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 Whites slider over to the right until
the moment the “white triangle of death”
(in the upper-right corner of the histo-
gram) appears, then stop. Next, drag the
Highlights slider just a tiny bit to the left
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
left 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 Exposure 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 Exposure slider).
Continued
