Black-and-white photography is often described as the art of simplification-what we see-but produces strong and timeless photography at the same time. It became influenced by the development of digital photography and accompanying software that allowed photographers to modify photos taken today to create images in older formats never available previously. Take it to the next level of black and white photographic editing by going through this step-by-step guide, whether it’s for a beginning digital camera user or an expert photographer wanting to improve skills and workflow.
This article will focus on how to edit black and white photos using different photo editing tools for toning, adding contrast, and improving the composition, so that your best black and white images pop in gorgeous detail and mood.
Why Choose Black and White?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of editing let’s talk about why black and white photography is still trending. Black and white photographs never grow old. They favour contrast, texture, form and composition over colour.
The reasons why black and white photographs are more impactful than colour photographs:
- A photograph often carries different emotional weight when rendered in black and white. The right tones and contrast can make for a striking, high-impact image, or a softer, more contemplative work of art.
Other User Interaction Choosing the Right Image for Black and White Editing
Black and white doesn’t play nice with every image. High contrast, tonally rich colour images usually have the greatest potential for black and white conversion.
A few things to keep in mind:
- High contrast: High contrast images with strong differences between light and dark areas tend to be good in black and white.
- Strong Composition: Good black and white images are often dictated by strong composition leading lines, symmetry, patterns, etc. as the elimination of colour also takes away a layer of visual interest.
- Textures and Details: Closer pictures of textured subjects, like architecture, skin or nature, can show additional tone in black and white.
How to Edit Black and White Photos: Step by Step
You’ve chosen an image; now it’s time to put it to work. So, we’ll guide you on what to do to create a standout black and white photo.
Step 1: Make It Black and White
First processing of the image is to turn it from colour into black and white. Most photo editing software, including Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop has an option to convert the image into grayscale in a few clicks.
Lightroom: Select your image and head over to the Develop section to start working in Lightroom. Then, select the “Black & White” option found in the “Basic” panel.
Photoshop: Image > Adjustments > Black & White This will convert your photo to grayscale, and you’ll see a default tonal range based on the original colors.
Even if this automatic conversion may look passable, you want to further fine-tune the tones in the image, hence:.
Step 2: Tone With Some Contrast
Now that your photo is black and white, the next step is to adjust the tonal range. One of the characteristics of monochrome photos is the spectrum between black and white, or the tonal range. Tweaking this range will give your image depth and dimension and will ensure the photo isn’t flat.
- Lightroom: The main one is the “Exposure” slider, which increases or decreases the overall exposure of the image. Decreasing exposure will darken the image, while increasing it will make it brighter. Next, the second slider, “Contrast,” makes dark areas darker and light areas lighter.
- Photoshop: Image > Adjustments > Levels or Curves Using photoshop tools, you can tweak the shadows, midtones and highlights so you achieve the contrast you are looking for. I think you should be careful not to lose detail either in the darkest shadows or brightest highlights.
- Pro Tip: Play around with the “Contrast” setting and “Whites” slider. Pushing the contrast lowers adds a bit of depth to the image, and the “Whites” slider will give you that perfect blend of lightness without losing detail.
Step 3: Dodge & Burn for Dimension
They are also important for amplifying the tones and shadows of a photograph to create depth. This is a process that deals with the control of brightness and darkness in different parts of the picture. When incorporated into an image, you can guide the viewer’s eye through the image and focus on the most important aspects of the image.
Use: Adjustment Brush for local changes. Choose “Exposure” to lighten certain areas or “Shadows” to darken them.
- In Photoshop: Create a new layer and select Overlay. Set a low opacity soft brush at ~10-20% and paint with white to brighten specific areas of the image or black to darken.
Dodge and burn are particularly effective in portraiture for accentuating features of the face, or in landscapes for emphasizing the contrast of light and dark elements in the scene.
Step 4: Add More Detail With Clarity and Texture
When you have just a black and white photo, you have to focus attention on important details like textures and patterns. Focusing more on the midtones and adding clarity can give more emphasis on the finer details in the image.
- In Lightroom: Raise the “Clarity” slider in lightroom which adds midtone contrast. The “Texture” slider can also be used to highlight finer details in things like skin, fabric or nature.
- To enhance sharpness in Photoshop, utilize the High Pass filter. Navigate to Filter > Other > High Pass, and enter a low radius value. Then change the layer to be an “Overlay” or “Soft Light” for a subtler attention.
