It’s REALLY important to note the condition of my sooc image below. I see so many people get frustrated that their black and whites are not turning out with such clarity, brightness, depth and pop. When I peek at their sooc images- I see poor lighting on the face and eyes and underexposure. Some of this can be remedied with better in-camera settings and/or moving the subject so their faces are catching more of the soft non-directional lighting. So please note the condition of my sooc before getting down and thinking you aren’t getting this. A few minor tweaks and you’ll nail it!
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# How to create beautiful black and white pictures

Amy McMaster



I get asked a lot how I do my black and whites. And honestly I have a few presets I made that I use so I rarely have to do it manually very often. I’d love to share my methods with you all. I have a huge soft spot for black and white photographs. They are so timeless. A colorless image, if done right forces the observer to really see WHAT is going on in the image. Often the emotional impact is so much more intense than a color photograph. I would say at least 50% of everything I do ends up in black and white. For me- a good black and white image usually has some bright midtones and some dark darks. I usually like a rich, strong black and white. My backdrops (for me this is on-location as I do not use studio equipment) are usually darker and often have texture- like walls, trees, bushes, grass, etc. For a more portrait type of image- I like to make sure there is really decent light in the face and eyes. For a moment type of capture- this is not as important for me. Anything goes for a moment capture. You are capturing something real and you can’t always control everything- the direction of light including. These are often my most favorite though.

But back to the portrait type. This type of image you generally focus on eyes, you want catch-lights in the eyes if you can and nice bright mid-tones with even lighting on the face (as light allows). This is preference and will vary on lighting, subject, time of day to name just a few things. I generally shoot with apertures f/1.4-f/2.8 for single subjects. These apertures generally allow me nice smooth skin, with little skin detail and I shoot to overexpose a little bit on the skin and pull it back in Lightroom. If I want a grainy image- then I shoot to underexpose a little and bring it back up (yes I do this on purpose sometimes)- love me some gritty grain (or you can fake it and add grain in LR or PS later).

It’s REALLY important to note the condition of my sooc image below. I see so many people get frustrated that their black and whites are not turning out with such clarity, brightness, depth and pop. When I peek at their sooc images- I see poor lighting on the face and eyes and underexposure. Some of this can be remedied with better in-camera settings and/or moving the subject so their faces are catching more of the soft non-directional lighting. So please note the condition of my sooc before getting down and thinking you aren’t getting this. A few minor tweaks and you’ll nail it!

Anyway this image. Pretty teen with gorgeous blue green eyes and freckles. How I love freckles!

Really!

post processing black and white photography tutorial by Amy Beth McMaster

I use Lightroom exclusively for black and whites in my own workflow and shoot RAW. I took this gorgeous image- note good lighting on face and eyes? Background dark colors? Textures? All the makings of a great b&w portrait! First step is to get rid of any blinkies on the skin and clothes first by tweaking the Exposure slider. Don’t make the skin too dark. If you overexposed too much then use the Adjustment Brush and bring back the clothes with it rather than using sliders. Then select Black and White – right above the Exposure slider. Gray scale- blah…but let’s fix that! Now I go right to the Tone Curve. I select Linear from the dropdown to smooth out my contrast and ‘almost’ Curve-like pop that LR makes it’s default. Click on the Point Curve tool.

post processing black and white photography tutorial by Amy Beth McMaster

JUST like a Curves layer in Photoshop I pull this up in the dead middle to pull up the midtones (think skin). Now I move halfway down between the spot I just pulled up and the bottom left corner and I pull down slightly. See how you just popped the image? You will need to practice with this. Curves users are going to feel RIGHT at home with this part of Lightroom. You can have multiple points too- but until you feel confident to branch out- the 2 points are fine. Now click back on the Point Curve tool and you change the Tone Curve toolbox back to the “Region” Tone Curve.

post processing black and white photography tutorial by Amy Beth McMaster

I fine tune some more. In this image I pushed the shadows slider to -28. You may not even NEED to tweak with the sliders but I like to- I feel like I have more exacting control as I move along to do the rest of what I need to do. Sometimes I have to go back and re-tweak this part.

