Keith Cooper’s Tonality Presets

The ‘City Light’ set for Macphun Tonality

Macphun have published some of Keith Cooper’s presets for their Tonality Pro software.

Tonality Presets

Keith has previously written a review covering many aspects of using the Tonality Pro software for converting colour images to black and white. They can also be used for luminance editing of colour images, where you take a dull colour shot, create a B&W version and then blend this with the original in luminance mode. Don’t worry, this is easier to do than explain…

Presets

The presets specifically cover sets of adjustments that I’ve found useful for producing black and white architectural images.

They are quite deliberately fairly subtle in operation, since in my world, the excesses of HDR and ultra contrasty images rarely meet client requirements.

The idea is that first and foremost you see the image, without wondering what plugin or software was used in its creation.

Article Index

• Keith’s Presets
• Conclusions
• More info. / resources

The presets all deal with different aspects of lighting and shadow since you can’t always wait for ‘perfect’ lighting.

Think of the presets as jumping off points for exploring what you want. I’ve an example that shows how turning off one part of the adjustment settings in the preset may look better, and another where the results from Tonality Pro are used as a luminosity blend to enhance a colour image.

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Keith’s Tonality Presets

The basic presets are shown with the colour original, followed by the ‘vanilla’ conversion to black and white and then using the preset.

The colour versions of the images have had minimal processing from the RAW files captured.

Several of the images look relatively underexposed in areas, this is because I often try and retain detail in highlights such as lit areas or the sky.

As digital SLR cameras have improved, the ability to pull detail out of shadow areas allows much more latitude in exposure and far less likelihood of clipping highlights.

I always work with 16 bit images.

Applying any major adjustments to 8 bit files (such as JPEGs) is just asking for posterisation and other undesirable results. Phone cameras may be popular, but have no place in my photography work.

Late Afternoon (rain)

A damp winter afternoon shows the largest permanent market in Europe, in Leicester.

The interior lighting is pretty much balanced in intensity with the light outside.

The basic conversion is just a bit flat

Boosting warmer colours emphasises the lit area with more contrast in the interior.

One way you can see this is by comparing the coloured patches on either side of the market sign.

Late Afternoon (rain) 2

Taken around the same time as above.

The heavy shadowed areas are too dark – no shortage of detail in the sky, but not below, as you can see in this simple conversion.

Smart contrast and boosting warmer colours gives a better view, whilst retaining the essential gloom of a late winter afternoon.

Early evening (rain)

An evening scene – one that works fine for colour (remember that this is an unprocessed colour image).

Quite interesting in B&W, but it lacks some of the ‘glow’ of the colour version.

The preset boosts quite a few features in the image. This is one that shows up more effectively at large print sizes.

What works for an image here could easily be excessive on a 30″x20″ print.

If you’re experimenting with it, look at the settings I’ve adjusted in the preset and boost or cut them a bit.

Many of the standard presets push things a bit far for my likeing – I want people looking at the image, not the editing effects.

It’s easy to over-do things so use with care.

Perhaps it’s not so clear what the differences are?

Look again at this, the ‘plain’ conversion. Move your mouse over the image to see the changes.

Daytime

A daytime shot of Seattle, that looks fine in colour

As before, the basic conversion to B&W lacks punch and contrast.

More contrast and lightening some aspects of shadows looks much better as a print.

Daytime Shadow

A frequent problem if you’ve not got a choice in when a shot is taken.

In not burning out the sky (I want to keep detail and colour) the building is heavily shaded.

Moving to B&W looks better in some respects

Using Tonality to boost shadow detail helps a lot, but watch for sensor dust showing up more in skies.

If I was using the image for a print I’d likely mask together both versions in Photoshop using the unaltered sky from above.

Tonality Pro supports layers too, so you could also do it in there (see my reviews for more about making use of layers and masks).

Bright street

Whilst I’ve a whole building in shadow above, looking across the street shows intensely strong shadow.

The basic conversion is a little too high contrast in many areas.

A more balanced range of contrast

Bright Stonework

The bright stonework of Southwell Minster

It’s OK in B&W but lacks a little impact.

Darker skies and a bit more texture in the 11th century stonework.

Alternate uses of the presets

The effects of the presets can be blended and masked in numerous ways.

Luminosity blend

Take this colour image in shade. The sky is spot on, but the shadowed area is just too dark.

Some might leap for HDR, but it’s not needed (almost never needed IMHO).

A black and white version using the ‘Bright Street’ preset

Blend this back with the original colour image as a luminosity mask (and maybe add a bit of vibrance) and you have a much better image.

Luminosity masks like this can easily flatten colour, so be prepared to tweak afterwards.

Partial preset

Take this view of the railway station in Leicester…

Applying the ‘Bright Stonework’ preset works well, but there is too much fine detail in the sky and brickwork for my liking

Turning off the clarity and structure options in the Tonality settings just keeps the tone mapping aspect of the preset.

A more subtle result…

Conclusions

Tonality Pro offers so many variations in its settings that it’s all too easy to get lost and miss things it could do.

Look on the presets as starting points to explore options for your own photos.

Look at applying them to sections of your image if need be. Just because a building looks great, you don’t have to accept the results for the sky or other parts.

This set of presets lets me quickly explore options and then adapt them to what I want for the image.

The presets can be downloaded from MacPhun for free.

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Tonality Pro System requirements

• Mac OS 10.7 and above
• Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
• 4GB RAM and more
• Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS5, CS6 or CC; Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4, 5 or later; Apple Aperture 3.2 or later,
• Photoshop Elements 10 – 12 (App Store version is not supported due to Apple Sandboxing)

Image formats handled

• RAW images 8-bit, 16-bit (Including .NEF for Nikon and .CRW2 for Canon)
• PSD (Intensify Pro)
• TIFF 8-bit, 16-bit
• PNG
• JPEG
• Possibility to save progress (.MPI)
• RGB 8- and 16-bit

Tonality Pro features

Works as a plug-in Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, Elements and Apple Aperture

• Advanced Layers functionality

• Blend Modes for layers
• Ability to use source colour from original image
• Higher maximum number of layers: 5 in standard and 8 in Pro

• Colour Temperature tool

• Place Centre for Vignette

• Histogram improvements

• Show histogram clippings
• Zone System (on histogram)

• Zoom navigator window