Note: you want to be careful with sharpness, as you can add to much of it and end up with a very harsh and artificial-looking picture. Apply little and apply them in main areas only, like textures, facial features and complex details.
Step 5: Adjust Tonality: Mix of Black and White
The ability to adjust tonal values of individual colours prior to converting to grayscale is one of the most powerful tools of black and white editing. This method is sometimes known as the black and white mix, and it allows fine control of different colours’ appearance in black and white.
- For Lightroom: To access the HSL/Color/BW settings in Lightroom, navigate to the “Develop” module and scroll down to the corresponding section. Under the tab marked with the “B/W” you will find individual colour sliders (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, etc.) — these control color correction and also control how each colour is represented in black and white.
- For Photoshop: One possibility (similar to above) would be an “Adjustments Layer” (first option in the little icon tab) with a “Black and White” setting (second option in the little icon tab). This means that you can alter the grey tones that relate to each colour.
For example, raising the “Red” slider brightens skin tones in portraits, while lowering the “Blue” slider can add drama to skies in landscape shots.
Use Gradient Filters for a Dramatic Effect
A great way to add mood to black and white images are gradient filters. If you want to darken the sky in a landscape or emphasize a certain part of the photo, gradient filters can help lead the viewer’s eye.
- In Lightroom: Select the “Graduated Filter” tool and set gradient effect. You can swipe the filter across the section of the image to darken or lighten it and apply exposure, contrast and clarity changes as needed.
- In Photoshop: Use the gradient map adjustment layer to create a gradient from black to white and try different blending modes (like “soft light” or “overlay”) for a more moody appearance.
Gradient filters can add an ethereal or cinematic feel to your image — particularly when applied to the sky or other background areas.
Step 7: Refinery Plan: Adding Vignettes and Noise
If your interest is more on the art side, then you could add a vignette or maybe some subtle grain to the photo to create a more powerful black-and-white photo. Both effects can bring depth and texture, and, when done right, help the image to feel more unified.
To adjust the edges of your photo in Lightroom, go to the “Effects” panel and make use of the “Post-Crop Vignetting” section to either darken or lighten those areas. Add grain too, for a more organic, movie-like look.
To apply a vignette in Photoshop: choose a new layer and then use a large soft brush to darken the edges.
From the Filter option on the menu bar
- Click to apply the Add Noise effect after choosing Noise.
- On the menu bar go to Select, then Click on Filter then on Noise and Finally click on Add Noise.
- Go to the Filter menu, choose Noise from the submenu, and then select Add Noise to apply the filtering process.
- Select it from the Filter when Noise is selected in the Choose option and click on Add Noise.
- To apply the effect go up to the Filter menu and select Noise and, from the drop down list, click add noise.
- Try out the different settings that you come across.
The only thing you have to ensure you do not go overboard with these effects. The grain and corner vignette are quite subtle so they provide the viewer with useful information without distracting him from a photo.
Step 8: Final Adjustments and Exporting
The last step is to view the image before you export it. In this way the idea is to determine in which areas the tonal range may be profitably extended, and where fine details may be accentuated or suppressed. Also, you should click the wheel in the corner, which will magnify the image to its original size, and check whether the slight details were lost during the process.
Now that you’re happy with your edits, it’s time to export.
- In Lightroom: Select File > Export, set all your export settings, and be sure to choose a print or web resolution output.
- Photoshop: Export your file as per your requirement, TIFF for prints and JPEG for web.
Conclusion
For this reason, learning how to edit black and white photos is one of the best strategies that can help generate quality as well as emotionally charged visuals. Through mastering the standard steps of exposure, contrast, texture and tonal values of a picture and keen observation you will be in a position to transform a normal photo into an artwork. Just be reminded that while black and white photography deals with simplicity, this doesn’t mean that there is no information. It requires determining effort, dedication, craftsmanship, and attentiveness in order to attain outstanding aptitudes.
The above is what you need if you desire to bring your black and white photographs to life.
Additional Resources
So it can be good for the beginner to watch a video tutorial at first.
Preset Packs: A lot of photographers use Lightroom presets or Photoshop actions to help them process images faster. Try different packs until you find one that works for you.
Using these techniques and tips, you’re all set to start editing your black and white photos like a pro.
