Converting to Mono

Hi guys, a change from HDR I know - I thought I wd keep well out of that one, was getting way beyond me!

Seriously, I would appreciate any direction on converting b&w.

I have seen so many ways of attempting this in mags and the like and have experimented with channel mixer method to a reasonable result.

But as mono is my main love and digital is so new to me I would like to know the absolute best way to do it, that retains as much tonal range and integrity of the image as possible. I dont mind putting the hours in if its worth it.

I did find Mattmattics article using the LAB mode with CS2, but had probs got to no.8 and image refused to paste back up.

ps- I did like Matts HDR BTW not atall obvious...

Ok Lilly, here's my ultra secret brain numbing conversion process!


If you are starting from RAW make sure its sent into PS as a colour image, and has a lower than normal contrast setting... but not too low. If it's a JPEG captured image... well... it might work ok.

Step 1

Find a photo that begs to be black and white and heed the call.



Step 2

In Photoshop you need to bring up that tasty tool called Channel Mixer.
Image>Adjustments>Channel Mixer
Have it set to Monochrome and mess around with the values while avoiding blown out highlights.
On this image I am just starting to clip in the whites on the logs. You may also notice that I raised the Constant% up to +6, this just lowers the contrast a tad so I can see details in the blacks.
Don't worry if it looks too flat and dull, we'll fix that. Click OK.



Step 3

The workhorse - Levels!
This will add punch to your image and bring back the rich contrast. I also raised the midtones slightly here to retain detail in the shadows, but made sure that there was pure black in the deepest shadows to add punch. But it still needs tweaking...



Step 4

Burn and Dodge. This is where you fine tune the contrast in areas that the Levels didn't handle to well. Each image is different so this is where some artistic toying comes in. I always dodge Highlights and Burn Shadows and Midtones as this stage is purely for creating dynamic, rich contrast. (but I did need to burn the Highlights on the logs in this image)
I like to set my dodge and burn tools to about 3% so I can do subtle adjustments to prevent any gaudy blotches from showing. (sometimes I paint over the shadows with a dodge set to Highlights to bring out the texture, then I set the Burn to Shadows and run over it again to give it a crisp contrast.)



Step 5

Print and enjoy.... then find another image to try it all over again.

Well done, Josh.

Who said digital was no good for b&w?

G

Thank you Joshua you are a star & a gent, I couldn't have received a more detailed and easy to understand reply and from a master too!

I shall be onto to it first thing, I can't wait, brilliant very much appreciated

my pleasure!
Hope all works well!

The other very useful tip I learned from a pro was this:

After converting to B&W, add a "Selective Colors" adjustment layer.
Select the "Blacks" and tweak the black level - probably increase it.
Select the "Whites" and tweak the black level - probably decrease.

And maybe select the "Greys" and tweak that too.

Generally works a treat (instead of or with levels).
Matt

I'm new to all this and haven't used any software apart from Adobe Light Room.

One of my mono images will be used in Digital SLR Photography magazine in a month or two, in the critique section.

This in a snow scene originally in colour but converted with LR and tweaked within. I like the colour adjustment for R.B.G.Y. to gray tones.

This is the original:




and this is the mono:




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Superb, will keep my eye open for it.
Very nice but I reckon it could do with a bit more contrast, I feel the left side could do with a lift, but then again what do I know

This is one I did last year (been posted here before) and having recently joined my local camera the B&W one has been selected
for a competion against another 4 East of Scotland clubs.

Thanks for the advice,

just working on one portion of an image is not possible with LR.

I could try working on it with seashore (free image editing software for mac).

I'm finding myself drawn more to mono images, they seem to have more impact.

Hi, jgoar..

If you use OS X then there is a GIMP package for it.. free.

http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/

I use GIMP for all post RAW work. It'll have everything you'll ever need in a free package.

Hope that helps. I don't know a thing about Macs, but once it's running, I'll help you work with it.

Cheers

Liam

Thank you very muckle for that Matt, gave it a bash on AJ's image (hope you don't mind AJ ).

That's nice - better contrast only the snow looks a litte muddy and perhaps needs to be whiter :

Hi Rodger

Yip I agree, the white could have been whiter, but I didn't do any selections as AJ implied he doesn't have
a tool to do this at the moment. When I tried to lift the white the middle bit of the sky was burning out.

Yep - Its a shame that most of the RAWw editing software wont let you work in layers or in individual colour channels.

Just tried reducing the blue (Silkypix) then change to B&W but still loose the sky

Layers no, but Lightroom and Aperture allow you to use channel mixer for BW's.