Black and White Photography: Digital Editing and Retouching
A course by Cristian Maturana OrtizVisual artist
A course by Cristian Maturana Ortiz, Visual artist
Achieve total control over the tonal range and learn how to capture, retouch, and print your photos
Visual artist Cristian Maturana makes an interesting reflection regarding black and white photography as he says that "when we talk about black and white we suppress color and work only with the form, we leave out half of the information of a whole. It seems like a radical choice that forces us to rethink the image... We observe reality in color and then we eliminate it. It’s a brutally self-aware decision."
In this course, Maturana will introduce you to the exciting world of black and white, then will go further into a slightly more technical aspect of the course: the development and retouching of your photographs. He’ll teach you how to control your camera’s tonal range, both in the capture and in the editing, and to manage the values in the development and postproduction software, until you reach the printed output, configuring the mid-range peripherals for optimized use in photography.
What will you learn in this online course?
14 lessons & 18 downloads
What will we do in the course?
1 minute, 46 seconds
The world in black and white
8 minutes, 52 seconds
Capture and display
18 minutes, 38 seconds
Reading and interpretation of the histogram
12 minutes, 43 seconds
Scanning
9 minutes, 37 seconds
Basic adjustments and selective corrections
14 minutes, 49 seconds
What's included in this course?
Cristian will introduce himself and tell you about his work as well as show you some artists and works that have influenced what he does.
You'll start by analyzing the black and white works of some artists, and then learn to adjust the parameters of your camera. That way, you'll optimally reproduce the tonal range of the photographed reference. You'll learn to interpret the histogram and then Cristian will teach you his process to scan an analog photograph.
Next, you'll see basic digital development settings using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom such as selective corrections, and color conversion to black and white, before going deeper into non-linear edition with Adobe Photoshop.
You'll see how to control the tonal range that your printer can reproduce, learning to design a black and white grid, one of the tone patches, one of the medium grays, and the second grid of tone patches to be able to establish an output correction of mid-tones.
Finally, you'll learn to adjust the output of your files to achieve optimum quality prints.
Recommended software & tools for this course
What is this course's project?
You'll work on a photograph taken with a digital camera, going through all its postproduction in black and white, until it is printed. In addition, you'll learn to digitize or scan an analog photograph.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
To amateur photographers and anyone who is interested in digital photography and wants to learn the keys to developing and retouching in black and white.
Requirements and materials
You'll only need to know how to use a camera. As for materials, you'll need a camera, a gray card, a computer with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom installed, a scanner, a low-end printer, and inkjet photo papers.
Reviews
- 4 months ago
Lo recomiendo. Bien explicado, se sigue bien el ritmo.
- santiago_exPLUS7 months ago
Me pareció un curso muy interesante sobre revelado digital en blanco y negro. Soy fotografo aficionado y me han gustado mucho los consejos tanto en el ajuste de imagen como en la impresión casera. Muchas gracias!
- 1 year ago
Limited technical content and poor presentation make simple things seem more complex than necessary. English subtitles are very poor indeed, unusable in places. I would not recommend this in its current form.
- 1 year ago
ottimo corso, ben strutturato e interessante
- 1 year ago
Preciso, buenos tips para lograr el mejor blanco y negro
He has received the Fondart award for the C.M./C.M project. (Yo es Otro), has published 2 books, and has participated in several individual and collective exhibits in important galleries and museums in Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and Spain.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Presentation
- Influences
- What will we do in the course?
- U2
Capture and settings
- The world in black and white
- Capture and display
- Reading and interpretation of the histogram
- Scanning
- U3
Development and digital edition
- Basic adjustments and selective corrections
- Color to black and white conversion
- Nonlinear editing with digital photography
- Nonlinear editing with analog photography
- U4
Final settings and printing
- Printer Tonal Limits
- The middle gray in the printer
- Final settings and printing
- FP
Final project
- Black and white photography: development and digital retouching
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FAQs
A histogram is a graph that shows how tones are distributed across an image, helping you spot overexposed, underexposed, or well-balanced areas. It’s essential for assessing exposure quality and making precise adjustments.
Yes, this course is designed for those with some photography experience who want to deepen their understanding of tonal analysis, histogram use, and advanced editing in both digital and analog formats.
You should have basic photography skills and know how to operate a camera. It’s recommended to have a digital camera, editing software like Lightroom or Photoshop, and access to a scanner if you want to practice digitizing negatives.
You’ll learn how to apply the zone system to control exposure and place textures and details in the desired tonal areas, optimizing dynamic range in both digital and analog photography.
The course will teach you how to read the histogram to understand tonal distribution, spot exposure issues, and improve your digital editing and development workflow.
Yes, you’ll learn how to clean, handle, and scan negatives, set up your scanner, choose the best resolution, and save images in formats like TIFF to ensure top quality.
Yes, you’ll master adjustments like white balance, chromatic aberration correction, non-destructive editing, layer masks, vignetting, precise selections, and file prep for printing.