Help make B&W pop

[rescueiscoming]

I would like help making my B&W photos pop. I am using an old version of Photoshop (PS CS). I usually take my photos in RAW format, but this one was taken as JPG. I took it in the afternoon. Here is the photo:



Thanks,
Jamie

[Photologyst]

Subtly adjusted in Lightroom:



Adjusted in Photoshop, moon enhanced, the rest in Topaz:



Above cropped:



There is some clipping, but that can be mitigated in high res if you want. However, sometimes those halos are interesting.

I would also consider enlarging the moon.

[dcclark]

What method did you use to convert to B&W? The channel mixer method is my favorite. My choosing different amounts of the red, green, and blue channels to contribute to your B&W image, you can make certain colors very dark, or very bright. (For example, if you have a very blue sky, then using 0% of the blue channel will make it very dark, even black.)

Also, a simple application of curves or levels would help. B&W often benefits from very white whites, and very black blacks -- make sure you're not stuck entirely in the midrange greys.

[OsmosisStudios]

Channel mixing or using the HSL sliders in my RAW developed (ACR) works wonders.

The trick is contrast: you want 1% black and 99% white, but a good mix in between.

[rescueiscoming]

Originally Posted by dcclark

What method did you use to convert to B&W? The channel mixer method is my favorite. My choosing different amounts of the red, green, and blue channels to contribute to your B&W image, you can make certain colors very dark, or very bright. (For example, if you have a very blue sky, then using 0% of the blue channel will make it very dark, even black.)

Also, a simple application of curves or levels would help. B&W often benefits from very white whites, and very black blacks -- make sure you're not stuck entirely in the midrange greys.

I used PS Elements and used the BW converter. I don't believe either of my Photoshops (CS or Elements) allows channel mixing like the newer PSs. If I'm wrong please let me know, thanks.

[dcclark]

I'm pretty sure that the channel mixer exists in every version of Photoshop. However, as a gimp user, I couldn't swear to it. But, it's a pretty basic feature and I'd definitely be surprised.

[SusanH1970]

A quick levels adjustment - I'm fairly certain your version has levels. I just darkened the blacks a bit, whitened the whites, and brought up the midtones. There's a tiny bit of clipping in the blacks and a couple of blow outs in the whites, but it would still print well. Cool photo, by the way.

ETA: Channel mixer is a great way to do a BW conversion. What I use the most though is gradient map. I think your version has that.

[LeeR]

If you are a student of the Zone System you know that there are 11 zones from 0 (pure black) to 10 (pure white) and all the shades of gray in between. If you are shooting in color it is possible to make a fine image using just a few zones in the middle where the colors are most intense, but B&W won't allow you to get away with that. You pretty much have to use the entire range to get images with punch. Your original image has neither a pure white or black and that is why everyone who has attempted to improve it has started by increasing the contrast to extend the range. This is quite easily done in either PS or GIMP and there are a number of tutorials on YouTube on other tools(like the ones Osmosis mentioned) that can help you get a bit more punch. But using the full range of grays is the first requirement.

Back in the days when I was shooting film I used to love my red and green filters for B&W. Red makes a clear sky like you have come out very dark, which can be very dramatic. Green makes the sky darken a bit and also lightens the grass. Experimenting with those filters may be beneficial. The tools mention by Osmosis will give you a similar effect though not to the degree of a real filter on the lens.

[ElCapitan]

Shooting in color is always the best option, even when you know you are outputting the final image to B&W. As stated above, you have the option to adjust the different colors' hue, saturation, and luminance. All of these can play a major role in B&W. I am not sure this is an option in you edition of PS, but in the newer ones (maybe starting with CS2) you can create a B&W layer where you can adjust the different colors to help make your B&W pop and look more pleasing.

There are several other techniques to making a B&W pop and look good. I use a combination depending on what is needed in the image. The simple ones are Brightness/Contrast, Curves, and Levels. Depending on if I set the right cruve in RAW, I may not need to mess with it in PS, but you may find you can push it a little further. My favorite it upping the brightness and putting the contrast just a tad below or above what I set the brightness to. This can add some very nice contrast to the image and give it more clear whites and blacks that can help make it pop. Another thing I like to do, though it depends on the image, is duplicate the background layer and set it to soft light. Adjust the opacity of the soft light layer to your liking. This can help a flat image have contrast.

Because your image was already B&W, there were only a few things to do with it. Just really quick, I created a duplicate layer and set it to soft light. I adjusted the layer to around 70%. I messed with curves a little to get some contrast in areas the soft light layer did not. I then used the layer mask of the curves layer and got rid of the areas that were too dark or too bright. This was just a quick 5min conversion, so with more work and lightening or darkening some areas could help as well.

Before

After

[Ubergeek]

I wrote an article on my blog about b&w it covers why to use the channel mixer function with examples:

Tim Naylor's Photography: In-camera black & white - What a waste.

Regards.