Help with B&W

[Bilymac]

Please don't chastise me.... I did a search. A few weeks ago, a topic included a great sequence for post-processing into Black & White, but I can't seem to find it. Can somebody point me in the right direction?

[sGu]

I'd love to know that as well, just started a project on black&white, took first round of photos today, now i need to work on my post processing skills to convert them, any help would be great

[drisley]

http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/How_to/n_Digital_BW/n_Digital_BW/a_Digital_Black_and_White.html

[arumdevil]

see these recent threads:


http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=36595


http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=34977&highlight=

[sGu]

thanks for the link, greatly appreciated!!!

[Chazs]

In Photoshop you can always "desaturate" the image, but I find this doesn't give the contrast I desire. Here's a method which seems to brong out a little more contrast...

1) click Image -> Mode -> Lab Colore
2) click the "Channels" tab and DELETE channel "a"
3) click Image -> Mode -> Grayscale
4) click Image -> Mode -> RGB Color

These four steps are easy to save as your own action for repeated use.

Here's a picture my wife had up scrap booking that was converted to BW
http://members.isp01.net/snevetsc/photos/IMG01.jpg
http://members.isp01.net/snevetsc/photos/IMG01_bw.jpg

Not sure what channel "a" does, but it works.

[toddb]

I prefer the Lab color method as well, but I do it a little differently.

1) Change To Lab
2) Select the "lightness" channel
3) Change to grayscale
4) Change back to RGB
5) Now here is the fun part, dublicate the layer and set the mode to "multiply" on the new layer, this will darken it up a bit and set the Opacity to about 50% (or this is the value I have my action set by default...but then I adjust the opacity to the desired effect.)

I love how this method makes B&W just "POP"!

[Bilymac]

Thanks for all the ideas. This will help get me started, but if anybody has any others, please keep them coming.

Bill

[msvadi]

I usually follow 3 steps.

The first step is the actual conversion. The main purpose of this step is extracting as much tonal information as possible. It also allows one to determine the mood of the picture. The outcome of this step does not have to be a good B&W image. Most likely, contrast will be poor and image will have blue cast. But it’s something one can fix later.

For the first step, I use the Russell Brown “film/filter layers” technique described here: http://www.russellbrown.com/tips/pdf/colortoB&W.pdf I like it because it allows one to alter “mood” of a picture. For example, by shifting “Hue” of the filter layer to the right, one can make the resulting B&W more rough, and show more details. By shifting it to the left, one can make a picture softer.

In many respects, the film/filter layers technique is similar to the channel mixer. As the channel mixer, it enables you to interpret and influence how colors are translated to b&w. However, it has one huge advantage. With the channel mixer it's much easier to get overblown highlights.

The second step is toning. The purpose of this step is to eliminate blue digital cast and make B&W to look more interesting. There are several approaches. You can add Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, click colorize, set Hue to 25, Saturation to 50 and adjust opacity for desired effect. Usually, opacity of 4%-12% works best.

Next, you can use duotones – my favorite approach. I flatten the image, convert it to grayscale, and then to duotones. I use one of quadtones for toning.

Finally, one can also use curves for toning (thanks to Mitch, aka slejhammer). For example, for the classic platinum tone follow these steps:
Create a curves adjustment layer. In the red channel of the curves dialog, click on the lower-left third of the curve. Set input to 64, output to 71. Click again, set input to 128, output to 129. One more click on the curve, set input to 192, output to 194. In the green channel, use the following: 64/62, 128/128, 192/193. In the blue channel, use 64/53, 128/117, 192/182. Those are the settings given by Thomas Niemann for a platinum tone, but you can tweak the numbers to your liking. (for example, 64/60, 128/120 in the blue channel.) Remember to save the curve so that you can simply call it up (or make an action for it.)

After steps 1-2, you usually end up with very poor contrast. Contrast improvement is the last step. I create levels adjustment layer and adjust the sliders. But you can use any other method. In my opinion, it’s very important to save contrast adjustment to the last step, and, especially, not to mix it with step 1.

