Black and white conversion methods

fluffmct

fluffmct

fluffmct

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20 May 2008
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There was a thread on TP recently that mentioned black and white conversion techniques and I thought the good people of OCUK might know some good ones!

http://vimeo.com/21080058 - This one was mentioned on TP and I've been getting good results with some of the ideas mentioned.

Someone also mentioned Contrast Grading and Contrast Masking but I'm not sure exactly what these involve, although I admit I didn't spend much time googling them :)

I normally shoot in colour and have obviously tried B&W a number of times over the years but I'm never quite content with the result, even if other people were. It'd be great to have all the possible tips/tricks somewhere so I can spend more time on developing my B&W style.

If anyone knows any good resources or has any tips/tricks then stick them in here so we can all benefit (even if it seems basic to you, it might help someone out). I'm on lunch in work so I can't post mine with examples yet, but I'll try to do it tonight or tomorrow.
 
Just to add some pics as I said I would!

Original:
Cat.jpg


B&W:
CatBW.jpg


Used portraiture in the colour version and didn't change the skin in the B&W one so they might look slightly different. Also changed the crop and added a slight gradient in B&W! ;)

The main processing to B&W consisted of the following in Lightroom:

1. Black and white option!
2. Tone curve adjustments to give a little more contrast
3. A little fill light to change the lighting on the face slightly
4. Split toned - added an almost unnoticeable blue tint in the shadows and orange in the highlights to give a little more richness as mentioned in the video in the OP
5. Black and white mix as need - tweaked the reds/oranges and blues slightly again

I'm pretty happy with the end result although it could definitely be done better I've no doubt. Still probably prefer the colour version! :D Was good practice though.


If anyone else has some tricks, please chip in cause it's needed :)
 
I might check this out after, as more often than not my black and white conversations never seem to turn out as good as I imagine they could. Thanks for posting. :)
 
Clown said:
Ah I knew I've seen this link here before: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=20098653&postcount=202
Click to expand...

Well remembered! It's definitely doing the rounds. The dropper wheel adjustment was new to me too funny enough, can't believe I missed that button before!

Anyone got some decent twists on the usual conversion? I'm thinking to get a decent conversion it might require layer masks and doing different sections independently of each other.

Any ideas on contrast grading or masking?
 
Awesome...

I learnt a lot from that video... Thanks for sharing! I have a few photos which I think would look great in B&W so will give them a go when I get in later!
 
Stick the results in here mate. Would love to see what other people are doing with theirs.

I've seen some crackers in the post a picture thread but don't want to bring it off topic by asking about techniques so thought it might be better to make a new thread for it
 
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