Mastering Black & White Digital Photography by Michael Freeman is an excellent black & white book. It shows several ways to convert color photos into great looking black & whites. It includes everything from “seeing in black & white” (before actually taking the photograph), shooting the photo, editing, adding effects, right up to the stage of the actual print.

What I like about the book is that each chapter is short and to the point, averaging only two pages; yet there are diagrams and before & after photos on almost every page. The emphasis is therefore placed on illustrations and not wordiness so the subject matter is easy to grasp. The downside is that the before and afters are hard to differentiate, probably caused by the quality of the print.

The chapters are so well laid out and concise, it will prove a valuable reference book. Indeed, there is so much to learn it will be some time yet before everything gets riveted in my “tough” brain.

You will need to have Photoshop as most exercises are based on this application. Photoshop Elements will do for some, but the full Photoshop program will be needed for most.

Using what I learnt, I took this low contrast color photo of my daughter at the beach and converted it into black & white.

I used Adobe Photoshop CS2 and started by using the Levels Adjustment Layer and adjusting the RED, GREEN & Blue channels individually.

The next step was to use the Channel Mixer, firstly by ticking “Monochrome” to make Black & White adjustments. The RED, GREEN & BLUE channels were adjusted and tweaked until I was satisfied with the results. This is where the book is helpful. It teaches you how to know what percentage of each channel (RED, GREEN or BLUE) to use to get your desired effect.

I then added some contrast (using an Adjustment Layer) and sharpening (by copying the background and using Unsharp Mask). This was the result:

Easily, a much better looking finish than the original.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!