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Learn how to craft captivating black and white photos! Dive into Lightroom’s magic, manipulating color for dramatic effects and adding cool sepia tones. We’ll explore powerful controls, and you can follow along with a free raw file!
Follow along with all 30 episodes as we explore the the magic of Lightroom together!
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AFTER
BEFORE
The Art of Black & White
Transforming images from color to monochrome allows you to focus on form, texture, and light, revealing hidden depths within your photos. Lightroom’s intuitive tools make this process a breeze, providing precise control over tonal ranges and color manipulation.
Convert to Monochrome
Begin by importing your raw image into Lightroom’s Develop module. In the Basic panel, click “Black & White” to initiate the conversion. Then, open the “Black & White Mix” panel. Here, you’ll find sliders for each color channel. Experiment by adjusting these sliders to lighten or darken specific tones within your image, creating dramatic contrasts and nuanced shades of gray. The auto button is a good starting point but manual adjustments will yield the best results.
Refine and Enhance
Fine-tune your black and white image using the Basic panel’s exposure, contrast, texture, and clarity sliders. Subtle adjustments can significantly impact the overall mood and feel of your photo. For a vintage touch, explore the Color Grading panel. Drag the center slider to the edge to see the color, and then use the outer slider to select the hue you want to introduce into the highlights, shadows, or midtones. Reduce the saturation to achieve a subtle, aged effect.
Color Toning Magic
After converting your image to black and white, you can use the color grading panel to add color back into the image. Start by pulling the center slider to the edge to see the color, and then adjust the outer slider to choose the hue. Then reduce the saturation to create a subtle color toning effect. You can do this to the highlights, shadows, or midtones.
That concludes day 19! Tomorrow, we’ll dive into the world of virtual copies and show you how to streamline your workflow.
