B&W Workshop

Posted on Monday, June 22, 2009:: 1368 Views

Black & White Examples From Photoshop CS3

The following examples are for reference purposes only. The settings I used are not meant to be universal, but they will give you an idea of where I was in my black and white conversion process. Keep in mind that your monitor is different from mine, and that the settings I used will probably look different on your screen. Check out our videos on black and white conversion for an in depth look at all of the techniques pictured below. You can also click various thumbnails to view their videos.


		Click thumbnail above to view video.	My BW curves adjustment.


Click thumbnail above to view video.		My channel mixer "Tweaked" settings	Click thumbnail abvoe to view video.


	Click thumbnail above to view video.	My BW adjustment settings for this image.

Notice the HSL/Grayscale settings I used in ACR, you get three extra color values to adjust; oranges, aquas and purples. For this image I prefer the ACR black and white to the Photoshop BW Adjustment (pictured above) for the simple reason that I could tweak the orange values and lighten up the face a little more.


	Click on the thumbnail above to view a comparison of ACR's HSL/Grayscale tab and Photoshop's Black & White Adjustment.	The HSL/Grayscale settings I used for this image.

GIMP

No Photoshop? No problem. It is 100 percent possible to achieve great looking black and whites in the freeware GIMP.


	Click thumbnail above to view video.	My GIMP channel mixer settings.


			View of Decompose To RGB.

Adding Grain

We finally embrace digital photography as the new way, and what do we do next? We try to figure out a way to make it look like the old way! At least when it comes to black and white, adding a little grain can enhance the mood or feeling and lend a sense of realism akin to the old black and white films.