Have you ever converted one of your favorite photos to black and white and been disappointed with the result? Take a look at the photos below:
This was one of my favorite photos from an early photoshoot of my daughter. The colors were bright, it’s well exposed, and her expression is adorable. However, when I converted it to b&w it ended up looking “muddy” – kind of dark and gray and not nearly as pretty as the b&w photos you see posted online. And the bad news is that once I get this printed out, it will look even worse, since printed photos often appear darker than what you see on your monitor. The good news is there’s an easy fix for this problem, and I’m sharing it with you today. Keep reading for more photos and screenshots showing you how to edit your black and whites.
Most portraits taken on auto require a bit of brightening (due to how the camera decides to expose the photo), and black and white photos require even more brightening + added contrast to really look good. A photo that looks fine in color will often look dark when converted to black and white, but in a few easy steps (in just about any photo processing program) you can take your black and white photo from blah to beautiful – and the difference will look even more dramatic once the photos are printed out.
NOTE: If the “edited b&w” photos in this post look too bright or washed out, turn down the brightness on your monitor. If your monitor brightness is turned all the way up (which it probably is) the photos will display on your screen MUCH BRIGHTER than they would print out – which will leave you with dark prints. You should always have your monitor brightness at only 1/3-1/2 of the way up when editing photos.
Before I show you how easy it is to get a better b&w, I want to show a few more examples of what a difference brightening and adding contrast can make, especially for a b&w. The color version of the photo below looks just fine, but the b&w is obviously much too dark. Look how much better the edited version is:
(Note: if you get photos where people’s skin looks kind of red, chances are your photo needs brightening not color correction!)
In this next photo you can tell brightening is necessary – the snow should look white, not blue or gray!
This photo is of me and my husband and our fourth child – it’s very sweet and I love it, but the normal b&w version is so dark it looses a lot of it’s appeal.
Convinced yet? Ready to add brightness and contrast? It’s super easy. You just need to locate the histogram on whatever photo processing program you are using. In Photoshop and Elements it’s in the levels menu (ctrl-L) and in iPhoto it’s under edit>adjust. If you don’t have either of these applications, go online to Picmonkey.com. You’ll be able to make these same changes from the exposure controls, but you don’t use the histogram – it’s even easier to do there.)
The histogram looks like a mountain range, and represents the data in your photo. The left side of the range represents the darks, the middle represent midtones (grays in a b&w) and the right side represent highlights, or bright portions. There are three triangles under the histogram you can move around to change how your photo looks:
Essentially, you add brightness by moving the right and middle slider toward the left, then you add contrast (darkening the dark portions) by moving the left slider toward the right. Play around for a minute or two, and suddenly your black and white photo is much more dramatic:
It’s an extremely quick and easy edit, but it makes a huge difference.
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Melissa @ DaisyMaeBelle says
What great info! The edited pictures look fantastic! Life to the full! Melissa
photography laptops says
Thanks for this tutorial. With my photos I always do Image > Adjustments > Desaturate or sliding the Saturation level to zero in the Hue/Saturation options are two methods that quickly achieve a black and white effect.
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カシオ 潜水王
CIndy says
Just wanted to send a quick note of warning. You don’t want to pull your sliders in so far, as you are losing important detail in your photographs. You can move the sliders over to the black on the histogram, but when you have the sliders overlapping the black, you are blowing out details on the whites, and losing details in the blacks. You not only lose details, like the sweet wrinkles in your newborns onesie, but also often cause unsightly banding in those areas when printed, which is especially noticeable in the highlights on faces and the sky and can ruin a great photo. All my best and hopefully these extra little tips will take those cute pics even further!
admin says
Thanks, Cindy – you’re absolutely right. I sometimes don’t mind blowing out the whites a little on a shirt if that means the face looks better – but your comment is a good reminder to be absolutely sure you don’t blow out the highlights on the faces or sky. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Lindsey @ DishingUpHope says
Such cute pictures! Thank you for the wonderful tutorial. Pinning to reference when editing =-)
LAURA says
What a great tutorial. Step by step instructions that were easy to follow. Thanks a bunch!
autumn says
You’re welcome! Thanks so much for commenting – I really appreciate hearing from readers!
KT says
MANY thanks for your awesome BW tutorial! I have PS for editing my photos, but I feel like I’m using only 1% of what it’s capable of doing….now with your terrific instructions, I’m up to 1.5%!
autumn says
Ha ha! I know exactly what you mean about PS – there’s quite a learning curve!
Pam says
Your photos look great! My B&W never turn out too well, I am going to give your method a try.
autumn says
thanks, Pam!
Lexi says
OMG! Thank you for including the tip of the monitor brightness! I never would have thought of that and I’ve never seen anyone say that before! Duh! It seems so obvious now!
Photography Laptops says
Hi autumn,
Your photos are looking beautiful! My B&W never turn out too well, I am going to give your method a try.
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Tirenavi says
very good blog. good to share thoughts.
Tirenavi says
nice to explain a better black and white. thanks for sharing.
McAfee.com/Activate says
the article is very interesting and effective.Thank you and good luck for the upcoming articles.
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your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. You’re doing a great job Man,Keep it up.