I wrote an article titled Better B&W Conversion In Lightroom many years ago and have been using that method since. As I explained, my approach gives more control over the color tones than the standard one-click B&W in Lightroom. And it has served me well. Others may have given it a try and adopted the tool.
New B&W Conversion
Since Lightroom has introduced many new tools like layers, I have modified my old method to gain some advantages. My latest conversion method uses a new mask to remove color, adjust tonality, and even add toning if desired.
Start With A Gradient Mask
Although not strictly necessary, creating a virtual copy would be a good idea by using the shortcut Ctrl+’. Then, activate the masking tool to add a new linear gradient mask starting just outside any edge of your image, and drag it further out while holding the Shift key. In other words, find an edge with a little room outside, hold the Shift key, click, and start dragging the mouse away from the edge. This will add a mask covering the entire image. If you like, you can use a radial gradient mask or brush so long as you include the full image area under the mask. For me, the linear gradient mask works the easiest. Below is a screen capture after I added the linear gradient mask. Note that the beginning edge is closer to the image and the direction of the drag.
Click on the images to see them larger, uncropped, and read their titles.
Eliminate Saturation
Once the mask is active, find the Saturation slider and drag it all the way to the left. Congratulations, you have just converted your image to B&W! But, wait, there’s more! The power of my earlier conversion method and this new one lies in the fully retained color controls unlike what Lightroom suggests: Click on the B&W in the Basic panel. Now that you have removed the color from the image, you can focus on tonal adjustments.
Tonal Controls
You can use the tonal control sliders in the mask to make global adjustments. In addition to the obvious controls, you have additional powers. Start with the Temp and Tint sliders. Move them to the right and left and note the tonal structure that may result. There is no right or wrong, you decide when and where the sliders reflect your vision in the image.
After you get the maximum desirable effect from these sliders, focus on the standard tonal controls. Move the sliders to implement the tonal structure into the image. Below are the screen captures of the panels and the resulting image after these adjustments.
Tone Curve
The tone curves can add additional tonal controls to the image. I used a curve preset from my collection and added small amounts of the other effects. Here are the panel capture and the resulting image at this point.
Texture, Clarity, Dehaze, Detail
Now is the time to refine the look and detail of the image. For that, we will use the Effects and Detail panels. The tools work the same way in Lightroom without a mask and a little may go a long way. Remember that these become adjustments on top of what has been or will be added outside the masking panel. I applied modest amounts of each as the sliders show along with the final image. Here are the panel captures and the almost final image.
The Optional Step of Toning
Before ending the article, I would like to offer an optional step to add toning similar to the old-fashioned darkroom prints. Scroll back up to the Color panel. You will see a small rectangle with a title Color. Click on that rectangle to bring up the color selection panel. The two numbers represent Hue and Saturation. For this example, I chose 56 for hue and 35 for saturation. It yielded something close to platinum prints. Remember you can add toning outside the B&W conversion mask directly in Lightroom. This is a tiny bit of icing on the cake! Here is the color selector and the finished image.
Here are the images reflecting different stages of the conversation. The photograph is of The Asbury United Methodist Church in our neighborhood and I took it in November 2023.
Advantages
The standard B&W conversion in Lightroom leaves all color adjustments to refine tonal structure behind once it is activated. Back in 2008 and now, I wanted to be able to adjust the place on the grayscale.
This method will retain all color controls for finer adjustments, and let you use the Color Mixer, even after the conversion. This is akin to using color filters on the lens when you photograph with B&W film. They alter what gets darker or lighter and these controls will let you mimic a yellow or orange filter to make the sky darker.
I have tried it in Adobe Camera Raw, and it works exactly the same way. Images pushed from Photoshop will be pixel-based. If a RAW image is opened from Adobe Bridge, layers with all the settings can be saved for future RAW processing without converting the image to a pixel-based version.
Laura Landen
I like what you have presented here, Cemal. Having maximum control over color toning is desirable. This method makes processing an image as black and white nearly identical to processing it in color.
A. Cemal Ekin
Glad to hear that, Laura. Take care,
Cemal
Haluk Atamal
Many thanks for the informative article, Cemal. I tried it on ACR but could not quite manage it.
I have my other ways of converting to B/W in Photoshop and they work fine for me.
As for the optional toning, my preference is almost always the same: On the Hue/saturation window, I drag the hue to 47 and saturation to 9 (with the colorize box checked).
Thanks a lot!
Rgds, Haluk
A. Cemal Ekin
Haluk, I tried it in ACR and it worked exactly the same way as described here. If you have a method that works, you stick with it.
Take care,
Cemal
Paul White
As always I really appreciate your Lightroom touches. I still use the basics you taught me long ago. I am grateful to you for taking the fear of using Lightroom away. Thanks for this trick for converting an image to B&W.
Paul
A. Cemal Ekin
Enjoy it, Paul. Sharing what I know (or think I know!) is my karma! Take care,
Cemal
KARL ZUZARTE
Amazing Cemal – thanks a lot
Nice way to exercise personal/selective control
A. Cemal Ekin
Good to hear from you, Karl; and it was good to see the old friends last Tuesday. There is a lot of content here that may be of interest to PSRI members.
Take care, and have fun tonight!
Cemal