In-lightened Loc: Kansas City

Excited to photograph a friends horse for his wife's birthday present Friday. I do a lot of wildlife and converted some to B&W but not much experience with the later. Do you have tips for either the shoot or the post process? I use LR and can do a few things with PS...but just a few.
Many Thanks....still learning and grateful for the help!

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Glad to hear you are feeling your oats! Check YouTube for numerous Post-Processing videos featuring converting photos to B&W.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Silver Efex Pro is a highly-regarded black-and-white plugin for Lightroom. It's part of the NIK suite, which includes Color Efex, HDR Efex, and several other modules. For years, Google (the then-owner) offered the suite for free. Then, they sold it to DXO. DXO updated it slightly, and now offers it for sale. However, the old free version is still available, and still works with Lightroom. You can find it here: https://nikcollection.dxo.com/nik-collection-2012/ If you choose to buy the paid version from DXO, it still works with Photoshop, which the free version doesn't.

While there are various controls within SilverEfex, and while they are worth learning, you can get great results just by using the presets it contains.

In-lightened Loc: Kansas City

Thanks! Will look at this...time is short with upcoming travel so maybe presets are the way to go...

In-lightened Loc: Kansas City

Thanks! Anybody you particularly like?

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

The installation program will install all the modules. You'll want to experiment with the others later - they're all good. To use Silver Efex, select a photo in LR, then right-click and select "Edit in Silver Efex Pro." Subsequently, click on "Edit a Copy With Lightroom Adjustments." Then click on Edit. That will open Silver Efex. Try the various presets on the left. When you click on Save, you'll be returned to LR, and the B&W photo will be in the catalog.

In-lightened Loc: Kansas City

Perfect...sounds like it works like a couple of my other plugins. Thank Don.

Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

Hi Kim,
In LR the Exposure, Contrast, White, and Black sliders in the Develop Module should be your go-to B&W editing option. Take care & ...

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I would recommend shooting RAW in color... then convert to B&W later in Photoshop. It's possible to do a B&W conversion in Lightroom, too... but there's much more control possible in Photoshop.

The reason I don't recommend shooting B&W in-camera is because to do that right very often requires specialized filters and knowledge how to use them... Those were necessary when we shot B&W film.

But now with digital we can thankfully do away with the filters... and the time and effort to learn to use them. Instead do color RAW to B&W conversion in post-processing, applying any filters digitally during the process. You can preview the results and much of what you do in Photoshop is reversible, up to the point where you save the image file. At worst... if you really screw up the image and are unhappy with it... you can always make a fresh start with a new RAW conversion from the original file.

Basically the way B&W filters work is based upon the color wheel (Google for an image of one, if needed). To darken how any particular color is rendered as a tonality in B&W, apply a filter using the opposite color on the color wheel. Or, to lighten the B&W tonality of a particular color, apply a filter using the same color. In Photoshop's B&W conversion tool there's a wide array of different color filters you can apply using sliders. Be sure "preview" is checked and you'll be able to see the effect and adjust it or, if needed, reverse it and try something else. This is ideal for experimentation by someone inexperienced with specialize B&W filters. I've always found Photoshop's B&W conversion tool much easier than trying to accomplish the same with the various "presets" in Lightroom.

If the plan is to make a B&W print of the image, discuss with printers how best to prepare the image. If planning to print it yourself on an inkjet, be sure to research doing B&W with your specific printer... some are good at it, but others are not. Depending upon the printing process, there can be different requirements or recommendations for the image file.

If the print will be framed under glass, be sure to use a mat or otherwise create an air space so the print isn't in direct contact with the glass. Eventually that would cause damage to the print

spaceytracey Loc: East Glacier Park, MT

I've had nice results using Picassa. There are colored filters to choose from & you can preview the results. Just another option if PS, LR or Silver Efex are not in your arsenal. BTW, I print my own pics on a Canon Pro 9000 MarkII & have great results in color as well as B&W.

DennisC. Loc: Antelope, CA

Two of the best YouTube Photoshop instructors, PIXmperfect and The Photoshop Training Channel, PTC. They both have a catalog of videos that cover just about everything.

Haydon

The unsupported version of Nik that was once owned by Google containing Silver Efex can be found FREE at the following url.

Installer for Windows [430 MB]" http://dl.google.com/edgedl/photos/nikcollection-full-1.2.11.exe
Installer for Mac [590 MB]: http://dl.google.com/edgedl/photos/nikcollection-full-1.2.11.dmg

Some have found compatibility issues with the old version. I have not personally had an issue with it.

In-lightened Loc: Kansas City

Thanks to all who responded! The shoot went well. Silver Efex Pro 2 was a great help. I put together several different looks. I also used LR with a blue filter on a couple. So many options. We will see what he picks.