Toning with PSP

[raven4ns]

Hello,
Is anyone using PSP for toning B&W, if so would you please contact me. I am trying to figure a way to do selenium toning without the ability to use duotones. If you are doing sepia toning then it might give me some insight as to how I can use PSP for selenium toning. Perhaps you are using a third party preset or plug-in that works for you that we could discuss. In any event, please contact me at your convenience. Thank you.

[JoeB]

You could have asked this in the previous thread in which you were discussing the subject. As @hartpaul said, you have asked about this several times over the years. The simple answer is this: There is NO simple answer to what you wish to achieve because only you know exactly what tone is satisfactory to you. Selenium toning is not a single tone but covers a wide range of toning done on b&W (greyscale) images. So nobody would be able to give you explicit advice on values or methods to apply because only you know what you're starting with and only you know what actual tone you want to finish with that looks right for you.

The best advice I can give you is to simply type the words selenium toning into Google and check out the multitude of links, and you'll find all sorts of people with all sorts of advice that works for them and perhaps which you can modify so that some of it works for you.

Otherwise, if you happened to get the Nik Collection plugins when it was offered for free then the Silver Efex Pro plugin provides a variety of B&W toning presets that you can apply to a layer on your original image and sliders to fine tune those presets. Experiment with such plugins, using different layers for the different effects you try, and then try further fine tuning using Curves in PSP until you achieve the actual effect that pleases you. There really is no "one size fits all" when it comes to the process of selenium toning.

[raven4ns]

Hello Joe,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. It's not that I want someone to have a canned selenium tone that suits me but more the workflow that I can modify to give me the look I want. Talking to someone that is using PSP to tone with would be helpful as it would help me understand their process which I could modify for my own use in selenium toning. Perhaps B&W toning isn't very popular and I will be left with trial and error. If that is the case, then should I be successful, I will share my efforts so others will have a starting point for their own toning.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts, they are appreciated.

[Jean-Luc]

Hello Tim,
Selenium toning is a chemical process for silver-based photographic prints. The print is colorized during the process and the color cast varies (it could be brown sepia, red or blue).
You may emulate those colors in PaintShop Pro with the Colorize tool (Shift + L).
Selecting a color is a matter of personal feeling.
You need also to have a calibrated monitor. Take in mind that the tone obtained on your computer will be different when displayed on another monitor (another user).

[raven4ns]

Thank you Jean for your thoughts. The selenium tone I am looking for is one where the blacks are dense and the mid-tones are a rich gray. I am not a fan of sepia but prefer the Ansel Adams coloration of b&w. When I had access to PS I was using purple to deepen the blacks but had not found a way to give the mid-tones that richness I was looking for. With PS I had duotones to work with which made things easier as far as workflow was concerned. Given enough time I felt I could have achieved the results I wanted with the mid-tones.
Now I have to start over with new software that doesn't easily facilitate what I'm trying to do. Although it is perhaps my lack of knowledge which is the biggest stumbling block to accomplishing my task. My lack of understanding as well as computer skills is a major limitation which I'm trying to overcome. This is the reason I was hoping to speak with someone who is already using PSP for toning. It might allow me to modify their work flow to suit my needs instead of the trial and error method. Thank you for your response.

[TimW]

I would like to ditto the suggestion by JoeB for the Silver Efex Pro plugin from the Nik collection.

[raven4ns]

Thank you, Tim, for your response. Do you tone your b&w images with a sepia, selenium etc. tone? Judging by the comments from you and Joe, PSP will accept the Nik software. Is there any place to pick up the software free or do you now have to buy it? I do have the Topaz Black&White Effects which has selenium tones with it but I don't know if these can be modified using curves or numerically. Thank you again.

[JoeB]

Thank you, Tim, for your response. Do you tone your b&w images with a sepia, selenium etc. tone? Judging by the comments from you and Joe, PSP will accept the Nik software. Is there any place to pick up the software free or do you now have to buy it? I do have the Topaz Black&White Effects which has selenium tones with it but I don't know if these can be modified using curves or numerically. Thank you again.

Maybe I'm missing something but is there any reason that you can't use Topaz (if you have it) to achieve a look close to what you want and then, back in PSP, use Curves to modify it?

