Want your B/W’s to POP? [a Quick and Easy Tutorial]
Pin ItThe following quick tutorial is by Vincent Montalbano – one of our wonderful forum members – originally posted in our forum.
I just learned this and thought I’d share this simple procedure. This will also work on color photos, however, I really like what it does for black and whites. Here you go:
- use whatever process you prefer to convert your image to B/W (but do so while maintaining the color channels)
- open up the channels palette (that’s one of the tabs you’ll see on the top of your History palette)
- hold the control key (on PC’s, Mac may be Alt key??) and click on the RGB selection in the Channels palette. You will see the marching ants show up in your image
- make a new layer (Ctrl J) and click on Overlay (Softlight will also work with a little less intensity)… WOW!
- adjust your slider opacity to taste Flatten layer
Here’s an example:
Before
After
36 Responses to “Want your B/W’s to POP? [a Quick and Easy Tutorial]” - Add Yours
November 3rd, 2011 at 6:40 am
This looks great! Thank you for the tip.
November 3rd, 2011 at 6:58 am
Sorry but in CS5 I could not get it to work. Got the RGB selection but couldn’t copy.
November 3rd, 2011 at 7:56 am
I”m not seeing the “pop”. Maybe its my monitor. Maybe its my eyes. It looks to me like you boosted exposure by about 1/2 stop.
November 3rd, 2011 at 7:58 am
The concept is good however I in Gimp I find using Multiply (instead of softlight )on the layer brings out the bold highlights and does not leave the picture looking as washed out. I am not sure if Photoshop uses Multiply .
Almost all my Black and white images have multiply to add depth, its probably mostly due to style but I almost never use softlight.
http://dsdphotography.co.za/the-deklerk-family-%e2%80%93-johannesburg-lifestyle-photoshoot/
November 3rd, 2011 at 8:07 am
That’s really effective and the image remains natural looking.
However alas I can’t get it to work. I am OK until step 4. Ctrl J does nothing – no new layer. Any ideas where I am going wrong? Would really like to get this working.
November 3rd, 2011 at 8:13 am
Multiply, overlay and soft light will all work. If you want to give your photos some pop, use a curves layer directly on the b&w layer, or adjust it’s channels. There is also the B&W menu section which is where the real power to creating striking b&w lies.
There is no perceptible difference in the 2 photos above. A simple step would have been to adjust curves and throw in subtle vignetting which would fix the blandness of the photo.
November 3rd, 2011 at 8:32 am
I don’t see any difference in the before or after!
What program are you referring to?
November 3rd, 2011 at 8:35 am
Even easier (but same result)
1. Create a new layer adjustment of Hue/Saturation.
2. Set the saturation to 0%.
3. Set that overlay (or soft light).
4. Drag the opacity to control the intensity of the effect.
ta da!
November 3rd, 2011 at 8:36 am
Got it working and I love it. Subtle but effective – that’s what I like.
In the photos above, the difference is most noticeable on the woman’s hair.
Thanks for the tip!
November 3rd, 2011 at 9:38 am
These subtle differences can easily be accomplished through a levels or curves adjustment layer without all the extra steps.
November 3rd, 2011 at 9:44 am
I tried it, it works great, Thanks.
November 3rd, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Got it working. After converting to black and white I created a new layer with ctl-shift-alt E then performed the step 2 and on.
November 3rd, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Looks to me like slightly softened contrast, or as Rick suggested, maybe exposure bias bumped up a notch. Either way, I think the very subtle effect achieved here can be done w/o the trouble of layers.
November 3rd, 2011 at 4:10 pm
I am personally a big fan of Nik Software Silver Effects Pro 2. Great package and allows a lot of control for B&W. I understand we are working on “popping” the photo, but I still think Silver Effects gives great results.
November 3rd, 2011 at 6:08 pm
I’m gonna have to agree with Rick and Fonk – there is less contrast in the “after” version. The detail in the child’s left eyebrow has diminished. The before version is definitely the better looking photo.
November 3rd, 2011 at 9:21 pm
I think the “before” picture better then the ‘after’.
November 3rd, 2011 at 11:31 pm
> Mac may be Alt key?
Don’t know much about Macs, do you?
November 4th, 2011 at 1:04 am
Step 3 is Command+Click for macs
November 4th, 2011 at 2:18 am
Interesting. I noticed the difference right away. Since I use Elements I usually select lights and shadows and work with those. In portraits that means the faces (in my opinion) and then other parts of the subject as needed. Of course everything depends on what I want the final product to look like. (Haven’t tried polka dots yet, though.)
