Experiment 05 -- B&W Conversion

[Alan9940]

OK boys & girls here's a little experiment to play around with B&W conversion techniques and, hopefully, we'll all learn a few new tricks!

I have selected one of my own images that I have converted to B&W previously, but can't say that I've been totally happy with my prior attempts. As a matter of fact, I have a print of this hanging on my living room wall where I've seen it every day for about 2 years now. I must admit that when I first made it I thought it was pretty decent, but I've learned a lot over the past couple of years and now know that I can do it better! But, hey, that's what learning is all about, right?

Attached is the base color image for your own experiments, my B&W conversion attempt using the techniques outlined in a recent thread of mine, and a snapshot of my layers panel. Since I'm not careful about renaming my layers, I offer the following details beginning with the background (call it layer 1) up through the top layer:

Layer 1 - background base color image.

Layer 2 - Color Balance - this is more of a global adjustment of the relationship between colors.

Layer 3 - Selective Color - I start with the "Colors" drop-down set to "Neutrals" and drag each color slider until I'm happy with what I see. Then, if I wish to target specific colors I set the "Colors" drop-down to whatever color and drag the sliders.

Layer 4 - Hue Editor - thanks to Martin's suggestion, I'm finding that I like the results obtained from this type of adjustment layer more than a Gray Mixer due to the additional option of Color Model choice. Initially, I begin in the HSV default color model, click on Saturation, then drag the center point to the bottom of the graph. Then, I click through the various color models to see which starting result I like best. Once I have the color model set, I click on Brightness, then drag points up/down along the color spectrum to affect specific colors.

Layer 5 - False Color - this is used mainly for toning of the B&W image. I place one color handle in the center, then set the color to mimic the look of Agfa Portriga Rapid (a warm brownish color for those that aren't old like me and remember this fine photo paper! )

Layer 6 - a simple Curves layer to darken the mid-tones a bit.

Layer 7 - another Curves layer (masked) to add just a bit of contrast to the similar gray tones in the sky.

Layer 8 - a Dodge/Burn layer to target changes to specific image areas. See...I do name layers occasionally! I also applied a bit of USM sharpening on this layer, though it's not indicated.

Layer 9 - a Histogram Correction layer to slightly darken (once, again) the mid-tones because I felt that the overall image was just a tad too light at this point.

For those that may be wondering... Why go through all this work when there are plugins and simpler ways to convert to B&W? Answer: control! If you desire the ultimate control in your B&W conversions, then this is one approach. Use it and/or modify it as you see fit. Don't use it...this is all just for fun! But, I've used or tried most of the popular B&W conversion techniques out there and, so far, I'm finding this particular technique gives me a level of granularity that I haven't seen before.

Anyway, have at it and post your method/result here.

Kind regards,
Alan

P.S. We all understand that the base starting image is 8-bit, JPEG, etc, so don't worry about banding, artifacts, or other bugaboos.

[Herbert123]

MG_0106_Base.jpg

I wanted to achieve the look of an 18th/19th century etch/gravure. Just a quick try, it sort-of works.

[photoken]

As I played around with the conversion, I realized that I wanted to have a strong center of interest, and the yellow foreground tree fit the bill. Then, more work made me realize that emphasizing the glancing light off the cliff would lead the eye to that tree and help tie everything together:

Experiment 05.jpg

I still used my usual simple adjustment layers set:

Experiment 05 layers & settings.jpg

Also as usual, the Curves adjustment also involved tweaking the "a" and "b" curves to tone the image with a cool, blue-ish purple colour -- what I call my version of "selenium toning".

I don't like the "halos" around the trees against the sky, but I think those are because of the 8-bit image and its small size.... I suppose a Luminance Mask would avoid those halos, but I'm feeling lazy.

[Herbert123]

As I played around with the conversion, I realized that I wanted to have a strong center of interest, and the yellow foreground tree fit the bill. Then, more work made me realize that emphasizing the glancing light off the cliff would lead the eye to that tree and help tie everything together:

Experiment 05.jpg

I still used my usual simple adjustment layers set:

Experiment 05 layers & settings.jpg

Also as usual, the Curves adjustment also involved tweaking the "a" and "b" curves to tone the image with a cool, blue-ish purple colour -- what I call my version of "selenium toning".

I don't like the "halos" around the trees against the sky, but I think those are because of the 8-bit image and its small size.... I suppose a Luminance Mask would avoid those halos, but I'm feeling lazy.

I fear that the sky in your latest version does not work as well as in the first version. I do like your decision to place a focal point on that yellow tree.

[Alan9940]

Herbert123 - Interesting approach to this conversion...I like it!

Ken - You nailed my general approach to this conversion! I wanted the impression of light bouncing off the rock face and illuminating the tree. Both our conversions lead the eye in that respect IMO. I agree that if you had the full-size image to work on you probably wouldn't be seeing those halos. That's why I warned everyone to not concern themselves with these anomalies. Really...what can one do with a 100k file?

Thank you to both of you for your interpretations.

