A Different Approach to Black and White Conversion

Mar.22.2010 HBM! Desaturated Neon-chucks Edition

Originally uploaded by seansharifi <aka essquared>

I’m sure this has been discovered before however I found it to be a very effective method for when you still want some color, but not the dramatic look of full black and white.

Many post-processing programs have a number of ways to convert a capture into BW, however I will describe it in the most generic way possible. I use Capture NX myself, which is an amazing program by the way, and it has three ways, the best being the method that gives you the most control of course.

1. Apply a black/white filter or conversion process
2. In most cases, ramp up the contrast all the way
3. Use a Lighten filter in conjunction with the black and white process
4. If you have these options, ramp up the filter color slider, and play around with the color slider until you find a result you’re contempt with.