HOW TO CONVERT YOUR PHOTOS TO BLACK AND WHITE WITH LIGHTROOM
HOW TO CONVERT YOUR PHOTOS TO BLACK AND WHITE WITH LIGHTROOM
Have you been trapped in the world of black and white and you no longer know how to get out? Or have you just landed and would like to know how to edit your image beyond putting the default filter that your Smartphone offers you? Do you have Lightroom? Well, you have come to the right place, because today's article is going to explain in a simple way, how to convert photos to black and white. We see it? But first, I have to recommend this mega guide with tips and tricks to photograph in black and white and achieve the most spectacular images, because the first step to success in editing is to start with a good photo.
CHOICE OF IMAGE
Obviously, the first step in converting photos to black and white is choosing the candidate image. To do this, remember the importance of looking for images that are not supported by color , and with proper composition and exposure .
Likewise, I strongly recommend that if you plan to convert images to black and white, you always do so using the RAW format . This format is the one that preserves the most information about the tones, shadows, and lights of the image, so it will give you images richer in nuances and, ultimately, more richness and material with which to work with the corresponding adjustments.
In this case we will work with the following image in RAW format.
To convert to black and white, remember to work in RAW format
BLACK AND WHITE CONVERSION MODES
Basically you can do the conversion in 4 different ways:
BASIC BLACK AND WHITE CONVERSION MODE
Within the basic editing settings, Lightroom offers us the monochrome change simply by choosing the black and white option from the basic- settings panel.
Basic black and white conversion mode
CONVERSION TO BLACK AND WHITE THROUGH SATURATION
Moving the saturation cursor to the left, all the colors will lose saturation until they reach gray, white, and black.
through saturation
DESATURATING COLOR BY COLOR
Within the basic settings panel you will find a subsection with the name of HSL , which controls the hue, saturation and luminance of each of the colors in the image.
Desaturate color by color
LIGHTROOM PRESET MODES
Or presets, they are automatic ways to convert photos to black and white of different styles, some highly contrasted, others less, some with more or less texture, light, and so on.
Lightroom preset modes
BASIC DEVELOPMENT SETTINGS
Before starting to detail each of the settings, I would like to advise you or comment on a couple of things. The first is that there is no right or wrong way to develop images. The basic development is always to the taste of the consumer, that is to say, of you and of that own and personal style that, over time, you will acquire.
The second is that, once you have become familiar with each of the settings, establish a workflow to develop the images. That is, that you work in an orderly and logical way when editing your photos. This is how you take advantage of time and minimize errors ? .
THE HISTOGRAM
The basic development settings are the ones that mainly control the lights and shadows of the image and, consequently, other aspects such as contrast , both in the middle and extreme tones. That is why knowing how to read the histogram of the image will be of great help as a starting point when revealing our photograph.
Learn to read the histogram
Quickly, we can say that the histogram is divided into three zones : the right one corresponds to the highlights, the intermediate one, to the middle or gray tones, and the left zone, to the shadows. Depending on where the information peaks of the graph are concentrated, we will know if it has a correct exposure or is over or under exposed. Ideally (except for scenarios with very extreme lighting), the information is distributed throughout the histogram. That is, it has a wide dynamic range or detail in all areas of the exposure.
TEMPERATURE
When we work in color, this is where we correct the color temperature. That is to say, when you have been taking lights indoors with the usual light bulbs and you have realized that all your photos are orange, this is where you can come to correct it ? Moving the cursor to the right, you will go towards more shades warm (orange) hues, and moving the cursor to the left, towards the cold (bluish) tones. In black and white, the movement of the cursors also affects the image. To learn to see the functionalities of each of the basic correction parameters, it is best to touch the cursor from side to side. Don't worry, you can always go back. So you can better understand each of the basic settings.
The same image with two different color temperatures (cool on the right, warm on the left)
HUE
Tint tints the image in different shades from magenta to green , and also affects black and white photography. Not surprisingly, each of the grays is the translation of a color. If you put the cursor to the right you will see how the image lightens and to the left it darkens. Personally, I don't usually use either temperature or hue to work with black and white because I think that both aspects can be worked with other parameters such as lights and shadows or the saturation of the different colors, but maybe it's going well for you, depending on your tastes. it is known ?
EXPOSURE SETTINGS
Basic exposure settings
1. EXHIBITION
Although we are going in the same order as the Lightroom interface so as not to get confused, I always recommend leaving the exposure for last. Many times by adjusting lights, shadows, blacks and whites, the exposure is automatically corrected. However, it is a very useful tool to add or subtract a certain degree of light in the image.
2. CONTRAST
Accentuates the intensity of the blacks and whites in the image.
3. HIGHLIGHTS
Modifies the right zone of the histogram; the one that corresponds only to the highlights of the scene, leaving the rest of the image the same. It is very useful to correct scenes with certain areas with too much exposure.
4. SHADOWS
The same as the highlights but for the left area of the histogram. Corrects the shadow areas, lightening or darkening them and leaving the rest of the image with the same exposure.
5. WHITE
Adds or subtracts white to the scene. For a scene to have a good color gamut , it is interesting that the information in it goes from pure white (255,255,255) to pure black (0,0,0). Thus the image is richer in nuances. With this cursor, you can "force" the image to reach these two extremes
6. BLACKS
Adds or subtracts black to the image.
Now, how do we know if the image has pure black and white or not? To eye? It is not necessary. Lightroom has a fantastic method for finding out. Look at the following screenshot. Two arrows appear in the corners of the histogram . Each of them corresponds to the area of shadows (left) and lights (right). When activated, it shows us those areas where the image loses information or what is the same, where black and white are pure. Adding some pure black and white to your image will broaden the contrast and richness of tones in the image.
7. CLARITY
Adds contrast only in the midtones of the image.
8. INTENSITY
Intelligently intensifies tones lacking in saturation. It is very useful for scenes with “dull” midtones, and is also more subtle than saturation.
9. SATURATION
Intensifies all tones equally.
TONE CURVE
Another way to control the exposure values is through the tone curve . Either directly modifying the curve or with the lower cursors.
Only with exposure and contrast adjustments can you convert your photos to black and white. However, you have more controls if you want to have full control over every nuance in the scene. Let's see them.
MIX OF BLACK AND WHITE
While Lightroom often offers an automatic conversion with its own interpretation of the translation of tones to grayscale, it's best to put yourself in control of each tone in your image. This mixer will be very useful to lighten or darken areas of the image with a specific color cast (for example, to darken a sky, lighten a face, contrast certain areas of the image that a priori have been translated similar, etc.).
For example, faces tend to have a lot of red and yellow (depending on the original color of the sitter, of course). Through these two cursors you can play to lighten or darken, for example, only the face of the sitter.
NOTE: To leave the cursors at zero, just click twice on each one of them. This will also help you if you have been fiddling with any cursor and decide to return to the initial values. Simply double click where you are interested and you automatically return to the initial value.
DETAIL
Finally, I would advise you to take a look at the "Detail" section. Here you can correct both noise and lack of sharpness or focus. To adjust this parameter, remember to enlarge the image to a 1:1 scale before you start working with the settings. So you can see the changes in detail.
Detail to increase sharpness and focus
FINAL SCORE
This is the conversion I've come to, although there are as many options as there are photographers in charge of editing the image ? The trick is to keep trying until you reach a style that satisfies us.
Final score
To finish, I leave you with a video of Joan Vendrell in which he converts another completely different image to black and white with the same tool.
I hope this article on the basic settings in Lightroom to convert photos to black and white has been useful. If so, share it so other people can benefit from it too. Thank you very much and until next time ?
