Trying Black & White Today
- Thread starter ZuZuPhOtO
- Start date
Ruidoso Bill
Senior Member
Nice job on the B&W, I prefer it in some images. I learned on B&W and darkroom printing so it has always been one of my favorites. There are many different ways to achieve the look you desire, check out youtube and search on B&W conversions.
You may want to consider more contrast, which is important to B&W. Done with borderline clipping, for whiter whites, blacker blacks. Holding the ALT key will show you what you are clipping, here only slightly the brightest highlights on the sweater.
Contrast was an extremely big deal to Ansel Adams and his Zone System. One of his main points was that (B&W) prints absolutely should have areas that were full deep black, and areas that were full bright white. We love seeing that in them, it is a form of sparkle. Moving the Levels Histogram White Point and Black Point to where the actual data begins (or clipping it slightly more), does that, increases contrast, blacker blacks and whiter whites. S-curves do it too. Color work normally cannot stand much contrast, but it is quite important to B&W, it makes all the difference.
Clipping is not necessarily a bad thing, it helps to increase contrast. But it does depend on what it is and how important it is. A picture of a cute little girl is different than say Ansel's work, but much is in common too. Back in the days when we were scanning B&W photos, it wasn't if to clip, it was how much. Clipping loses detail there, so no important subject detail, and no clipped skin tones, but often obscure who-cares background clutter is who-cares, if it can help contrast. Don't overdo anything of course.
Again, on the Adobe stuff (including Elements), holding the ALT key while moving the Levels White Point (or Raw Exposure) will show what is being clipped, and how much. It is very powerful to know.