Toning technique

Add atmosphere with a hint of colour

1 Desaturate the shot

Import mono_start.NEF and browse to it in Capture NX-D. Use the Monochrome Picture Control to desaturate the shot, and then apply a Red Filter Effect to darken the greyscale of the original photo’s blues. Click on the Tone (Detail) icon (see annotation 08).

2 Recover highlights

Choose Image> Show Lost Highlights. The swan’s blown-out (detail-free) highlights will appear as white patches. Drag the Highlight Protection slider right to 80 to claw back some of the missing highlights. Press Shift + H to see the edited black and white image.

3 Wash with colour

Click back on Picture Control. Set the Toning dropdown to Cyanotype to add a wash of cool blue to the greyscale photo. Create a subtle tint by dropping the Adjust saturation slider to 2.75. Alternatively, you could add a warmer wash of Sepia for a vintage vibe.