Black and White – The Tone Zone, Part 2
by: Bryan Lindsey
So, here are a couple tips for converting your color images to black and white (using Lightroom software). First, 
look at the tonal histogram (aka “tone curve”) – this shows you how much of your image is “highlight,” “light,” “dark,” and “shadow.” When you first convert your image to Grayscale, you probably won’t have the best contrast possible. By playing with these sliders, you can adjust overall tones to give your images the contrast that you want.
We can get even more fancy and play with color channels. Say that you have a 
brilliant black-and-white image, except the subject is wearing dark blue pants against a dark brown background. Not very contrasty. You can lighten the blue channel only, bringing up the blue tones (just be careful that you’re not unintentionally lightening other blue pieces of the image, like the sky). By using these sliders, you can fine-tune your tones even further.
Meticulously editing your black and white images does take time, but it’s worth it to get those portfolio images JUST right!
Does Bryan know what he’s talking about? See his work at: Houston Wedding Photographer
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Bryan LindseyBCL Photography
Houston Wedding and Portrait Photographer
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