Black & White Video Du Jour
We love YouTube. Why? Because we've found some tons of classic photography and B&W Photoshop image-editing techniques in videos hosted therein. When we find something good, we post it here.
Some of the videos are highly instructive. Others profile famous photographers. Still others are selected because...well, just because.
Check 'em out!
Masters of Photography
From Ansel Adams to Diane Arbus (that's one of her photos in the screen shot above) to William Klein to Lewis Hine and beyond, here's a well-done overview of some of the most influential photos and photographers of the 20th century. The music's nice, too. Video courtesy YouTube. 4/16/07
Selective De-Colorization Using The Gimp
Don't want to spend a fortune on Photoshop? The Gimp is a computer geeky image editing program that its proponents claim will do virtually everything that Photoshop can do, only for free. Here's how you selectively decolorize an image with the Gimp. Video courtesy YouTube. 4/5/07
The Beatles: Help! (In Black & White!)
And now a brief musical sing-along interlude with The Beatles. Here's the only black-and-white scene from their otherwise Technicolor movie, Help! Video courtesy YouTube. 3/26/07
Photoshop B&W Channel Mixer Tutorial
Some very helpful tips about channel mixing to change the relative densities of different colors when converting to black-and-white. An important aspect of this video is that it shows how to use the Channel Mixer nondestructively. Video courtesy YouTube. 3/22/07
Bert Monroy on B&W Conversion
Very clear information about how color channels work when converting a color image into black-and-white in Photoshop. A lot of information provided in a concise, understandable way in less than 3 minutes. I learned a few things, and you might, too. Video courtesy YouTube. 3/20/07.
Develop
Here's a rather random, artsy look at the process of developing and printing black-and-white film, originally done as a presentation for someone's science class. You won't learn how to develop film here, but may get a sense of the experience. And, the music's cool. Video courtesy YouTube. 3/18/07.
Tinting a photo in Photoshop CS3!
Dave Cross, of those wacky Photoshop Guys, got a hold of CS3 (which will officially be announced later this month) and shows off a nifty tool for tinting a b&w image. I wish they'd let us in on their in joke about 2/3 of the way, though....Video courtesy YouTube. 3/13/07
Martin & Lewis: The Photographer
Dean Martin plays a photographer getting ready to do a fashion shoot with two models when Jerry Lewis shows up as a window washer-peeping-Tom who loves photography and proceeds to prove it by wrecking Martin's studio. Dated hilarity ensues. Part 1. (Here's part II.) Video courtesy YouTube. 3/11/07
The Leica Freedom Train
An outstanding short documenting one of the best-kept secrets of World War II--How Ernst Leitz, founder of Leica, saved thousands of Jews from almost certain death by making them Leica's "foreign sales representatives" and sending them to the U.S. As long has he was alive, Leitz refused to publicize his life-saving efforts. But now that he's gone, the truth can be told: he was as great a hero as Schindler. And my Leica M3 is a symbol of freedom. Video courtesy YouTube. 3/8/07
A conversation with Henri Cartier-Bresson
Charlie Rose interviewed the master in 2000. He talks about seeing, art, anarchy, history, life, and his favorite photographers. Charlie: "You are a giant." HCB: "Stop it!" If you want to learn from a master, take an hour to watch this extraordinary video. Courtesy Google Video. 3/6/07
Photoshop tip: Turn color into B&W but leave one color: My only complaint is that he changes the background image to black and white. My momma taught me to never touch the background image--always make a duplicate layer, and work with that. Otherwise, it's a nice tip and can be done quickly. Courtesy luv2help.com via YouTube. 3/5/07
Black & White Photo Restoration tips using Photoshop: Here is a good step-by-step video tutorial showing you how to scan and restore a faded black-and-white photograph, courtesy YouTube. 3/4/07