## Contrast & Blacks

Two sliders I push hard. On this particular image I have Blacks at +20 and Contrast at +45. To put a tad more brightness into her skin without affecting my highlights I added +15 Fill Light on this image. Of course your images are going to vary what you need to do. Then I go to the Hue/Saturation Panel. It lets me tweak the sliders. To the left: I move the Red slider (it deepened her freckles and brick), Magenta slider (it made her lips darker), Cyan and Green sliders (it darkened the wall behind her). To the right: I move the Orange slider (lightened her skin a tad) and Yellow (varied her hair color a tad since she was brunette with some natural sun streaks). The important thing to note here- is that this box should NOT

be ignored when doing black and whites! Know what the colors are in the image so you know what you want to do with them in the bw version. For black and whites I also like to finish off by burning the edges- how much depends on the image.

In Lightroom 3 you get a little more vignetting control over Lightroom 2. For this image I have Highlight Priority selected (I always do actually) and set it to Amount -6 and Midtones -22. That’s

it! Slight burning on the edges to push the eyes into the image.

Let’s see that before and after. Nice rich, poppy, snappy black and white!

post processing black and white photography tutorial by Amy Beth McMaster

So what’s a moment capture? Not a portrait. 😛 For me these mean little moments…like hands playing with a toy. Child running through a field. A dance pose in a studio. Dramatic. Many are contrived and some are real and spontaneous. However you get them- the intent is to make the observer FEEL something. The image should try to nail technical aspects but doesn’t fail if you didn’t because it can stand on the moment captured. So the processing is especially crucial,in my opinion, for this type of image. Sometimes if left in color the moment is lost in translation and disappears. This is not to say that color never works but we’re covering black and whites right now.

This type of image is going to vary from artist to artist. From capture to angle to lighting to subject matter to processing. I can only share what moves me as it is what I know and what I do. Always be true to you and make sure that you take new things you learn and meld them into something that is yours.

This first image is a sooc image:

post processing black and white photography tutorial by Amy Beth McMaster

It’s one of my most favorite images…ever. It’s my baby girl and the image is technically imperfect. As a mom and my personal artistic flavor? It caught a perfect moment for me. This image was never meant to be in color. Going into this little mini session of my daughter- I KNEW it was going to be in black and white. In color the image is pretty. But in black and white…ahhh. Well it made my heart sing. Without color I am forced to look at the moment- not what color her blankie is, or her skin tones, or the background color. Just the moment and her.

post processing black and white photography tutorial by Amy Beth McMaster

And another favorite from this set. Technically imperfect. But this session wasn’t about getting a portrait. It was about capturing a toddler- in all her realness and rawness. No clone tools to clean up her chocolate chin. Moments.

post processing black and white photography tutorial by Amy Beth McMaster

I feel like I yammered on a lot. I just love this topic! For me a black and white is NOT just a processing technique. It’s a type of photograph that stands on it’s own. It’s not something I offer in addition to a color version. It IS the version. I seldom offer both a color and black & white version. Usually it’s either/or but not both. For portraits you can easily offer both versions, but with lifestyle or moment type shots- it’s usually pretty clear to me which one the photograph was born to be and I stay true to the image.

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About the Author

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### Amy McMaster

Amy Beth is an eclectic homeschooling mom to four active kids in Northern California. She enjoys being a nutrition nerd, eating tasty food, photography, living in the country, wearing Burks, raising her bearded dragon and caring for the rest of her four- legged critter crew. She loves God, her children, her awesome husband, colorful socks and being right. She collects funky socks and old cookbooks. Her BFFs are coffee and chocolate. She is also newly addicted to Instagram…so feel free to add her.

### Recent Posts by Amy McMaster

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### 25 thoughts on “How to create beautiful black and white pictures”

1. 

   Hélène

   Jan 17 2012 at 8:47 am

   Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

   Reply

2. 

   Anne Wick

   Jan 17 2012 at 1:22 pm

   Love this tutorial, Amy ! Thank you !

   Reply

3. 

   Elle

   Jan 17 2012 at 2:16 pm

   Love this, Amy – thanks for sharing!

   Reply

4. 

   Kathy I

   Jan 17 2012 at 3:09 pm

   Wonderful information, inspiring photos–thank you!

   Reply

5. 

