Digital Lith Prints

Here’s how I produce a look that comes pretty close to an actual lith print in Photoshop.

Preparations

Open a color image.

Desaturate the image (Image > Adjustments > Desaturate)

Duplicate the layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer)

Create the highlight layer

Select the top layer.

Modify its levels. (Image > Adjustments > Levels)
Set the output levels to 60 – 70 and switch the layer mode to Multiply. The image gains a lot of snappiness from this step.

Add the typical lith color

Create a new Gradient Map adjustment level above the top level we just modified. (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map). Confirm the first dialog without any modifications. Create a new Gradient Map from #050a0c to #f3e0b5. When you click on either of the two color stops you can adjust the color distribution.
Set the layer mode of the gradient map to Color.

Create the deep shadows

Click on the layer below the one we brightened one step ago.
Open the Levels dialog (Image > Adjustments > Levels). Set the Input Levels to 30, 1.0, 130. These values are only a starting point. You most probably will have to adjust the level sliders a little to achieve the look you’re aiming at. At this point you might also want to play around with the tonal distribution of the gradient map again.

Apply the Unsharp Mask Filter (Filter > Enhance > Unsharp Mask) to this layer now. As a starting point set the Amount to 100-130 and the Radius to 1-2 pixels. This further increases the contrast of the shadow layer.

The last step deepened the shadows and your photo looks like a lith print now…

The Grain

…but what’s with the grain?! Alright…create a layer on top of all others and fill it with a neutral color (eg. #777777).
Now add some noise (Filter > Texture > Grain). Use an Intensity of 50 and a contrast of 85 as starting point. Select the Soft grain type.
Desaturate this layer now (Image > Adjustments > Desaturate).
Set the layer mode to Soft Light or Overlay.
Depending on the size of your photo and the look you want to achieve you will have to play around with the grain settings.
Applying the Unsharp Mask filter increases the contrast of the grain and you can also adjust the levels or curves of the grain layer to further enhance the grain.

Voilà! There’s your lith print!

Tags: lithprints

Created 26/04/2009 08:19 AM CEST