No plug in B&W "filmish" conversion

lulalake · Expire: 2011-11-18

This is a B&W conversion technique that I originally found on the internet some time ago. I don’t remember where it came from. It gives a more “film” look or something like film anyway. I’ve done some minor tweaking. It’s all done in PS (all versions) no plug-ins are necessary.

It doesn’t work for all pictures, lower contrast pics seem to do better than high contrast ones, and well lit pics work better than darker ones although darker ones can benefit also.

There are many places to tweak and adjust during the process. Start with this basic way and adjust to your own taste as you do more pics. So here it goes:

1. On the menu bar select "Image> Mode". Change mode to LAB color

2. Bring up the “Channels” menu and click on the “Lightness” channel.

(It may appear a bit bright when this is done, not to worry, that will change almost immediately)

3. Leave the Channels” menu up and go back to menu bar; Select "Image>Mode"

4. Click “Grayscale” You will be asked to discard the other channels here, click “OK”.

(The next steps are critical)

5. Put your cursor on the small thumbnail in the “Channels” menu.

6. On a PC hold down “Ctrl” and left click I don’t know about Macs (This will add an instant mask)

7. Go to the “Select” menu in the menu bar and click “INVERSE” (Critical)

8. Go to the “Layer” menu in the menu bar and select “New Fill Layer> Solid Color” when the “New Layer” box comes up click “OK”

9. The “Pick a Solid Color” box will appear. In the bottom white box labeled “#” type in “000000” (six zeros).This will make the picture appear very dark. Not to worry.

10. Go to the “Layers” drop down menu and adjust the Opacity to taste (Depending on the picture I generally find that somewhere between 20% and 70% works well, generally in the lower numbers, maybe a bit lighter than you would prefer)

This is going to be your basic B&W conversion that you will further tweak. Again, don’t get this too dark because in the next steps you may darken it a bit more

11.Go to the “Layer” menu in the menu bar and select “New Adjustment Layer>Curves”. When the “New Layer” box comes up, click “OK”.

11. Of course the reasons for the curves is to accentuate the highlights perhaps, darken the blacks perhaps. Each picture will require a different approach when you apply the curves. My philosophy is generally “less is more” so on the recent pic I used a very shallow “S” curve just to pop the highlights a tiny bit and darken the shadows a tiny bit. 35mm B&W often block up the shadows and that is what I was actually looking for in this particular conversion.

12. In the Layers Drop Down menu (or however you do this) copy the background layer.

13. While in the copied layer, go to “Unsharp Mask”. Note: you are not going to sharpen here but apply “Local Contrast” instead.

14. Try these numbers: Amount 18, Radius 150-180, Threshold 0. This pops the image pretty dramatically.

15. Flatten the image and you’re done (more or less)

To begin with follow the process exactly and then when you feel comfortable with it feel free to tweak wherever you like.

Cheers

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Many thanks for this very useful tutorial , B&W conversion is a real problem to many of us.

lulalake · Expire: 2011-11-18

Katastrofo · Expire: 2013-11-19

This should be a STICK-KEE! Smile

Thanks, Jules, I'll have to find a babelicious subject to try it on! Wink

Jesito · Expire: 2015-01-07

Thanks for sharing it!.

Jes.

Razster · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 101

Thank you sir!
I made a nice action script so I would not forget this.

dakoo · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 603

lulalake · Expire: 2011-11-18

Glad you like it folks.

It's become my "first" conversion, then If I don't like it, I try other stuff.

Jules

Razster · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 101

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

For a quick b+w conversion that works well, try the gradient map.

Done in a couple of keystrokes and by dragging the mid point slider you can adjust the effect.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

How do you make action scripts? Something I've never found out about in PS (I'm using CS2). Will a script do batch processing job, for instance resizing many pics in one go? If someone could point me to a link that explains how to write and run scripts I will be eternally grateful! Smile

dakoo · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 603