Some Random Dude

During some preliminary work on an upcoming photography article, I had been going through the normal process of taking the RAW format photos from our digital SLR to JPEGs to put on the site. Somewhere through that process I happened to notice a large discrepancy between the colors of my original RAW format photos to the resulting JPEG images. Frankly, I do not know why it took me so long to notice such dramatic differences - my only thought is that I rarely examine the saved JPEG to the original photo. Either way, I was pretty disgusted with what I saw and so I thought I would try to do something to fix it.
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I have recently become interested in using colored lens filters for my film camera when using black and white film. Colored lenses can dramatically impact the grey tones and contrast when shooting in black and white - results you would otherwise not get from a “naked” lens. When shooting with film, I like to stay out of Photoshop as much as possible other than basic cleaning. Sure, I could increase the contrast of a photo with curves or levels, but why not do it the old-fashioned way instead. Let me tell you, the latter is much more fulfilling. Nonetheless, for those of you who do not have lens filters and/or would rather simulate it in Photoshop, these digital lens filter Photoshop actions will be the next best thing. Below I write about what colored lens filters do to black and white film and how Photoshop can roughly simulate it.
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After some significant talking and planning, we picked up our first digital SLR. My wife wanted to have the chance to experiment without the expense that film can bring. Considering the cost of high quality film added to the price of developing, being “trigger happy” with the camera can begin to rack up money. Ironically, our desire for a digital SLR was for both of to have a set of training wheels for our film cameras. If we wanted to experiment with a new type of shot, we could try shooting it with the digital and then go back for the final shot with our film cameras. Sure, there are going to be differences, but the ability for a dry-run with even remotely similar results is priceless.
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