In this article I will demonstrate an effective technique for transforming dull black and white photos into dramatic ones. As a homage to Ansel Adams, I will show you some techniques you can use in Lightroom to make them pop, taking them from okay to awesome. Ansel Adams was a master at dodging and burning his images – albeit with skill in the darkroom – but I’m going to show you how to create similar effects in Lightroom. It really comes handy whenever you want to create black and white, or want to make a landscape or cityscape really stand out. Let’s get right into it.
AFTER
BEFORE
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MIX THE B&W Go to the B&W section and play with the colours to add some natural contrast in the photo. Try not to go over 40 or -40 to avoid weird effects or unwanted noise. You can adjust the White Balance too.
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BASIC RETOUCH Start with basic retouching, such as +0.60 exposure, bringing down the highlights to -73 and opening up the shadows to +100. You can click on the Black and White mode so it gives you a starting point.
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GRADUATED FILTER Closing your photo or creating a vignette helps add drama. Draw a Graduated Filter at the top, minus the exposure to -0.94 at the centre and create a second on top. Create another at the bottom.
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BRUSH SOME LIGHT To continue, take a brush, boost the exposure to 0.48 with clarity at 20, Flow and Density around 80 and paint over some areas, to add some light flows, to lead the eyes of the viewer into the photo.
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BLACK AND WHITE POINTS Press the alt
(or option key) while using the Blacks slider – you will see the 100% black points. Do the same for the Whites. This makes sure you don’t have 100% white or black points.
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RADIAL CIRCLE Add some sources of light by creating a circle, boosting the exposure (0.94) and clarity (27), then duplicating it at random places. After duplicating the circle, lower or boost the exposure as you wish.