Convert RAW Files to Black-and-White Images

Transcription

1 Convert RAW Files to Black-and-White Images Contributor: Seán Duggan n Specialty: Fine Art Primary Tools Used: Saturation slider and Calibration tab Camera Raw offers a great deal of control for crafting black-and-white interpretations of color images. When used on a desaturated file, the white balance options and the color control sliders in the Calibrate tab allow you to modify the gray tones in a way that is very similar to the panchromatic response of black-and-white film when photographed through colored filters. Like all Camera Raw settings, you can save different combinations of settings and easily apply them to other files, either in the Camera Raw dialog box, or through Bridge. This technique shows you how to convert a color image to black and white

2 1 Open the file you want to convert to grayscale in Camera Raw. Although you are likely to see the most dramatic differences in black-and-white tones when using an image with bright and distinct colors like shown here, sometimes even subtle, muted color images can offer a surprising range of tonal possibilities In Camera Raw, press Control/Ô+U to turn off automatic adjustments, and then adjust the photo using the Exposure, Shadows, and Brightness sliders in the Adjust tab to get the color image looking good even though you will eventually convert it to black and white. Although this step is optional, doing it is worthwhile because good color images make good black-and-white images. The main goal that you want to achieve from these adjustments is to have the shadow and highlight points set appropriately for the image and to have good contrast. Because the final product will be black and white, don t be concerned about color casts or white balance issues. Tip To preserve bright highlights with detail, identify them by holding down the Alt/Option key and dragging the Exposure slider to the right until the highlight area appears indicating the brightest point. Then click that spot using the Color Sampler tool. You can monitor this sample throughout the process to ensure that detail is maintained. Then re-adjust the Exposure slider so the image looks good. 187

3 6.3 3 On the Adjust tab, drag the Saturation slider all the way to the left to 100 to remove all color values from the image. Once you remove the color, get ready to fine-tune the grayscale tonal balance

4 4 Try adjusting the White Balance, Temperature, and Tint sliders. These controls usually do not offer too many possibilities, but they are worth exploring. The actual results that you get depend on the color balance in the image you re working on. As the old saying goes, your mileage may vary. Moving the Temperature slider to the left brings down the overall key of the image and darkens it. Moving it to the right brightens the image. Now is also a time when a color sampler point on a bright highlight is useful you can monitor it so that you don t blow the highlights out to 255, the brightest point at which there is no detail in any channel. The White Balance adjustments do not do too much for the image in this example, so I restored the settings to As Shot. To restore settings, click the arrow next to White Balance, and then choose As Shot from the menu Click the Calibrate tab. The Calibrate controls affect the image in a way similar to those in the Hue/Saturation dialog box in Photoshop, but they are more subtle. In a color image, the Shadow Tint slider shifts the tint of the shadow tones between green on the left (negative values) and magenta on the right (positive values). With a grayscale conversion, the effect of this slider is usually on the brightness and contrast of the image rather than significantly altering the relationships between the tones. Moving the Shadow Tint slider all the way to the right (+100) gives this image a pleasing boost in density and contrast. Tip When working on an image with subtle details in the deep shadows, be cautious with your Shadow Tint adjustments because you can cause the shadow details to block up and become too dark. 189

5 6.6 6 Next are the Red, Green, and Blue Hue and Saturation sliders. Generally, my approach is to experiment with these sliders, but some images have certain colors that I know will be affected more by certain sliders. For most files, first check out how each pair of color sliders affects the image when moved to different ends of the scale. Look for basic tonal shifts and characteristics that you like, and then finetune them later. In this image, moving the Red Hue slider all the way to the left darkened the steps and the red railing around the pool. Moving it all the way to the right lightened the railing and created much better contrast between the steps, walkway, pool, and surrounding lawn. Ultimately for this figure, I reset the Red sliders by clicking approximately in the middle of the slider track. You can also enter a 0 in the numeric field, but at this stage exact numeric values are not critical. X-Ref For more information on the effects of the Red, Green, and Blue Saturation sliders, see Chapter 5. The Green sliders adjustments also did not move me, so I reset the Green values to 0. In adjusting the Blue sliders for this image, things really began to look interesting. Moving both the Blue Hue and Blue Saturation sliders far to the left makes the pool interior look very light. This effect represents the most dramatic tonal change so far. Moving the Blue Hue slider all the way to the right (+100) and the Blue Saturation slider to +30 makes the interior of the pool look very dark. I really liked the look of the dark water and how it influenced the feel of the entire image, and I decided to explore this look further. 190

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7 7 Using these Blue settings as a base, it s time to experiment with the Red and Green sliders to see how they might alter the image. Working with these sliders reveals that adjustments are interrelated, so you may need to move back and forth adjusting the different controls. As you can see from the process here, once you find the color that really affects your image, you can go back and experiment with how the other two colors adjustments affect the image. In this image, the final grayscale conversion emphasizes the dark water and makes the pool look a little unsettling and mysterious. The settings I used combined the Shadow Tint and the Red and Blue Hue and Saturation sliders. I did not use the Green sliders at all. 6.9 X-Ref To access these settings and use them on other images, just save all or part of the settings. For details on saving settings, see Chapter 7. You can build up a library of settings and quickly apply them to one or more images in Camera Raw or Bridge. 8 As a final step, click the Curves tab and adjust the curve as necessary. For this image, I lift the curve just slightly for the highlights and lower it slightly for the shadows. X-Ref For details on setting a tone curve, see Chapter 4. The goal is to lighten the brighter parts such as the paved walkway around the pool and increase the contrast between it and the dark interior of the pool. 192

8 6.10 A Faster Way to Apply Black-and-White Settings Sidebar SB Although using the Calibrate controls on a desaturated image gives you a lot of control in creating custom black-and-white interpretations of color images, this method is not fast and it sometimes requires a lot of adjusting back and forth between the different sliders until you get something you like. Although this is not an issue for fine art photographers who generally don t mind spending time tweaking their images, it can be a major workflow logjam when you have to deal with a lot of images such as converting hundreds of wedding shots into black and white. For those scenarios, consider creating and saving some very basic black-and-white settings that only involve the Saturation slider to remove color from the image and add a curve for images that need more or less contrast. Settings for basic black and white, basic black and white (increase contrast), and basic black and white (reduce contrast) would be applicable to many images, and you could apply them to entire groups of images. Even though you might choose to further finesse images that you intend to make into large prints, these basic settings would be fine for the client proofing process. 193