Digital Black-and-White using Adobe Lightroom with Carlan Tapp

Finally! Photography software designed by and made to be used by photographers. To make stunning black-and-white pictures in Lightroom I do the following. (And, by the way, now with a smile and only kind words passing from my lips.)


In the Develop module I adjust my “properly captured” histogram by adjusting the Exposure, Blacks, and Recovery sliders to obtain the best overall histogram. If fill is needed, I add it with the Fill Light slider. Add a little Clarity adjustment (40-50), and we are looking good.

Next step: click on the HSL button. At this point, I like to split my screen to show the “before and after” image. (i.e.: the original RGB and my new black and white). Move to the Saturation sliders, which represent the original colors in the RGB. Move each slider to the left to fully “de-saturate” the photo. Now drop down to the Luminance sliders. Here I can lighten or darken the different original color values (now grayscale values) to taste. I go back, check my histogram, move to the Tone Curve and finish off with a slight “s” curve to add the magic to the black-and-white. The final touch, drop on down in the menu bar and find the Lens Vignetting slider under Lens Correction and you can “burn” the edges of your image to taste. Time now to hit the “print” button and experience digital black-and-white.


Remember: it is all about Seeing – Framing – Shooting from the Heart. If you do this, the black and white tools in Lightroom are ready to help you share your vision in black-and-white. So, who needs color now?

Learn more from Carlan, a black and white photographer at heart now tempted to shoot more digital, in his workshop

Expressive Digital Landscape in Black and White

September 29-October 2, 2010

Visit Carlan’s web site www.carlantapp.com to see what he’s up to.