I don't know if the Nik Collection is still available anywhere for free now that DXO owns the collection. They are charging for it. Which raises an interesting legal question to which I don't know the answer and I didn't read the EULA that came with the free collection. The question is whether those who have the free collection are able to share it with others.

[LeviFiction]

You can still download the previous version of Nik Collection for free from this webpage

https://nikcollection.dxo.com/nik-collection-2012/

It doesn't have DxO's fixes, and it's not officially supported. Which is why it's still free. The newest version with support from DxO is $70.

[raven4ns]

Topaz just responded to my email and they said their tones could not be modified. As for NIK, I have no idea whether you are able to modify their tones. I suspect you wouldn't be able to modify them but that remains to be seen.

[raven4ns]

Thank you, LeviFiction, for the suggestion. I'll try to download it to my trial copy of PSP2018 and see how it goes.

[JoeB]

Topaz just responded to my email and they said their tones could not be modified. As for NIK, I have no idea whether you are able to modify their tones. I suspect you wouldn't be able to modify them but that remains to be seen.

I have no idea what you are talking about. The Topaz B&W filter has many different presets you can select on the left hand side. Then, when you select one that seems close to what you want the image to look like, then the right hand side has a whole bunch of options to choose from - with sliders - so that you can make all sorts of modifications to the preset tone you selected. (See attached image to see a only a few of the very many modifications available). It also has a Curves adjustment built in that you can use. So to say that their tones cannot be modified, when in fact the filter provides the tools to modify a preset tone - and even save those modifications as a custom preset - is simply ridiculous.

Furthermore, once you had made any of those adjustments in Topaz to get even closer to what you want, you can apply the effect to the image as it appears in your workspace in Paintshop Pro. And in Paintshop Pro you can use all of its tools, including Curves, Histogram Adjustment, etc., to do even more modifications.

So you will have to re-think what you say Topaz told you. At most, what they may have meant was that you cannot open up their presets from the Presets folder and make a modification to that preset because it is not in an image format but in their proprietary presets format. But once you have adjusted an image to your liking you can then save those modifications that you made as a custom preset. So their tones can definitely be modified AND those modifications saved as a custom preset. Otherwise, it would be a pretty useless plugin.

And the Nik plugin, similarly, has lots of adjustments available to make to their tone presets also. AND once you have made the various adjustments to an image until you are satisfied you can also save those settings as a custom preset just as you can with Topaz.

If you really do not understand what I'm talking about then you will have to download the free Nik Collection and/or the Topaz trial version and simply learn for yourself.

[raven4ns]

Hi Joe,
I have version 2 of Topaz b&w effect so I've seen the adjustments you mentioned. You may be right about them thinking I wanted to rewrite part of their plugin, I thought I was clear about what I was attempting to do. PS made the process seem simple as compared to what is before me. At the moment I am unsure as to how to proceed but I am sure that I have used up enough of everybody's time.
I would like to thank everyone for their input and taking the time to respond to my questions.

[TimW]

ravens4ns; PSP has a lot of control internally - it's just finding it that's sometimes difficult. Do a selection of your whole image, then go to <Effects><Photo Effects> <Time Machine>. Then choose the middle option (Platinum), adjust the Intensity to suit & you will see the tones vary slightly. OK that, then go to HSL (Hue, Sat, Lightness) & adjust the HUE to get different tones, such as Selenium & many, many others. You can then adjust the Saturation to get an almost unlimited range of tones. Oh, all of these adjustments are by the numbers, via sliders. I hope this helps some.

[raven4ns]

Hi Tim,
Thank you for your suggestion. My background isn't one that lent itself to understanding how to use the controls to get what I am looking for. PS made it easier for me to get close to what I was seeking and of course that appealed to me. There was little trial and error involved. I still didn't have the mid-tones where I wanted them but I felt that would come.
At the bottom of my profile is a Flickr address that has a few of my images. The last image is of twisted metal with some rope around it, this was my feeble attempt at a selenium tone. Now the mid-tones are muddy but with a little more time I felt I could have remedied that issue.
Hopefully I can get my workflow down to where I am satisfied with the result. Thank you again for your suggestions, you are right of course in my inability to understand just how many of the controls work in PSP.