PhotoShop Ideas for Black & White Photos
Photography started with black-and-white photos in the 1830s, and even though the standard has become full color images, black and white still has its place. Shooting or rendering photos in black and white tends to make images more dramatic and artful, if you shoot them correctly. With the use of Adobe PhotoShop, you can take virtually any photo shot in color and turn it into a black-and-white image. Beyond that, you can take your images to different levels with different tools.
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Desaturate
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Never use the "Grayscale" choice under the "Image" menu and "Mode" submenu to turn your color image into black and white. This removes too much digital information and greatly restricts your control over the image. Instead, go to the "Image" menu, select "Adjustments" and choose "Desaturate." This creates a black-and-white image but leaves all the digital information from the original RGB, or red-green-blue, photo intact. You may find that simply using "Desaturate" creates the kind of image you want as an end-product, but you can go beyond this.
Black and White Controls
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With PhotoShop CS3, Adobe introduced a separate set of controls for your black-and-white images. You can find it under the "Image" menu in "Adjustments." If you have used "Desaturate," you can manipulate the "colors"---reds, yellows, greens, cyans, blues and magentas---of your image. You do not actually need "Desaturate" if you use the Black and White option because PhotoShop converts it for you. These controls give you subtle control over your image. For example, if you have a light blue in your photo and want to darken just that---assuming you do not have a lot of other blues in the photo---use the "Blues" slider and watch the image.
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Equalize
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The "Equalize" control in PhotoShop usually goes unnoticed because just clicking it may produce an unpleasant effect. However, if you use it wisely, you can produce very interesting photos. For example, if you have a photo of a backwoods stream, lined on both sides by trees with the sky filling the top center of the image, you can make this much more dramatic using "Equalize." "Desaturate" the image, then select the "Magic Wand" tool from the side Toolbar. Click on the sky area. Use "Equalize" in the "Adjustments" submenu. In the popup, select "Equalize Selected Area Only." Then go to the "Select" menu and choose "Inverse." This selects all the area of the image previously excluded. Repeat the same process. You also can punch up the blacks and white after this using "Curves" or "Levels" in the "Adjustments" submenu.
Filters
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You can do a lot of things with "Filters" in PhotoShop. From sharpening and blurring to using artistic overlay effects, "Filters" can turn an ordinary image into something special. For your black-and-white photo, you can try "Diffuse Glow" in the "Distort" group for a dream-state effect. You can use "Cutout" under "Artistic" for a graphic look. "Poster Edges," also in "Artistic," can make your black-and-white photo appear as an ink drawing. "Dark Strokes" in "Brush Strokes" can give it a surreal, sharply black-and-white look.
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References
- Photo Credit Photos.com/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
