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BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Software Techniques, Tips, & Tricks

Photography Question 

Mike Carpenter 		 

Help with Black and White


 
 
I'm new to converting to black and white through Photoshop. I have a hard time deciding what looks best when converting. What could I do different with this to look like a true black and white?


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June 11, 2005

 

Mike Carpenter 		  It did not upload. It's the black and white tree in my gallery.


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June 11, 2005

 

Doug Elliott 		  Mike,
You do very nice work. Glad you picked up a camera and kept shooting. There are a couple of ways to make good B&W.
Open your image and go to image, and to adjustment, open up hue and saturation. Click on the saturation slider and move it to the left all the way. Now you have a good start for a B&W. Go back to adjustments and click on select color, click on the tab at the top choose black, and use the slider to add black (normally 10 to 15 permit). Now go back to adjustments and choose shadows and highlights, click on show more and then play with the sliders in the preview mode. This will give you the most control over your image.
Please post the results of your work. Hope this info is helpful.
Doug


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June 11, 2005

 
LightAnon.com - Steve Parrott

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Steve Parrott's Gallery 		  There are many ways to convert to B/W. Using Channel Mixer is widly regarded as the best, but I have my own twist on it. In any conversion method it is easy to lose track of where you are and not know if you are further improving the image or making it worse. Here is how I do it. Go to Image-Adj.-Channel Mixer. When the dialog opens, select Monochrome. This will convert the image to B/W with the default RED channel set at 100%. Do a SAVE AS - RED on this image. Open your origanal color photo again, open channel mixer again, this time setting RED to 0%, Green to 100%, and Blue to 0%. Save As GREEN. Open your original photo again. Open channel mixer, setting Red and Green to 0%, and Blue to 100%. Save As BLUE. Now, open the RED, GREEN, and BLUE photos and compare them side by side. You will often be amazed at the differences. What you want to do is set a % for the Red, Green, and Blue channels for the best image. Do not exceed 100% total. With just a little practice, you will be able to set the % amounts for each channel to achieve an excellant B/W photo with the tones and contrast exactly as you want them.


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June 14, 2005

 

James B. Hewin 		  I find that the there are 2 very important factors to consider in good B&W conversion.
The first is having something in your photo that is absolute white and something that is absolute black. The easiest way to do that is use Levels in Photoshop.
After desaturating to B&W, open Image/Adjustments/Levels. Then use the first eyedropper to pick something in your photo that should be completely black. Then use the third eyedropper to pick something that should be completely white. Then play with the middle sliding fader directly under the histogram to fine tune.
If your absolute white or black points are difficult to isolate with the eyedroppers, skip the eyedropper step. With the Levels window open, use the right sliding fader to match approximately where the bottom right hand slope of the histogram curve ends. Then match the left sliding fader with where the bottom left slope of the histogram curve ends.

The second factor to consider in your B&W conversion is the tonal ranges across the photo. In any scenic like the tree photo you posted, there is a lot of information there to play with. The great Ansel Adams was a master of this technique in the darkroom with his Zone System.
With Photoshop, you have your own digital darkroom. My favorite trick is to enhance various areas using multiple layers. After desaturating, go to “Layer” and make a duplicate layer. Lets say you want to increase the contrast of the clouds. In your duplicate layer, increase the contrast until the clouds look just the way you want them to look. Now the clouds look right but the rest of the photo is too contrasty. Use the Eraser tool to erase all of the duplicate layer except the clouds. Now you have enhanced the clouds without ruining the rest of the photo.
In your posted photo you have some unseen detail in the distant cliffs. In the Layers box highlight the original desaturated layer and make another duplicate. Then use Image/Adjustments/Shadow/Highlight to bring out the detail in the cliffs. Make contrast adjustments to the same layer. Then if necessary, use the Eraser tool to erase everything in that layer except the cliffs. Now you have enhanced the “Zone” of the cliff area.
Use this technique with as many duplicate layers as it takes to get a good tone range across your photo. When you get all the zones just right, then flatten the image and save.
You can also use the Dodge or Burn tool if there is something in your final version that needs a little lightening or darkening.
Hope this helps.
James


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June 14, 2005

 

David King 		  There are a number of different ways to convert from color to B&W. The desaturation method certainly works but as Steve noted, the most often used method for maximum control is the channel mixer. It is the ideal approach if you would like to achieve the effect of having shot B&W with a contrast filter. Once you click on monochrome, then use the color channels to "absorb" or transmit more of a given color. You can, for example, duplicate a red filter's dark sky or even, to a large extend, the look of IR film this way. if you have a good grounding in color theory this becomes pretty easy. The key is, at this stage in the edit, to try to keep the channel numbers to still equal 100 total. This will maintain overall exposure.

Once it is close to how you want it, then proceed as already to adjust and fine tune the tonalities.

David
www.ndavidking.com


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June 14, 2005

 

Mike Carpenter 		  Thank you everyone for the help. I use elements 3.0 and it does not have channel mixer. I also think its just having a good eye to play around with it. I am looking for comments on my black and white shots to see if something really stands out that I should be doing different. I think over time by people commenting on them I can get a feel for it. I try to look at as much of Ansel Adems work as I can to get a good feel.


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June 14, 2005

 

Christopher A. Vedros 		  Mike, even if you don't have a channel mixer, and all of the controls described in the comments above, you can still make some improvements to your B&W images. Try to achieve what James mentioned at the beginning of his comment. Try to get a range of tones from dark black to bright white.

You can also try adjusting contrast and brightness, either on the whole image, or on specific parts.


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June 15, 2005

 
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