How to light for a black & white shoot? Help!

[Mattj]

I found this image in Elle magazine and thought it was amazing. I am trying to get some help on what type of lighting setup was used to create the soft, but dramatic tones. I was also wondering if anyone had a suggestion on what type of camera to use to get really nice B&W photos. Digital just isn't cutting it for me. Any help would be great.

[OsmosisStudios]

You can get wonderful black and white images with digital: it's a matter of knowing how to convert colour images into black and white.

The trick to this show is a light on the left (left-side highlight), one on the right (right side highlight), Hairlight (highlight on the face) and a general soft light (overall lighting). There's probably another to light the background.

[RexK_Cozumel]

Looks more like a two light setup to me actually why trot out 5 lights when 2 will work.... One camera left slightly behind or even with the model and one camera right, in front of the model. The one on camera left lights the model's right side and hair. Probably has a grid on it to limit the spill. The one on camera right is angled above the model and lights the model's left side, face, hair and spills onto the background. Could have an on axis fill of some sort like a reflector or third light but not really necessary.

And as already stated it is all about your conversion to B&W with digital. If you do the whole convert to greyscale let photoshop choose how to automatically process it then you are asking for mediocre results.

[Mattj]

I actually know about 5 ways to create a B&W digital image (dray scale, desaturation, channel mixer, etc.), but none come close to a true B&W photo. I wanted to know if someone knows a better method then what I have been doing. It seems like everyone I ask has the same answers, but they lack those true B&W tones.

[kencaleno]

Here are seven ways to convert from Color to black & white:

#1.
Ctrl+J
Image> Calculations
Background layer
Red
Background Layer
Red
Multiply
New channel
Image> Mode> Greyscale
flatten/save

#2.
Image>Mode>Greyscale
discard color information?-click "OK"
Save

#3.
Image>Adjustments>Desaturate
Save

#4.
Ctrl+J
new adjustment layer- Hue/saturation
Reduce saturation to -100
New adjustment layer-Hue/saturation>Blues
drag "lightness" slider to -100
>Greens-push up to lighten
new adjustment layer>Hue/saturation
Increase saturation to just before noise appears
Flatten save

#5.
CCtrl+J
Image>Adjustments>Channel mixer
Check "monochrome" box
Move sliders to define image:
-as a starting point Red +50%
Green +50%
Blue 0%
Whatever the mix,total must add up to 100%
Flatten save

#6.
Kodak Plus X:

Image>Adjustments>Desaturate
Image>Mode>Lab color
Ctrl+J
Filter>Other>High Pass radius 10 pixels
Opacity between 20%-40%
Blend Mode-Hard light
New curve layer(Ctrl+M)
Input 22- Output 16
flatten
Image>Mode>RGB
save

#7.
Kodak Tri-X:

1. Desaturate color
Use either the hue/saturation or desaturate command to remove all color from the image.

2. Add monochrome noise -Just enough to see (Check "monochrome" box)


3. Adjust levels

Bleach Highlights
move the highlight slider to the left - this will start to cause the highlights to overexpose
Deepen Shadows
move the shadow slider a very small amount to the right - this will make the shadows a bit darker and increase the image contrast.
Adjust Midtones
adjust the midtone slider to taste

Save


And here's a way to quadtone:

Ctrl+J
Image> Mode> Duotone
Choose type: Quadtone
Load> quadtones> pantones
Select last option Bl 541 513 5773. Hit LOAD. Hit OK.
Image> Mode> RGB Color
Flatten/save

Regards, Ken

[Mattj]

Ken, That is awesome! That is what I have been looking for. I love all the different options. Thanks for the great help man.