Black & White Conversion

Hi Everybody
This thread describes the skeleton of basic steps that I do to convert colored to b/w.
Please note steps and amount of conversion may vary from pic to pic , there is no hard n fast rule that u have to follow the following steps in order. They will just give some useful handles to use as n when u need.

I use photoshop CS 2

Black & White Conversion
Original Pic to start with




1. Choose any of your favorite pics for B/W conversion. Avoid flat pics with less contrast. Above is a candid shot take at London with Nikon D50 , Nikkor 50mm f1.8 d lens , in Aperture Priority mode.
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/2
Focal Length: 50 mm

2. It was shot in Jpeg mode. ( I was out of space in London , otherwise wud have taken in RAW ) .I prefer working on RAW as more details are present in the shadows as compared to jpgs. But many times results from jpgs are also very good.

3. In this pic since I want to get a little more details out of her hair ( lady in white coat) I am sharpening it a bit.
4.


5. Layer Copy ( Cntrl + J)
6. Select Window -> Histogram and Go to channels and select R, G , B channels one by one and see which histogram is giving u the max details. Usually 90 % of cases it comes red channel, but sometimes it comes blue

7. Now Select Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Channel Mixer

8.

9. Playaround with it till you get your desired BW results. Usually I keep the max of the channel which gives me the best details in the histogram ( In this case it is red), as I have more details in the shadows and highlights both.

10. Now while selecting the channel mixer choose +90 of Red , +4 of Green and +6 of Blue and check monochrome check box. Usually I try to keep the sum of three close to 100 % ( no particular reason for that but that avoids some overexposure , but then again itz ones own choice at the end ).

11. We got the B/W conversion which is very close to our original colored pic .

12. Do a merge down. Because when we toggle between RGB & Lab mode it has to be flattened.

13. Go to Image -> Mode -> Lab Color ( When prompted select don’t’ flatten ).

14. Do a (Cntrl + J ) to copy the BW layer

15. Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Curves

16. Play around with the Lightness mode to get a better contrast, if the pic is looking flat to you.

17. Usually I prefer S shaped curve for a strong contrast.



18. Merge down
19. Switch back to RGB Mode

Results Before


After



20. Now to get the details from some of the shadows we will do some dodging and burning by adding a blank layer and then using a soft brush ( hardness +10 ) and opacity ( +5 to +10) will bring out some of the hidden details from hair & coat




Before Conversion



After Conversion


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I guess still there is a lot of room for improvement, which I can only achieve with feedback from all you people. I am still in a learning phase so would be glad to get some tips from all of you to improve upon my skills.

If you have any questions do feel free to drop me a email

@ shakti.sd@gmail.com
checkout the blog for some more b/w conversions
50mmblackandwhite.blogspot.com/


Cheers
Shakti

My own comments after watching the Final Result .. It is not having much details in the shadows which can be further refined to get some more details .. can bring more details in eyes and white coat .. black coat is completely gone ......hmm.. somewht not satisfied completely…Feeling damn zzzzz now .. let it be like that for now ...
:)