November 4th, 2011 at 4:23 am
What program are you using?
November 4th, 2011 at 5:30 am
Using the original technique posted above, here’s a variation:
This only works if you used Photoshop to create your black and white on a new layer. Having used the above technique, you now have three layers, Background, Black & White 1, and Black and White 1 Copy. Now click off Black and White 1 and see what you get.
As above, you can switch between the two blend modes and adjust opacity.
November 4th, 2011 at 5:40 am
Alternatively to my earlier post on a variation, try reducing the capacity of the Black and White 1 layer.
November 4th, 2011 at 7:24 am
Great tutorial.
What’s actually happening here is you’re creating a “luminosity mask” from the RGB channel of your image. This is a mask that creates a selection of all the pixels in the image that are 50% grey or brighter.
When you hit command+J to create a new layer from the selection you should see a very soft layer of the bright pixels in your image.
Setting the layer to “Overlay” takes those pixels and adds contrast to them.
While this works well on B&W images, it really does great things to color ones as well. Give it a shot!
November 4th, 2011 at 8:21 am
Sorry I must be missing something. Do you copy and paste your selection onto the new layer? I don’t see the point in having a new layer then just changing the blending mode
November 4th, 2011 at 9:27 am
This tutorial is AWFUL! There are so many better ways to make monochrome images pop and this is about 1000 on a list of the top ten. Does anyone screen these tutorials? “Mac may be Alt key??” Really?!?!
November 4th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
There is no pop here. You selectively lightened the shadows. You killed the natural contrast. If you want pop, use a High Pass layer on overlay or soft light.
This method is really rather pointless. Luminosity masks have many uses, but this here is rather misapplied. I prefer the original image. It has MORE pop than the after image. (Whatever pop may be)
November 5th, 2011 at 12:41 am
good to know… next time I’ll try it…
November 5th, 2011 at 6:37 am
Thanks for the tips. I shoot B&W often. Will certainly try it out and report.
November 5th, 2011 at 7:35 am
Before picture looks better to me and to some others as well. Perhaps some more details on what is “pop” would help understand what is better about the second photo.
November 6th, 2011 at 1:07 am
Sorry – but did you write this article (?) in haste? What the heck program are you referring to as you provide instructions to be followed? Would be nice to know, so that those of us who don’t use it could ignore it.
Regardless of the program, my eyes don’t really see anything so different in your before and after to call it “pop’. Sorry..
November 7th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Another reason why this website is going to crap, bc they’re letting anyone post anything as a guest author (so they can get a link to their website). This article added zero value and I say that bc of the 30 comments before this the confirm it.
November 11th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
I see a difference – no shadow on their faces. This could be very helpful, IF I can do it on MY photos
November 18th, 2011 at 1:53 am
Right, so these instructions are not only ultra vague, but also do not work. I get the RGB selection, but then I have to change from the channels tab to the layer tab to add a new layer then select overlay and nothing happens… what’s up with that?
November 18th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Kryn,
In CS5 (and perhaps CS4 as well) Ctl-J will not work as suggested in the tutorial–not, at least, if you’ve converted to b/w using the adjust layer b/w option. Use Cntl-Shft-Alt-E instead. (Mac equivalent, I think, is Command-Shift-Alt-E.) This technique works best on images with low to moderate contrast. On high contrast images, it creates a mess. The simple way to implement this is to create an action that takes all the steps after the b/w conversion. You want maximum control for that, although you could build that capability into the action itself. Also, see the approach from The Glue Factory above. Less keyboard intensive way of getting to the same place. I hope this helps.
November 25th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Thank you, Vincent.
Hey haters, go easy on him. Remember, this is a guest author who is a DPS forum member, not a professional writer. It looks like all he wanted to do was to share his technique. For what we paid for it, it seems like a good deal.
For me, the directions work perfectly. I am on a PC and running PS CS5. I agree that stating the program for which this was written would have cleared up a great deal of confusion. For the few photos I tested this on, changing the blend mode to “soft light” rather than “overlay” produced a more pleasing result.
Regarding the hue/saturation layer technique: it produces a very different result. The method in the tutorial only affects the areas of the photo which are 50% grey and lighter whereas using an adjustment layer affects the entire photo.
November 26th, 2011 at 5:57 am
Amen to Brad,
It’s a tool that will work on some images, not work on others, and can be modified to serve other purposes. Just as you wouldn’t apply a particular filter to every image, you should use this when you need it and when it helps.
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