Well, I think this is beautiful and I don’t know if I could ever do something like this!
 
Well, I think this is beautiful and I don’t know if I could ever do something like this!
Thank you but oh yes you can. When I try a technique out, I always want to find out if you can do the same thing with other apps. Affinity photo yet again proves you can do most things but it’s always the long winded way to get there. I’ve done the same with snapseed now and SuperimposeX. It’s basically just darkening the image too much using levels and/or curves and then masking the layer out where you want the light coming back in.
yes you have more control with affinity but it takes much longer. I prefer the dirty edit method, which gives another feel adding more to an image.
I think it’s asking to something like Trent razor of nine inch nails. He is of the opinion that he can create anything with his vast collection of digital synths etc, but none can replace the warmth, unpredictability and unique sound from his analogue moogs.
in snapseed, i found if you apply a black and white effect without any noise selected, then select noir and take the noise out of the effect, you can then go to the edit and select brush. Inverse the image so it shows the image with the full noir effect and lower the % value and brush away to bring the brightness back.
If you need screenshots let me know.
 
Thank you but oh yes you can. When I try a technique out, I always want to find out if you can do the same thing with other apps. Affinity photo yet again proves you can do most things but it’s always the long winded way to get there. I’ve done the same with snapseed now and SuperimposeX. It’s basically just darkening the image too much using levels and/or curves and then masking the layer out where you want the light coming back in.
yes you have more control with affinity but it takes much longer. I prefer the dirty edit method, which gives another feel adding more to an image.
I think it’s asking to something like Trent razor of nine inch nails. He is of the opinion that he can create anything with his vast collection of digital synths etc, but none can replace the warmth, unpredictability and unique sound from his analogue moogs.
in snapseed, i found if you apply a black and white effect without any noise selected, then select noir and take the noise out of the effect, you can then go to the edit and select brush. Inverse the image so it shows the image with the full noir effect and lower the % value and brush away to bring the brightness back.
If you need screenshots let me know.
I got confused halfway through your explanation so I’d love screenshots when you get a chance! :D Thanks! :inlove:
 
my painting with light, or, faffing about wrecking as much as I can. PART 1.

Ok younger and anyone else who wants to see how ridiculously simple it is to paint with light. Obviously it is image dependant on how far you go. I will use a cropped image that is destined for the trash just as an example.

obviously first you open your image in snapseed.
2C25267D-6113-404B-B5A5-D9DC87927A9C.jpeg


with this image, I’m just gonna go for the windows and bits And pieces I find of interest. It’s just a rough job to give an insight on what I’d do here.
First I got to black and white and select neutral. I leave it as is as there’s no noise and it becomes my first paint layer so to speak.

PNG image.png

no I simply go to noir and select H02, the only thing I do then is decrease the grain to 0 before clicking to tick button to commit
so now I have a darker image.
PNG image.png

this may well be dark enough, but I’m going for darkness, I want to get a bigger effect.
ok, curves is next on my hit list. I’m gonna select the darken option.
PNG image.png

I want darker still so that node is gonna be pulled down to get even deeper

PNG image.png

now I’ve got the dark tones. I can go on history to see what I’ve done. The aim now is to bring back the light I want, so I’m gunning for the windows, lady and some detail on the boat. This is an extreme example just to show what I do.
as my post is limited to 5 images, I’ll carry on with another post below
 
my painting with light, or, faffing about wrecking as much as I can. PART 2.

With the photo dark, its time to undo some of it to get the windows, the person and some detail back in.
selecting the view edit option from the top brings the history of your editing up. Selecting any one of them allows you to alter the edit, or use brush to change selected parts or delete the whole thing. This is where it gets interesting for me. i select the curves and then the brush icon. This will then show me the image as it was before I did the curves. To see curves applied select inverse. I switch back and forth on that to see what details I may have missed that I want to bring back. When I’m painting light back in, I always select inverse to make it darker, then you can set it at 0,25,50,75 or 100%. That’s the amount of the curves effect you want on the painted area.
so with it dark( inverted) I will usually go to 50% and paint, the if it’s too bright, just paint over that area again at 75% or lighten more by going to 25%.
sometimes I will go back another level in my history and then edit that one as well if I want even more light, in this case, that would be the noir level, and brush some of that away. As you have the black and white layer below that, you won’t have to worry about colour coming through.
With some quick brushing and not being perfect in the strokes, your light isnt perfect, the brush strokes can be rough but I think that gives it the charm. The building I did was just a much lighter version of the example above but after some brushing just using the curves layer this is how it ended up.
PNG image.png

i Hope that makes some sort of sense. If you need any more pointers please ask.

it does seem, that snapseed is a true hidden gem for those that don’t need to do montages. the Only thing missing from it really is noise removal. proper layers would be nice, but saving an image, and then reloading it as a double exposure can shore up that problem a little.
 
my painting with light, or, faffing about wrecking as much as I can. PART 2.

With the photo dark, its time to undo some of it to get the windows, the person and some detail back in.
selecting the view edit option from the top brings the history of your editing up. Selecting any one of them allows you to alter the edit, or use brush to change selected parts or delete the whole thing. This is where it gets interesting for me. i select the curves and then the brush icon. This will then show me the image as it was before I did the curves. To see curves applied select inverse. I switch back and forth on that to see what details I may have missed that I want to bring back. When I’m painting light back in, I always select inverse to make it darker, then you can set it at 0,25,50,75 or 100%. That’s the amount of the curves effect you want on the painted area.
so with it dark( inverted) I will usually go to 50% and paint, the if it’s too bright, just paint over that area again at 75% or lighten more by going to 25%.
sometimes I will go back another level in my history and then edit that one as well if I want even more light, in this case, that would be the noir level, and brush some of that away. As you have the black and white layer below that, you won’t have to worry about colour coming through.
With some quick brushing and not being perfect in the strokes, your light isnt perfect, the brush strokes can be rough but I think that gives it the charm. The building I did was just a much lighter version of the example above but after some brushing just using the curves layer this is how it ended up.
View attachment 182204
i Hope that makes some sort of sense. If you need any more pointers please ask.

it does seem, that snapseed is a true hidden gem for those that don’t need to do montages. the Only thing missing from it really is noise removal. proper layers would be nice, but saving an image, and then reloading it as a double exposure can shore up that problem a little.
Awesome! I’ll try to find something that suits and go through these steps. Thanks a lot!
 
Awesome! I’ll try to find something that suits and go through these steps. Thanks a lot!
OST images will suit a similar technique. I went harsh but I’m now trying to emulate old film with faded blacks using the curve tool.
don’t be like me though and create something you really like only to forget how you did it.
 
What do you mean? That’s how I do everything!
Lol, I’m obsessed with wanting to know how I did everything, and fail miserably, and then I get real fatty with myself. That’s probably why I don’t stick with affinity. That reminds me, I want to work on the dragan technique.
 
I followed this mainly but i did mute the colour down and do a touch of painting with light due to the scene

It was easy to follow on ipad affinity
This doesn’t look the same as my Affinity on my iPad. Blend Ranges, for instance. I couldn’t find those anywhere. :confused: Edit: I found it.:lol:
 
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