Recreating a classic style digitally in ON1 Photo RAW: Josef Sudek

Josef Sudek was a photographer from what is now the Czech Republic who had a characteristic style, particularly later in his life, when he drew inspiration from the objects that surrounded him and the effects of light. His images were deep, soft and mysterious. But is it possible to achieve some of that look digitally without producing just a cheap, fake effect?

I’ll let you decide how far I succeed, but I do want to be clear. I’m not a photographer of Sudek’s stature, and this technique I use is meant as a homage to his unique style, not as any kind of digital ‘improvement’. I don’t have Sudek’s eye or his painstaking approach to print-making. This is just my attempt to get something of his style with digital equipment and processes.

Part of any classic recreation involves having the right kind of subject. I chose this arrangement in a dusty corner of an outbuilding as both timeless in its content and typical of the kind of everyday items and lighting in many of Josef Sudek’s images.

Needless to say, this is a very clinical, ‘digital’ image that’s a long way from the analog, chemical processes of Sudek’s time. I’ve definitely got some work to do, and I think ON1 Photo RAW, or ON1 Effects if you have that, is going to have just the tools I need.

I’m not going to go into every detail of every slider, unless anyone asks for that in the Comments below. My plan was just to help explain ways you can ‘deconstruct’ a classic image style and work out the best filters to recreate it.

Step 01: Add the Black and White filter

All the editing of this image is done in ON1 Photo RAW’s Effects panel. I’m not starting with a preset, but building this look from scratch, starting with the most obvious steps first and working up to the final image from there.

So the first and most obvious step in this case is to convert the image to black and white – so I click the Add Filter button and choose the Black and White filter.

This has a Conversion section to apply different black and white filter effects, but I’m not going to make any changes here. In the Tone section I simply click the Auto button, but you can make manual changes here too.

The interesting part is the Toner section at the bottom. I’m aiming for an image style with a rich, sepia tone, and rather than having to experiment with the sliders I can simply choose a ready-made toning effect from the drop-down menu. We’re making progress!

Step 02: The Glow filter

Now one of the key issues with modern digital captures is that they are very sharp, and this can give them away. I’m using ON1 Photo RAW’s Glow filter to take some of this sharpness away. Indeed, this filter is one of the reasons I chose ON1 Photo RAW to do this edit.

I’ve pushed the Glow amount up to maximum (it’s a fairly subtle effect) and experimented with the Halo slider to get the right look for the details. The key here, though, is the drop-down Mode menu, which works like blend modes in Photoshop. If I use the Soft Light mode, it adds the softening effect I want but also increases the contrast for a richer, deeper look.

Step 03: Curves filter

Many vintage black and white photos do not have a full range of tones. In particular, they don’t quite go to a solid black. To replicate this I added the Curves filter, then dragged the black point just a little way up the scale. This made the image a little light, so I compensated with another control point to bring the curve back down for the midtones.

Step 04: Lens Blur filter

One of the key properties of vintage images is vignetting and lens blur, both from shallow depth of field and lens softness towards the edge of the frame. ON1 Photo RAW’s Lens Blur filter can do both – but it also requires some masking skills.

The easiest way to use it for the effect needed here is to use the ‘Round‘ preset style because this creates a round mask that keeps the center of the image sharp but blurs it around the outside. With this mask in place I can adjust the blur and also introduce a vignette effect.

It doesn’t look quite right with the mask centered in the image, though, so I need to do a bit more. Here, I’ve moved the mask down over the shears on the windowsill which is where I think you would expect the camera to be in focus. I’ve also adjusted the mask shape and the feathering (the outer dotted outline when you’re moving the mask) until it looks just right.

So here’s the finished image. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Or, if you would like to see some other classic vintage (or modern) styles replicated, let me know that too!

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