This week long comprehensive workshop covers the skills required for achieving the finest B&W results in print from digital capture. Photographic outings followed by working on the resulting images and printing in Macquarie Editions’ studio is aimed at duplicating the process you’ll go through on your own. While there are plenty of aspects to cover, the pace and emphasis will be tailored to your requirements. This isn’t a course in creative photography or seeing in B&W, but concentrates instead on the craft of realising your intentions in print at the highest level, for personal or exhibition purposes.

Topics covered:

• Camera choice, settings/techniques & profiling
• Monitor choice, calibration/profiling and evaluation
• Rendering your RAW files in B&W using Lightroom and Photoshop
• The L* workflow
• Dodging & burning on a layer
• Sharpening & noise reduction
• Resampling for output
• Printer selection
• Determining optimum media settings
• Output linearisation (this is fairly technical and can be skipped if you’re not going to do your own actual printing)
• Paper choices (Macquarie Editions carries over 30 different paper types, including the finest choices for B&W)
• Print viewing and presentation
• Aesthetic evaluation

Where?

• Macquarie Editions’ studio in Braidwood, NSW, Australia. Braidwood is an historical small country town about an hour from Canberra with plenty of photographic opportunities.

When?

• This course is offered from September through April at mutually agreeable dates

Cost:

• $2,200 for five days dedicated instruction
• A non-refundable deposit of 25% is required to reserve dates with the balance in full prior to commencement. A change of dates may be permitted.

What’s included?

• Transport from/to Canberra at beginning/end of week (if required)
• One-on-one instruction by master printmaker Stephen Best
• All work prints (up to 9.5″x13″)
• Monitor evaluation files
• Recommended profiles
• Custom sharpening actions
• Follow-up support via email

What’s not included?

• Accommodation & meals (recommended is the Snow Lion B&B)
• Prints from existing files or larger exhibition prints

What to bring:

• A late model digital camera (APS-C sized sensor or better) with RAW capability
• Any existing images you want printed (at Macquarie Editions’ standard rates)

Macquarie Editions uses Apple Macintosh computers running Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 & CS5. Printers used are the Epson Stylus Pro 7900 (24″) and 9900 (44″). Some information presented may not be transferrable to other tools/equipment.