© Safuan Shahril | House of Parliament | London
Hi everybody! As you know that the year 2011 is coming to an end but the best part we'll be looking forward to a new year of 2012. I'm sure everybody feels time flies away and us as a photographer would like to think we have learn and polished our skills in photography. But knowledge will never stop and we must learn new knowledge in order to succeed at what you want. So this post is going to be about quick ways to apply Black & White effect in Photoshop.
A quick glance through any photography or fashion magazine, or at the photos on social websites like Flickr, confirms that black and white photography is as popular as ever. With the coming of digital though, one important thing has changed. In the days of film photography, you shot on black and white film. Now, with digital cameras, you take photos in colour and then convert them to black and white.
Converting to black and white digitally has a number of advantages. With film, the black and white conversion essentially happened at the time of shooting. If you wanted to change the nature of the black and white conversion, you could only do it by placing a coloured filter on the lens (a red filter, for instance, makes blue skies much darker).
Now, by starting with a colour photo and converting it to black and white in Photoshop, you have complete control over the conversion. Darkening a blue sky is easy, once you know how, and you can decide exactly how dark you want it to be.
Most digital SLRs (and some compacts) have a black and white mode. The camera is making the conversion for you, and the results are usually poor, giving flat, washed out photos. Avoid this mode, and use the following techniques instead.
1. Black & White Conversions
To apply this, you go to
Image > Adjustment > Black and White
After you press that a box will appear something like this (above). This tool is very useful for converting into a Black and White image because as you can see there are lots of options for you to tweak in. Also, you could easily press the "Auto" button but I would suggest you to experiment little bit more with the colours; tweaking the Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues, and Magnentas. This shows you that certain parts in the image is based on the colours. For example, if the sky is blue you would tweak the Blues and the Cyans in order to get it a bit brighter or darker. Other than that, you could also use the "Tint" by ticking the box, this is if you would like to create a Sepia or use any tint colour on your image.
When click "OK", this Black and White box will be permanent and you will not be able to change it back. If your like to keep your Black and White effect adjustable, I suggest you use the adjustment layer tool. So you go to:
Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black and White
You will have the same box appear as above and you will also see a adjustment layer at your layers. You will then have control over your effect.
2. Convert to Greyscale
The simplest black and white conversion method, converting to grayscale discards all the colour information in the photo.
- Image > Mode > Grayscale
- Click ‘Discard’
Pros: Quick and easy.
Cons: You have no control over the conversion.
3.Use the Hue/Saturation Tool
This method gives exactly the same result as converting to grayscale. The only advantage is that it’s available as an adjustment layer, and can be used as part of a non-destructive editing process.
Basically you go to:
- Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation
- Click ‘OK’
- Move the saturation slider all the way to the left (-100) and press ‘OK’
Pros: Quick and easy and and can be applied as an adjustment layer in Photoshop.
Cons: You have no control over the conversion.
4. Gradient Map
The gradient map tool maps a black and white gradient to the brightness values of your photo. Dark areas become black or dark grey and highlights white or light grey. To apply this: -
- Press ‘D’ to reset the foreground and background colours to black and white.
- Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map
- Click ‘OK’
Pros: Quick and easy non-destructive black and white conversion
Cons: No control over the conversion
5. Channel Mixer
The Channel mixer is the first black and white conversion tool listed here that begins to use the full potential of the information contained in the colour photo. Colour photos have three colour channels; red, green and blue. These primary colours combine to make the millions of colours in your photo.
The Channel mixer conversion method lets you adjust the ratios between the red, geen and blue channels. Lightening the value of a channel lightens colours close to it on the colour wheel and darkens the colours that are opposite it. Increase the value of the red channel for instance, and you’ll make the red tones in your photo lighter, and the blue ones darker. This has the effect of lightening skin tones and darkening blue skies.
The Channel mixer is the digital equivalent of black and white photographers using colour filters. Setting the brightness of the red channel to 100% gives the same effect as using a red filter on the lens with black and white film. To apply this, you go to:-
- Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Channel Mixer
- Tick the monochrome box.
- Move the Red, Green and Blue sliders to the left and right to lighten and darken different tones in the photo. The total of the three sliders should be 100% at all times.
- Click ‘OK’ when you’re done.
Pros: Gives you a high degree of control over the black and white conversion.
Cons: Not as flexible as the next two techniques.
Conclusion
I usually use curves on my images once I applied the Black and White effect; I do a S-Shape curve to apply contrast. It’s worth taking the time to experiment with these different methods when deciding how to approach black and white conversion. Some may work better for you than others, but always remember to keep an original copy of the image if using a permanent method.
Have fun, and please feel free to share your own technique in the comments.
PS: Hello 2012! :)
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