 |
| To get the best black & white images will require some manual input, but the results will be worth it |
Converting your images to black and white may at first appear to be one of the simplest tricks in an image-editing program such as Photoshop, while pretty much every camera has its own B&W filter effect. However, if you want your mono images to really stand out, there’s a lot more to it than simply turning down the saturation or choosing the gritty mono filter-effect from your camera’s menu.
By using Photoshop’s Black & White Adjustment layer as opposed to desaturating the image or simply turning it grayscale, you have much more control over the image, being able to adjust how the colours in the image are portrayed in monotone.
With the image’s colour gone, you’ll need to rely on contrast and selective adjustments to convey the mood of the image. Lightening and darkening areas of the image (known traditionally as dodging and burning) will allow you to add further depth to the image, whether it’s to impart drama or pull it back for a more tranquil look. This can be done with selective adjustments, but Photoshop also features its own dodge and burn tools to do this, while boosting or toning down contrast will add to the mood.
How to convert to mono
1 SELECT ADJUSTMENT LAYER
With your unconverted image open, select the Black & White Adjustment Layer icon in the Adjustments palette. If you can’t see it, go to Window>Adjustments. Alternatively you can go to Layer >New Adjustment Layer >Black & White.
With your unconverted image open, select the Black & White Adjustment Layer icon in the Adjustments palette. If you can’t see it, go to Window>Adjustments. Alternatively you can go to Layer >New Adjustment Layer >Black & White.
2 THE BLACK & WHITE ADJUSTMENT PANEL
The Black & White Adjustment panel allows you to precisely control the various colour tones in the image, with sliders to control Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues and Magentas. Starting with a Default set of adjustments, we’ll now refine these to our taste.
3 DARKEN THE SKY
For this image we want to add even more punch to the sky, so to achieve this we’ll decrease the Blues slider to -95, then the Cyans slider to -59 and the Magentas slider to 12. To fine-tune the foreground, we’ll increase the Reds to +115, Yellows to 75 and Greens to -40.
For this image we want to add even more punch to the sky, so to achieve this we’ll decrease the Blues slider to -95, then the Cyans slider to -59 and the Magentas slider to 12. To fine-tune the foreground, we’ll increase the Reds to +115, Yellows to 75 and Greens to -40.
4 DODGE AND BURN
Select the Background layer from the Layer palette (hit F7 if you can’t see it), and from the Toolbox, select the Burn Tool (normally hidden underneath the Dodge Tool). Select a large soft brush (around 800px should be fine), and set the Range to Midtones and Exposure to 15%.
5 LIGHTEN DERELICT HUT
By gently brushing across the sky, we’ll be able to darken it down a little, enhancing the mood. We’ll now select the Dodge Tool to lighten the hut a touch. Select a smaller Brush of 600px and set the Range to Midtones and Exposure to 15%. Now brush over the foreground.
By gently brushing across the sky, we’ll be able to darken it down a little, enhancing the mood. We’ll now select the Dodge Tool to lighten the hut a touch. Select a smaller Brush of 600px and set the Range to Midtones and Exposure to 15%. Now brush over the foreground.
6 BOOST CONTRAST AND SAVE
Finally, select the Curves Adjustment Layer icon and set a subtle S curve to boost the contrast. With that done, save the image – if you want to be able to make changes to either Black and White or Curve Adjustment Layers, save it as a TIFF or PSD file which preserves layers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment