Why I like matte black photos and how to achieve them
Have you ever wondered why some photos published by artists have this off black color to it? This is a very popular inbuilt filter in many camera apps and photo editing and sharing apps as well.
What do matte black pictures mean?
Simply put, the matte black pictures is nothing but images which lacks true black color RGB(0,0,0) and all the true black color is replaced by a grey color, eg RGB(64,64,64). The working behind this format is by replacing a range of grayscale pixels by a single black color, lets say replacing all the pixels having colors from RGB(0, 0, 0) to RGB(64, 64, 64) with RGB(64, 64, 64).
Why am I interested in them?
While many prefer to have maximum details on each composition, I prefer to leave few details left to the imagination of the viewer. Lets look at this picture of a Budha statue made of wood, while this will look equally good with true black color, the grey background removes all unimportant things form the background thereby inviting the viewer to the subject.
How to set it in Lightroom/Photoshop using Curves
- Load the image in Photoshop/Lightroom or any equivalent application.
- Select Image > Adjustments > Curves or use the hotkey Ctrl + M.
- Select the (0,0) (output,input) point in the curve and move the output to something in the range of 40-50, example (45,0) point.
- Note: If the image looks too much washed away, follow this procedure.
- In the curve, adjust the middle point by bringing the output point from (158,128) to (117,128).
- Keep on adjusting the curve until you get the desired result.
Before and After
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