converting to black and white

[Jezebel]

on another forum i visit a photographer i really like started a thread about making image adjustments in photoshop. he used a few of the tricks that i use and he also talked about a few new things. i thought i would start a thread about how i go about adjusting an image.

i'm using a lame picture of myself as a base. starting pic:



for one thing make sure your layers are visible (go to the Window menu and the top and click Layers). you've got your base image as the background. right click it's layer and duplicate it - then make it invisible by checking the little eye next to the duplicated layer. make another new layer between the two and go to Edit > Fill > and Use Black to fill in.

there - now you're done!

oh ok... no you're not. on the black layer you just created, change the layer mode to Color (that the little dropdown menu in your layer window). you'll have something that look kinda like this:



doing it this way looks better than desaturating. here are the two images for comparison. image A uses the layer adjustment method and image B uses Image > Adjust > Desaturate. doing it with layer adjustments makes the contrast a little richer and doesn't lose as much detail. it's subtle, but every bit matters, right?

A.

B.


OK! so click on the black layer and merge it with the layer below it (a shortcut to merge a layer with the layer immediately blow it is ctrl+e). now you will have your monotone image on one layer and your color image duplicate (still invisible) on another.



go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. the three triangle sliders are three different colors: black, grey, and white. each one controls those areas in the image. use the black and white sliders sparingly because they can blow out your whites and make your darks too black at times. you'll find you need to tweak all three most of the time, just make sure you don't go overboard and create a weird, unnatural look. after some tweakage i have this:



click on the color layer above the black and white one, this will make it visible. change the layer mode to color. by doing this you are blending the colors of your original image with the nice contrast adjustments you made to the black and white image.



merge the two layers together so you're now working with one image. this is where the fun comes in (for me anyway ) go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance. i looooove this function. check the different radio buttons to adjust the colors of the shadows, the midtones, or the highlights. people have often asked about how i get the dark, somewhat gritty look to my pictures. it's right in here. i usually adjust the shadows in my pictures so they are a yellowy green. it's sort of become a signature look for a lot of my pictures - i guess i just like it. adjust however you want though. fun!



i guess i would usually stop right here, but i thought i would show another feature that i like to use sometimes. first off you need to know that this feature is going to look different depending on what background color is selected in your little color picker box. if you use a dark color it'll usually just turn out nasty looking. it's a soft glow effect so try using a very pale color. i usually pick the brightest color on the face i'm tweaking and use that. i like all my effects to be subtle so you can't quite tell what filters i've used, so i had the settings with zero grain, a glow amount of 3-4, and a clear amount of 17ish. then after applying the filter i went to Edit > Fade and faded the effect back to about 50%. i just wanted to make a slightly softer appearance without losing a lot of sharpness or details like freckles. play around with this feature - it can produce some lovely results.

finished image:



hope this was helpful :)

[Jezebel]

i just realized i titled this thread "converting to black and white" and i sorta focused more on color adjustments, haha... though i suppose it shows how to do a basic b/w conversion too

[engstrom]

Jezebel, thanks for the tips! I love reading how people do things in Photoshop. I always pick up something new that I can use later.

[LoungeLizard]

Thanks for the tutorial...

[markperez]

Thanks for the step by step steps. Also I am glad you added a second post because as I was getting to the bottom I was wondering if my color blindness and affected my BW vision.

[Jezebel]

john & jesus - thanks, both of you! :)

mark - ahaha... i wish i could adjust the title line to cover up my blunder. sorry about that.

[danflake]

Jezebel,

Thanks. I have been using another method from a book "Digital Black & White Photography" by John Beardsworth. He has three different methods for converting to BW (not including the cheater's way out: Greyscale! (I, too was once a lowly sinner). But they are all pretty complicated and for the effort did not really seem to yeild that much better quality for the effort expended. But I did want more control than Greyscale or Desaturate would give me, so I have been working laboriously at it.

Your method here is far simpler and actually makes more sense. I guess it's all in what you like, neh?

Thanks!

[h00kemh0rns]

Jez...great stuff and thank you for sharing.

BTW, I'm sure you've posted somewhere, or not..but what line of work are you in? Is it one that allows you to use that creatitive mind? You're definitely someone who has talent and I enjoy seeing what you post.

[Sideline]

Jez,

I just used your process on a picture that I am thinking I want to send to next year's state fair. Thanks for putting together a straight-forward tutorial :)