Digital SLR Photography - UK (2019-07)

1

In theDevelopmodule,rightat thetopunderthehistogram,clickonTreatment:Black

& White. Thiswillperformyourbasicmonochromeconversion.In theB&Wtabfurther

down,clickonAutoat thebottomtoapplyLightroom’sautomatic mix, however for more

controlyoucanadjusteachcolourchannelindividually.

2

Thesecontrolsworkmuchlikeif youweretouseblack& white colour filters – use the

sliderstolightenordarkeneachtonetodrawyourviewer’s attention to specific areas.

Usewithcare– if twocoloursneareachotheronthecolourwheel are mixed vastly

differenttooneanother,you’llseeoddartefactswheretheyblend.

Toextractthebestfromyourmonochromecreationsyoushoulduse

theChannelMixer.Thisallowsyoutocontrolhow colours are

translatedintoblack& white– a benefitofshooting in colour and

convertingduringprocessing,ratherthancapturing in black & white.

ORIGINAL

MONOEDIT

TheBeginner’s Guide

MONOEDITING

IDEAS& SKILLS

62 Digital SLR Photography July 2019

THETIPS,TRICKSAND SOFTWARE

THATYOU WILLWANTTO MASTER

IF YOU’ REGOINGTO GETTHE

MOST OUTOFMONOCHROME

CHANNELMIXER

1

TheToneCurve will be a straight, diagonal line from bottom left to top right by default.

Addinganchorpointsallowsyoutomanipulatethatline– theleft-hand side of the line

representstheshadowsandtheright-handsiderepresentsthehighlights – lowering or

raising the line either brightens or darkens the corresponding areas.

2

Creatinga subtle‘S’ shapedarkenstheshadowsandbrightensthehighlights,adding

contrast– themoreexaggeratedthecurve,thehigherthecontrast.You can add

anchor points to lock parts of the curve in place – allowing you to brighten or darken

just one part of the tonal range without affecting the rest.

Aswe’vecoveredalready,contrast is vital to black & white

photography, and few editing tools give you the universal control

over contrast than the Tone Curve. It's not as difficult to use as a

beginner as it might appear on the surface easier, so get stuck in.

ADAM BURTON

CONTRASTCURVE

W

E COULDWRITEa whole issue on

editing black & white images alone,

so while we’ve tried to concentrate

on the capture and in-camera side of black

& white photography so far, here are some

easyeditingideasandtechniquestotryout

thatwillmakeyourmonochromework

reallystandout.We’vecarriedthese

adjustmentsoutin AdobeLightroom, but

most Raw editing suites offer very similar if

not identical tools. The nice thing about

editing black & white images is that you can

be more liberal with adjustments without

worrying about images looking unnatural.