Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Step Three:
Now, press the
Right Arrow key
on your
keyboard to switch to that virtual copy
you made, and I'll show you my preferred
do-it-yourself method. Go to the Basic
panel (at the top of the right side Panels
area), and in the Treatment section at
the top, click on Black & White, and you
get another flat-looking image (but that's
about to change). Most photographers
want to create a really rich, high-contrast
B&W image, so the first thing to do is make
sure we've gotten all we can out of the
highlights in the photo, so drag the Expo-
sure slider over to the right until the
moment the “white triangle of death”
(in the upper-right corner of the histogram)
appears, then stop. Next, drag the Recovery
slider just a tiny bit to the right until that
white triangle turns dark gray again. Now
you know you've gotten the maximum
amount of highlights without clipping
any of them away.
Step Four:
Next, drag the Blacks slider over to the right
until the photo doesn't look so flat and
washed out (as shown here). Now, there are
those who believe that you should never
let any part of your photo turn solid black,
even if it's a non-essential, low-detail area
like a shadow under a rock. I'm not one of
those people. I want the entire photo to
have “pop” to it, and in my years of creating
B&W prints, I've found that your average
person reacts much more positively to
photos with high-contrast conversions than
to the flatter conversions that retain 100%
detail in the shadows. If you get a chance,
try both versions, show your friends, and
see which one they choose. Of course, once
you darken the shadows, the whole photo
is going to look quite a bit darker, so you
might have to increase the Brightness
amount to open up the midtones a bit
(just keep an eye out on the highlights—
they can still blow out, even when just
using the Brightness slider).
Continued