[arumdevil]

this thread is awesome.

i have now somewhat changed the way I convert to B&W and the way I think about whole process (for the better).

for anyone new to converting colour > B&W I recommend letting msvadi's post sink in deep. i wouldn't bother downloading the PDF he links to if you've already read timmyquest's tutorial as it's basically the same - just remember on the second hue adjustment layer that you can adjust each channel (R,G,B) separately as well as the master channel.


I made it all into a set of PS actions if anyone wants to download it. it is all with adjustment layers so you can tweak everything.

B&W actions.zip (http://www.arumdevil.com/photo/photoshop/actions/Black%20and%20White.atn.zip)

[msvadi]

removed

[picnic]

Please don't chastise me.... I did a search. A few weeks ago, a topic included a great sequence for post-processing into Black & White, but I can't seem to find it. Can somebody point me in the right direction?

I do a lot of b/w and in answer to others who have asked, I put together some URLs, tips, etc. that may be helpful. The full list is in this thread
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=8177940
Hope this is helpful.

[sGu]

Excellent link, thanks for that! :D

[arumdevil]

[Resolved :D]

[msvadi]

arumdevil: I have to apologies. It's my mistake. I was confused by the opening phrase. English is not my first language. Not even second. So, sometimes, I tend to take things literally.

[arumdevil]

that's cool, I'm glad that's all it was. :)

It can often be all too easy to misinterpret peoples posts even if english is your first language, and I can tend to be sarcastic and a little over zealous from time to so I understand.



regards, arum

[yallcome]

So msvadi, now that we're back on track and everything is OK can you post your message again so we can see?

Thanks

m2

[arumdevil]

I can't remember exactly what msvadi said in his original post, but it was good stuff.

here is the link to the PDF he mentioned () :)

(http://beta00.c-wss.com/wsss/servlet/wwux.wwuc.filedownload.servlet.WWUCDownloadFromAka maiServlet?absolutePath=/downloadFiles/00036099ES0102/EOSDR300DIM-ES.PDF)

[yallcome]

I get a referral denied on that link. Damn

[sGu]

After the tips on converting i received above, i did a little experiment and i'm quite happy with the results.

Here is how i did it:
1> Image->mode->lab color
2> channel->select lightness
3> Image->mode->grayscale
4> layer->duplicate layer->set new layer as "multiply"
5> adjust fill level to your desire.
now this is where experiment starts:
6> flattern image
7> Image->adjustment->shadows/highlights
8> tick "show me more details" box
9> and just tweak the settings to see how creative you can be!

p.s this is done on photoshop CS, so different version of PS may vary.

sample image
http://Gu.smugmug.com/photos/5888033-M.jpg

[msvadi]

So msvadi, now that we're back on track and everything is OK can you post your message again so we can see?

Thanks

m2

it's back, including the link to Russell Brown's B&W conversion tutorials.

[Persian-Rice]

Sorry if this is a repeat, but I tested this method and it works very well.

1. Do all your proccesing
2.Image>Mode>Grayscale
3.Image>Mode>RGB
4.Image>Adjustments>Channel Mixer
5.Check "Monochrome"
6. Messa round with the Red, Green, Blue and Constant Sliders.

I didnt do the best job, but If done correctly, this method can be quite effective.

http://servx.no-ip.com/~navid/Photography/Col.jpg
http://servx.no-ip.com/~navid/Photography/BW.jpg

[MrKickalot]

OK I'm either plain stupid or I'm missing something... I am using Photoshop Element... and under mode I only have Bitmap, Grey scale, indexed color and RGB color. I dont have any "channel mixer" or "Lab" Are these add on's or is this only a Photoshop CS thing? I really love B/W but have not done any pictures in it because I don't have a good way to convert them!! There are lots of good ways in this thread if I can just figure out how to do what you are telling me to do!!

As always thanks!!

[Persian-Rice]

OK I'm either plain stupid or I'm missing something... I am using Photoshop Element... and under mode I only have Bitmap, Grey scale, indexed color and RGB color. I dont have any "channel mixer" or "Lab" Are these add on's or is this only a Photoshop CS thing? I really love B/W but have not done any pictures in it because I don't have a good way to convert them!! There are lots of good ways in this thread if I can just figure out how to do what you are telling me to do!!

As always thanks!!

Speaking for myself, I was explaining things under Creative Suite.
Just as a side note Channel Mixer would be under Image>Adjustments.

Cheers.