Style Your Photo Like Ansel Adams In ON1 Effects
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Every landscape photographer will study the work of Ansel Adams, an undisputed pioneer of landscape photography. We’ll visit the places he photographed to experience them for ourselves. Ansel Adams continues to inspire modern landscape photographers. His work represents a level of excellence by which we measure ourselves. You can embrace his style in your photo editing - and it’s easier than ever with today’s digital tools.
A (Brief) Look At Ansel Adams’ Style
Several key characteristics define Adams’ style:
High Contrast and Deep Tonality: Adams is a master of contrast and co-founder of the Zone System. His photos feature a wide range of tones, from deep blacks to bright whites, with rich midtones in between.
Sharp Focus and Detail: His images have exceptional sharpness and clarity in both the foreground and background.
Dramatic Lighting: He had a keen eye for lighting and his compositions use light to emphasize texture and adds depth to his images.
There are other features of Adams’ photographs of course - exceptional composition being one of them.
When I look at Ansel Adams’ photographs, the skies intrigue me. Dramatic cloud-filled skies have rich blacks and whites. Emptier skies are usually quite dark, almost black. The luminance of the blues are darker and offset bright clouds or the moon. Here are two examples from the Ansel Adams archive:
The Tetons and the Snake River
Ansel Adams, 1942
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico
Ansel Adams, 1941
Create An Ansel Adams Style In ON1 Effects
So how do you leverage ON1 Effects to imbue your images with the characteristics of an Ansel Adams photograph? Apply your basic RAW processing in Lightroom, ON1 Photo RAW’s Develop module, or the RAW processor of your choice, Then, send that image to ON1 Effects. There are three ON1 Effects filters that create are fundamental to an “Ansel Adams look”.
Black & White: Start by adding the Black & White filter in Effects and clicking the Auto button for the color response in the Conversion area. That’s a foundation, but don’t stop there. Adjust the sliders in the color response area to control the luminance of each color range. Move a slider to the left to darken a tonal range and to the right to brighten it.
Adams’ work embraces contrast and refining the color response sliders is the first step. For an “Ansel Adams effect” you will often darken the aquas and blues, making the sky dark and moody, almost black. Brighten other color ranges to emphasize contrast. You can also refine the Detail slider in the Tone area of the filter to add definition and crispness to details. Work visually - the number on the slider doesn’t matter, the look on the photo does.
Step 1 - Convert to monochrome with the Black & White filter and adjust the color response sliders.
Tone Enhancer: The skies in an Ansel Adams photo are dramatic. Crisp white clouds or a rising moon against a very dark sky. Add drama wo the sky - and only the sky - with the Tone Enhancer. Add the filter and leverage the Mask AI features to apply the filter to only the sky.
The Tone Enhancer is a versatile filter with everything from basic tonal adjustments to curves and detail enhancers. Start with the Curves section of the filter and apply an S-curve to increase contrast in the sky. Next, increase the Detail slider in the Details section to make the sky pop. If necessary, use the Tone sliders to increase Contrast or refine the Highlights and Shadows. These adjustments only affect the sky thanks to Mask AI.
Step 2 - Add drama to the sky with the Tone Enhancer filter.
Vignette: Focus your viewer’s attention on the key elements of your photo with a Vignette. The Strong or Big Softy styles are good starting points. Use the ‘crosshairs’ icon to click and drag the center of the vignette on your subject, then work the sliders to fade the shadowing toward the edges. The best vignettes are the ones that you know are there but are subconscious to your viewer
Step 3 - Guide viewer attention with the Vignette filter.
These three filters - Black & White, Tone Enhancer, and Vignette - build the foundation of your Ansel Adams look. Of course, continue applying refining touches with Local Adjustments. Adams (or his assistants) would spend lots of time dodging and burning in the darkroom to emphasize important features and downplay others to improve the image. You can do the same with selective application of Local Adjustments.
Conclusion
I’ve shown you three filters in ON1 Effects to create an Ansel Adams style. If you use other editing tools, you can achieve similar looks. Remember the primary characteristics of Adams’ work - strong contrast, crisp whites and deep blacks, and sharp details.
Have fun!
Asilomar Beach Storm Clouds. Black & White
Contact Scott to commission a print or license this image.
