Black and White Conversion with Calculations - Great for flat-looking landscape shots

[RecurrentNerve]

If you have a recent version of Photoshop, you likely know about the dedicated Black and White adjustment layer, which I'm told gives good results. But, if (like me) you don't have a recent version of Photoshop, or you want something a bit different, there are a number of other ways you can go about converting your photos to black and white.

One of the least well-known is Calculations, which gives good, punchy results in a very short space of time. In this tutorial I'll take you through the process I use to turn a flat landscape shot taken around midday into something a bit more dramatic, using Calculations and 'split-toning'. It may look a bit long, but it's a pretty quick process once you know what you're doing.

Flicking through the Channels

Here's our starting image. The sky is overexposed; we'll fix that later. Let's dive straight in to the black and white conversion. Calculations works by blending two channels of your choice. By channels I mean the red, green or blue parts of an image. Blending different channels with different Blending modes yields different results; experimentation is the way to go. Below the starting image is the final converted and split-toned image.




So, go to Image > Calculations. The dialogue box is split into 3 sections. The first and second sections determine which channels from which image you want to blend (you can blend from another image if you want, but we're not going there), and the third determines how they are blended. The first thing to do is change the Blending dropdown to Overlay.

Then, making sure the Preview box is ticked, change the second Channel dropdown from Red to Green. Then change it from Green to Blue, noting how the image changes. Finally, change the first Channel dropdown to Green, again noting the effect. It's up to you which combination gives the best result. If the effect seems too harsh, try changing the Blending dropdown to Soft Light. In this example I've gone for Red & Green with Soft Light. Finally, before you click OK, change the bottom dropdown to New Document.



The Sky's the Limit

So now you have a new, punchy image. However, we still have the problem of the overexposed sky. This is where shooting RAW comes to the rescue! I simply re-open the RAW file, and adjust the Exposure setting until I get enough cloud detail. Obviously if you're clever you took bracketed shots or used an ND filter to properly expose the sky; whatever works for you. I then go through the Calculations process again to get a result I like. For the sky in this example I used Red & Blue, and Multiply at 75% opacity.

Before we put the sky and foreground together, we need to convert them to RGB mode - they come out of Calculations in 'Multichannel' mode which is no good to anyone. So go to Image > Mode > Greyscale followed by Image > Mode > RGB for both images. Then drag the sky image onto the foreground image. Make sure Snap is turned on in the View menu to line the images up perfectly.

Obviously we now have the problem of the super-dark foregound from the sky shot getting in the way, so a little masking is in order. Making sure the sky layer is selected, take your Lasso tool and draw roughly along the horizon, then all around the sides (move your mouse onto the grey space around the image to automatically go to the edges). Now feather the selection (Select > Feather in my version of Ps, CS2) by 150px. Then click Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection (or click the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette). Voila, your foreground is back to normal.

On the Level

Now it's time to tweak the two elements of the image for maximum contrast. Click the background layer, then add a Levels adjustment layer. You can use Curves if you prefer. Adjust the sliders until you get a result you like - I generally pull the left and right sliders in a little, and move the middle slider left somewhat to brighten the image. Hold ALT while you drag to show when you have true blacks and whites appearing; you want some but not too much. In this example I masked off the rocks in the foreground and adjusted their levels separately to increase their contrast with the rest of the foreground.



To adjust the sky, first hold CTRL and click the Layer Mask you made earlier, then create your Levels adjustment layer and tweak as before.

Once the Levels adjustments are taken care of, I like to fine tune the contrast using Dodge and Burn. Set the Dodge tool to Highlights and 5%, and the Burn tool to Shadows and 5%, both with a soft brush, and gently go over your image, darkening areas that need it and picking out highlights. In this example I brightened the highlights on the rocks and darkened the patches of grass in the fields, as well as deepening the shadows by the stone walls to enhance their impact.

Don't Look At Me In That Split-Tone of Voice

Now you have a nice, punchy image. You could leave it there, but we can do more to really increase the impact of the image, namely giving it a split-toning effect. Click the top layer in the palette, then add a Gradient Map adjustment layer. Depending on what colours you happen to have set in your toolbar, the image may now look a little funky! Don't worry. Click the gradient itself. A palette of gradients appears. Click the third gradient which should be 'Black, White'. This often yields a nice result all by itself, but we're going to go further.

Underneath the palette of gradients is the black and white gradient you've just chosen. Click just below this gradient, about a quarter of the way along from the left. Then double click the square that appears to open a colour picker. You can now pick any colour you like, but it should be relatively dark, and, for the most realistic effect, neutral. If you imagine the colour picker divided into a 3x3 grid, pick a colour around the bottom left intersection. Once you've chosen, (I set mine in the example to HTML #3c4837), make a note of the number in the box marked L in the colour picker, under the Color Libraries button. Click OK, then in the box marked Location, enter the number you noted - it should be between 25 and 30.

Now click again under the gradient about 3/4s of the way along, and double click the square again to open the picker. This time you want a light highlight colour with an L value around 70-80. In my example I chose HTML #c1c9c0. Again, match the L value to the Location value. Click OK when you're happy. Then click the Dither check box, and OK again.

Nearly Done

The final steps I like to carry out are to add a slight vignette and sharpening, the latter of which I only do just before saving out for viewing or printing. To add a vignette, first make a new combined layer by holding ALT and clicking Layer > Merge Visible (make sure this layer goes on top). Zoom out from your image to give you plenty of grey workspace around it, then grab your Elliptical Marquee tool, set its feather to 150px, and, starting outside the image a little, click and drag to the opposite corner; the edges will cut off some of the ellipse. Then go to Select > Inverse to invert the selection. You have now selected the corners of the image. Add a new Levels adjustment layer and drag the middle slider rightwards until you have a vignette you like.

I use the Lab colour sharpening method. First, save all your hard work as a PSD if you haven't already. Then, if you need to resize the image (for example to post it on DPS at 740px), do so. Now click Image > Mode > Lab Color. Click Flatten when prompted (hence saving as a PSD first). In the Layer palette, click the Channels tab, then click the Lightness channel. Go to Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. Set the settings however you like. For a small image like the ones you post on DPS, about 75% & 2px is enough I find, but it varies with the image. Click OK, click the Lab channel to view the results properly, then go to Image > Mode > RGB. Save as a JPEG and post it on DPS so everyone can heap glowing praise upon you!

Any questions, ask away.

[karen_s]

thanks for the tutorial! i am going to give this a try soon.

(by the way, i enjoy your writing style.)

[RecurrentNerve]

You're welcome and thank you.

[bdbolin]

Awesome! I love your end result.

[Chaotic Beds]

Thank you! I'll have to experiment with this sometime.

[RecurrentNerve]

Welcome, welcome.

[Photologyst]

Great tutorial—but—this is so much simpler in Lightroom.

One preset, a few adjustment levers.

You are done!

[RecurrentNerve]

But, if (like me) you don't have a recent version of Photoshop, or you want something a bit different, there are a number of other ways you can go about converting your photos to black and white.

Same applies for Lightroom! Not all of us can afford to buy all the software going.

[Ron Cornelison]

Thanks for the Black and White Conversion tutorial, I thought your results were very good great, hope to do as well in CS2.

[Photologyst]

Originally Posted by RecurrentNerve

Same applies for Lightroom! Not all of us can afford to buy all the software going.

Isn't that the awful truth!

Still, I have come to view both LR and PS as two indispensables.

Eat more beans!