That "Leica look" #2

[FHPhotographer]

After the last post on B&W conversion, and doing some reading I tried using PS Channel Mixing (app. 65/30/5), then USM in a new layers (60/20/1), with layer set at 85% to boost the contrast even more, then SS at (100/1/Lens) to get more range and get closer to that microcontrast quality I described as the "Leica look." Comments and critiques?
FHPhotographer

[d.bradley]

I don't know much about leica, but as far as the processing on this photo goes I would suggest it's over-sharpened. You can see light halos along the continuous lines in the shot...the edge of the fruit and the blade of the knife. The sharpening also highlights the noise, but this may be part of your 'look' so it's not necessarily a fault, but something to keep in mind.

Micro contrast is really picked up at sub-pixel sharpening levels...0.1-0.2 radius unsharp mask applied at higher percentages. It can work for web display, but messes things up for printing because of the bayer-interpolation of the CMOS and CCD sensors.

For further reading on sharpening, check out this article. Much of it talks about printing, but it makes some good points.

Cheers,
Damian

[FHPhotographer]

Good article, thanks for the lead. Here's another conversion, using PS Curves and Levels to punch up the contrast, then this time using SS (100/1/Lens) followed by USM (250/1.5/4). It looks like a better convesion path,
FHPhotog

[Nesster]

I think your experimentation is going well... you're approaching that "Leica Glow" which is in essence some foggy light flare...

In this second pic I think some of the detail is burnt out though

[d.bradley]

Still over-sharpened, IMHO...

What kind of monitor are you using? LCD or CRT, what quality? I found that images I thought looked great on my CRT turned out to be over-sharpened on other LCD panels, because the LCD just wasn't rendering the details like LCDs were...

[Nesster]

I've been thinking about this... I posted a link to a flare/multicoating historical article in the film camera section, I think the topic is Super or SMC or something like that.

Anyway, my thoughts, and I'll play around with this a bit: perhaps going only the sharpening route isn't the best way to a (vintage) leica look. USM at say 16% and a radius of 20+ should take care of the local contrast characteristics (maybe less radius actually) as this mimics the Leica lens design: the bump in contrast just above resolution limits.

Then, if there's a way to add a layer where you apply blur, or lens blur, to just highlights and mix that back into the image, you'd get a replicate of the Leica's less-coated behavior, the Leica Bloom thing.

I'd leave the overall tonality of the photo as smooth and wide as I could, though not necessarily all the way to the deepest black. At the end, sharpen .2 pixels and something like 160%.

[axl]

Sorry for my lack of knowledge... what does abreviation SS stand for in Photoshop?

[FHPhotographer]

Sorry about that, it's Smart Sharpen and UnSharpMask,
FHP

[axl]

I guessed the USM, but wasn't so sure about the SS, thax for explanation...