Monochrome conversion

[Mircula]

Hi,

I am starting to like black and white images more and more.

How do you usually transform a image to black and white?

I am using Lightroom 3 and very occasionally PS. What would be better for it?
I tried to adjust the usual adjustments and levels as well as playing around with the saturation and luminance of the different colours until the black and white image looked good to me.

What kind of workflow do you have in your black and white transaction?
Is it always the same or does it depend on what kind of image you have?


I also tried to play around with different toning of shades and lights in lightroom, although find it really hard to find a good combination or a nice monochrome tone for the images. Are there any better ways of doing this?


Thank you a lot! I always feel bad in asking soooo many questions ☹


Cheers,


Mirc

[ricktas]

In photoshop give this a try (CS4):

* Open your photo
* Menu : Image > Adjustments > Black and White.
* Play with the sliders and see what happens to your photo. It gives you a lot of control over how your monochrome conversion goes. The results will vary from photo to photo as the sliders are based on the colours in your photo. Moving a yellow slider when there is minimal yellow in your photo will not result in much change. Moving a blue slider when there is a lot of blue, will result in a more dramatic change.

If you have a version via to CS4, use the same process but choose Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer and click the monochrome box, then play with the sliders.

Trial and error can be your friend, play as much as you like with the sliders and by visually watching how the affect your conversion, you will learn to control the result.

Like most processing, there are a lot of differing ways to do it, learning how they work is the key to using them effectively.

[maccaroneski]

Another way in Lightroom is to start with an image, and select a preset. Go into the adjustments panel and see what happened to each slider.

Hit CTRL / Command - Z to undo the preset and hit the next one. Go and have another look at the adjustment panel.

I found this to be a good way to deconstruct the controls and see what effects are available.

[Mircula]

Thank you.

I tried both. Very handy and gives some good insights.

I think I will probably stick to lightroom for this.

Are there any main advantages to convert and adjust the B/W in PS?

[ricktas]

Thank you.

I tried both. Very handy and gives some good insights.

I think I will probably stick to lightroom for this.

Are there any main advantages to convert and adjust the B/W in PS?

there are literally hundreds of ways to create a mono photo. How you do it is realy just personal choice.

[Mircula]

hmmm..ok...i thought there are ways which are superior or easier or give better results than other methods.

I am just playing around with it in lightroom quite a bit and i am wondering how other people do it usually....Always good to compare how different people do things like that to improve and learn :)

Thanks!

[William]

I do as Rick does , I open the image in PS , On the bottom right there is the little button with a diagonal on it Choose Gradiant Map, And it should look OK , Next on the same Button choose Channel Mixer, Tick the Mono box, Give it -8 Constant if your after a high contrast image , Play with the sliders , There's an old theory that says try to keep the balance of the three at 100% , Just my 2 cents worth, Give it a try as well - Cheers Bill :)

[ricktas]

There are also some great Lightroom presets available for download for mono (among other things) do a google on Lightroom monochrome presets...

[Mircula]

Hey, thanks that is a really good idea as well... It is great that you can apply the presets and then play around with them....

[insomanywords]

I usually just go to image > adjustments > remove colour. If it doesn't look good to me from there I change the contrast and lighting.

[CherylB]

Mirc - have a look at this little demo (http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=63378) I did of the different effects from the PS presets - which is currently stickied in the NTP forum!

I'm pretty sure all the preset options in PS are the same as what is available in Lightroom - but nevertheless, it gives you a few basics in the different types of black & white that can be achieved.

[Mircula]

great, thanks for the tipp!!

Any more comments most welcome :)