Pay It Forward Photographers | Black & White Photos

Some people like to show clients their images in color. Some like to show both color as well as black and white. I show mine all in color, with a few exceptions. Those images that are so powerful that they just have to be a black and white. For weddings, I automatically give them the black and white conversion. The image is best as a B&W vs. color. It just has to be. It’s the artistic feeling it conveys. For portraits, I show my clients the color and then, those few that I love in  black and white, and I tell them, this image MUST be black and white. You just have to see how powerful it is. They see it too. Here are a couple of images that screamed black and white to me.

The image above of Renee, it was not the best lit alley. The image when in color just looked drab. There wasn’t much pop to it. The image screamed “moody” to me. I knew I could fix the “drab” feeling from color to make a contrasting, beautiful black and white. I love it more.

The image above of Kayla, the sun was still a little bit high and I was getting a lot of lens flare. I had to clone it off of her face. It’s more obvious when in color. But, I was losing detail. In Lightroom, I actually really brought up the “black” slider to get my detail back. Once I did that, I knew it had to be black and white. Simply stunning.

I have no simple method of processing my black and whites. When I’m in Lightroom, that’s when I see it. I simply desaturate the image and begin adjusting the exposure and contrast to my liking. I wish I could explain that better. It just is what I see, and what I like. But, no, it’s not finished there.

Once I have exported files from Lightroom, I open them in Photoshop. This is where I begin doing some dodging and burning on the image. I want certain parts to really pop. Sometimes, I use a modified black and white action from The Sweet Set by Itty Bitty. The Zip B&W I end the action where it stops (pop up box comes up), and then I mess with the dark and light layers. Again, no real “rule” to this.

The thing about black and whites is that you have to love the outcome. Be consistent, but make it work for the image. Don’t just rely on actions to do the job for you. They are there to help you, get you started.