Kind regards,
Alan

[photoken]

I fear that the sky in your latest version does not work as well as in the first version.

I agree.

If I had done a mask, that would have allowed me to work on the sky independently of the rest of the image, and perhaps also avoided the halos around the trees.

It's an interesting point, though -- Now that I have the concept of the final result that I want, I'll experiment with the more complex adjustment layers to see how they can reach this effect.

[photoken]

Alan,

Yes, our conversions are very similar in their placement of the value ranges. I opted for slightly more "open" shadows (most noticeable on the shadowed cliff faces).

The only criticism I have about your conversion is the lack of brilliant whites. Even at these small sizes, 123's image and mine have noticeably brighter whites throughout which give the images some "sparkle".

Now that I've got my usual method out of my system , I can continue by learning and experimenting with the method you described.

[photoken]

I wanted to achieve the look of an 18th/19th century etch/gravure. Just a quick try, it sort-of works.

Nice effect. It's interesting how the depth of the image is "flattened" into almost a 2D pattern.

[photoken]

Wow! That Hue Editor is one powerful sonuvagun!

I used Martin's suggestion of using the HE to set the global saturation to zero, then I applied an extreme curve to the Brightness channel to isolate and emphasize the yellow tree in the foreground:

Experiment 05 b.jpg

It also allowed me to simplify the adjustment layers down to only two:

Experiment 05 b layers & settings.jpg

Additional benefits are that it kept me from screwing up the sky and it avoided the halos around the trees against the sky.

[photoken]

Hey Alan,

Aha! Now I can really appreciate the benefits of your technique -- I first used a Selective Color Correction adjustment layer, and boosted the yellow component of the yellows range to brighten the foreground tree, then massaged the reds range to get great separation of the colours on the sunlit side of the cliff:

Experiment 05 c layers & setting.png

Getting good separation of the colours on the full-colour image made a big difference in the subsequent adjustment layers. I still used a radical curve on the Brightness channel of the Hue Editor, but not as exteme as before. The Curves adjustment layer also needed a lot less farting around. The end result is much more satisfying:

Experiment 05 c.jpg

Great stuff!

[Hoogo]

... and it avoided the halos around the trees against the sky.

Because you dropped the light/shadow layer.

[Alan9940]

Alan,
The only criticism I have about your conversion is the lack of brilliant whites. Even at these small sizes, 123's image and mine have noticeably brighter whites throughout which give the images some "sparkle".

Ken,

Thanks for the comment. Brilliant whites is an elusive concept for me because I like textured whites leading up to just shy of clipped white. I will always have a full solid black and total white (if the image fits this presentation) somewhere in the image, but these areas will generally be quite minor overall.

Kind regards,
Alan

[Alan9940]

Ken,

I'm glad to hear you're beginning to see the power of the technique I outlined in the original post. All credit goes to Scott Valentine and what he calls the "Control Freak B/W" technique!

I'm finding the Hue Editor to be an extremely powerful adjustment layer due in great part to choice of color model. I believe this is something unique to PL which IMO pushes it far beyond what a Gray Mixer or B/W Adjustment (PS) layer can do. The Selective Color adjustment layer is another key player because it allows you to tweak specific color components within a color! Think about that... I can set the target color to "Blue", and then modify, for example, the green component that contributes to the blue color! OMG!! To my mind, the possibilities are nearly endless in this regard. And, between the Hue Editor and Selective Color we have the power to pull apart similar hues, if desired. Also, keep in mind that we can utilize all the typical layer-based workflow techniques such as blending modes, opacity, and masking!

Don't know about you, but I'm feeling like I've revealed the man behind curtain! I guess, too, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Kind regards,
Alan

[photoken]

... and it avoided the halos around the trees against the sky.

Because you dropped the light/shadow layer.

Yep. That layer is the culprit in my first example.

The effect I got using the technique in my version "c" allows me to add a Light/Shadow layer with much less extreme values, and that avoids the halos....

[photoken]

I'm finding the Hue Editor to be an extremely powerful adjustment layer due in great part to choice of color model. I believe this is something unique to PL which IMO pushes it far beyond what a Gray Mixer or B/W Adjustment (PS) layer can do.

Yes. PL's ability to choose colour models at will for each adjustment layer makes the program far superior to other image editors, IMO.

Just a word in defense of the Gray Mixer, however: a great thing about it is that its calculations are precisely the same as the calculations for the "Luminance" layer blend mode. For example, open a colour image and duplicate the colour layer. Then use the Gray Mixer to convert that duplicated layer to B&W with all the sliders at "zero". Then set the blend mode of the B&W layer to "Luminance". You will see absolutely no difference to the image. (This is unlike PaintShopPro, for example, where very noticeable colour shifts and value differences occur.) Now you can use the Darken tool on that B&W layer to darken areas without getting colour shifts. It's like painting in Lab mode on the "L" channel. In practice, this technique is very useful for removing weak lens flares that are a simple single colour such as a pale yellow.