   Kimberly

   Jan 17 2012 at 3:32 pm

   Thank you for sharing! Your work is beautiful!

   Reply

6. 

   Linda

   Jan 17 2012 at 4:59 pm

   More and more I find myself being swept away by the power and strength of b&w photography. You have put so beautifully into words my thoughts when you said that everything else is stripped away, leaving behind a timeless moment, a memory void of bright colours that relies solely on great use of light and good composition.

   Thanks for your wonderful article and tips on how to achieve great images in b&w!!

   Reply

7. 

   Gladys

   Jan 17 2012 at 7:15 pm

   Thanks for this great tutorial. Your black and whites are truly special.

   Reply

8. 

   Kerri

   Jan 18 2012 at 11:49 am

   OMG, I finally found someone that knows exactly how I feel!!!!! B&W's are my all time FAVORITE! Classic and timeless! Thank you so much for your thoughts and techniques! Can't wait to try some of them 🙂

   Reply

9. 

   JenCozz

   Jan 18 2012 at 12:43 pm

   Beautiful! Thanks for sharing your process. I've always felt like there was a little more to it that I was missing and your technique adds that something extra.

   Reply

10. 

    sonya

    Jan 18 2012 at 6:42 pm

    Thanks for the tips. I am feeling in a creative slump these days and when I use vignetting it always looks so cheesy but you did it so subtlely in bw that I'm not afraid to experiment. You really made the photos pop! Now time to experiment!

    Reply

11. 

    Tracy

    Jan 18 2012 at 7:33 pm

    I love your Lightroom Tutorials! A huge thanks!

    Reply

12. 

    kdokoza

    Jan 18 2012 at 10:09 pm

    This was really great — thank you for sharing!

    Reply

13. 

    Elise

    Jan 19 2012 at 12:41 am

    Wonderful tutorial! I've been needing a little education on processing b&w photos… Thank you. 🙂

    Reply

14. 

    Lisa (Tout Petit Pix

    Jan 19 2012 at 1:17 am

    So perfect Amy! Thank you so much for sharing!!

    Reply

15. 

    Kendra

    Jan 21 2012 at 8:14 pm

    What a great tutorial! Thank you so much!!

    Reply

16. 

    Melanie Flinn

    Jan 23 2012 at 11:22 am

    This is very helpful- going to print it out and read along as I try to edit in LR. I've never liked the way my b&ws looked, but knew there was more that I could do.

    Reply

17. 

    Tony Sale

    Jan 24 2012 at 12:52 pm

    Wonderful tutorial, there are so many ways to get black and white but these look great!

    Reply

18. 

    Genesis Bowen

    Jan 26 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Great tutorial, I am just learning Lightroom and this was very helpful. How would you process differently if your subject had darker skin?

    Reply

19. 

    Inga K

    Jan 27 2012 at 2:49 pm

    Thanks for this Amy, I love B&W images, the one of your daughter is beautiful, in fact I've just ordered your Monochrome Vol2 presets, can't wait to use them 🙂 I'll have to learn how to make my own B&W presets too x

    Reply

20. 

    Dana

    Jan 31 2012 at 8:56 pm

    Just looked you up and added you in Instagram – 😉

    Reply

21. 

    Sara Senneker

    Feb 05 2012 at 7:55 am

    Wonderful images..insiteful..inspiring! thanks for all the great tips and info!!! LOVE it!!

    Reply

22. 

    noreen

    Feb 22 2012 at 9:50 am

    Great images…they maybe technically imperfect as you mentioned but they speak volume. They tell a story. With black and white images, it's as if, i can see the soul of the person being photographed.

    TFS

    Reply

23. 

    sara wright

    Feb 26 2012 at 8:36 am

    Thank you! I just altered my 1st BW photo using this tutorial! I've always just used imported presets and now I feel like I can start venturing into doing my own. I have a lot to learn still, but I think the one I did came out better than the presets could have given me!

    Reply

24. 

    Cate

    Feb 25 2013 at 5:09 pm

    Very helpful!!!! Just converted this image with your method. :hp

    Reply

25. 

    carolyn

    Mar 24 2013 at 8:23 pm

    this is so helpful and all kinds of gorgeous!!

    Reply

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