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Better B&W Conversion Using Multiple Hue/Saturation Layers in Photoshop & Elements
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<blockquote data-quote="BackdoorArts" data-source="post: 244707" data-attributes="member: 9240"><p><strong>Re: Better B&W Conversion Using Multiple Hue/Saturation Layers in Photoshop & Element</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Kevin,</p><p></p><p>Funny you should ask, because after reviewing and reposting this I thought I should also do one for Lightoom only conversions since I've since learned a great way to do it there. It was something I'd never tried when I did the original blog, and I'm not sure at what level this may have existed prior to LR5, but it's equally effective. </p><p></p><p>If you change the Treatment type in the Basic section of the Develop module from Color to Black & White then Lightroom will automatically convert the image to Black & White for you. This will almost always be different from the simple desaturation, but may or may not be "better". For example:</p><p></p><p><u>Untouched Color Image</u></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]66206[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><u>Lightroom Desaturation</u></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]66207[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><u>Lightroom B&W Treatment</u></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]66208[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The cool thing is, the conversion is something other than a simple desaturation (in this case you can see specifically that the yellow float is more pronounced in the simple desaturation than in the conversion). What it does is that it analyzes the current image and then attempts to set Hue sliders in a way that it believes best represents the original color image. In the Adjustment section of the Develop module you now get a set of "Black & White Mix" sliders that allow you to adjust each of the basic hues individually, with the initial settings set as the program sees fit. </p><p></p><p>Here you can see how it arranges the sliders for this photo (note: the Basic module is reflecting the fact that this image still has LR4 processing information)...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]66210[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>...and just to prove the point here are the sliders from a different photo...</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]66211[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>As you can see, curves are similar, but specific values are different.</p><p></p><p>The movement of each of the sliders is effectively what I showed when you changed the hue of each of the various color curves in the first adjustment layer above. What Lightroom doesn't offer is the Master level hue slider, which isn't necessarily a drawback. The cool thing about doing it this way in Lightroom, which isn't something I knew when I first wrote this a year ago, is that LR will maintain the B&W Treatment setting information <em><u>independently from the color version</u></em> (but only in the Adjustment section). This means that you can effectively store both color and B&W versions of the same photo within Lightroom without one set of edits impacting the other. If you decide that you need to also tweak some of the basic settings, or any of the others, for your B&W version then simply do the B&W conversion on a Virtual Copy. This way you have 2 versions of the same photo built on the same basic RAW file.</p><p></p><p>Truth be told, I much prefer the Lightroom method to the one above, now that I've learned of it and played with it, because it's just as flexible, and does not require you to create a new image file - everything is stored in the catalog as an adjustment to the original RAW file. That said, I still do all my B&W's in Silver Efex Pro 2 as the rest of the controls lend so much more impact. </p><p></p><p>As I've said before, if you had to take away all my darkroom tools but one, just leave me with Lightroom.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BackdoorArts, post: 244707, member: 9240"] [b]Re: Better B&W Conversion Using Multiple Hue/Saturation Layers in Photoshop & Element[/b] Kevin, Funny you should ask, because after reviewing and reposting this I thought I should also do one for Lightoom only conversions since I've since learned a great way to do it there. It was something I'd never tried when I did the original blog, and I'm not sure at what level this may have existed prior to LR5, but it's equally effective. If you change the Treatment type in the Basic section of the Develop module from Color to Black & White then Lightroom will automatically convert the image to Black & White for you. This will almost always be different from the simple desaturation, but may or may not be "better". For example: [U]Untouched Color Image[/U] [ATTACH type="full" width="30%"]66206._xfImport[/ATTACH] [U]Lightroom Desaturation[/U] [ATTACH type="full" width="30%"]66207._xfImport[/ATTACH] [U]Lightroom B&W Treatment[/U] [ATTACH type="full" width="30%"]66208._xfImport[/ATTACH] The cool thing is, the conversion is something other than a simple desaturation (in this case you can see specifically that the yellow float is more pronounced in the simple desaturation than in the conversion). What it does is that it analyzes the current image and then attempts to set Hue sliders in a way that it believes best represents the original color image. In the Adjustment section of the Develop module you now get a set of "Black & White Mix" sliders that allow you to adjust each of the basic hues individually, with the initial settings set as the program sees fit. Here you can see how it arranges the sliders for this photo (note: the Basic module is reflecting the fact that this image still has LR4 processing information)... [ATTACH type="full" width="30%"]66210._xfImport[/ATTACH] ...and just to prove the point here are the sliders from a different photo... [ATTACH type="full" width="30%"]66211._xfImport[/ATTACH] As you can see, curves are similar, but specific values are different. The movement of each of the sliders is effectively what I showed when you changed the hue of each of the various color curves in the first adjustment layer above. What Lightroom doesn't offer is the Master level hue slider, which isn't necessarily a drawback. The cool thing about doing it this way in Lightroom, which isn't something I knew when I first wrote this a year ago, is that LR will maintain the B&W Treatment setting information [I][U]independently from the color version[/U][/I] (but only in the Adjustment section). This means that you can effectively store both color and B&W versions of the same photo within Lightroom without one set of edits impacting the other. If you decide that you need to also tweak some of the basic settings, or any of the others, for your B&W version then simply do the B&W conversion on a Virtual Copy. This way you have 2 versions of the same photo built on the same basic RAW file. Truth be told, I much prefer the Lightroom method to the one above, now that I've learned of it and played with it, because it's just as flexible, and does not require you to create a new image file - everything is stored in the catalog as an adjustment to the original RAW file. That said, I still do all my B&W's in Silver Efex Pro 2 as the rest of the controls lend so much more impact. As I've said before, if you had to take away all my darkroom tools but one, just leave me with Lightroom. [/QUOTE]
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