3 Quarters Today

My Life, my photography, my passions

Wordpress

Using Lightroom 4: Black and White Conversion

by

Using Lightroom to Create Black & White Images

I am a person who sees in color and therefore my photographs are in color, but sometimes color is distracting and facial expressions and emotion get lost in the “clutter”. Black and white photography highlights the face, the eyes and expressive personalities. It doesn’t just work for people, but black and white photography works for animals as well.

Take for example this gorilla from the Omaha Zoo.

Gorilla at the Omaha Zoo
Gorilla at the Omaha Zoo

I’ve seen some amazing black and white photographs on the photography section of the WordPress blog.  So, I thought I would try my hand at using Adobe Lightroom to see if I could achieve the same thing. I love Adobe Lightroom, it’s easy to learn and no matter how many times you edit your photo you can go back to the original without worrying about losing data.

Stand Alone Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6 Program | PC/Mac Disc$10/month Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan (Photoshop CC + Lightroom) subscription

It’s not as simple as clicking the black and white button. I also adjusted some of the underlying color tones and increased the clarity to bring out the details and shadows.

Black and White Lightroom Example
Click for bigger image and more detail

This is a time I wish my WordPress template was wider for images. If you click on the image you can see some of the changes in a bigger format.

The original black and white threw too many shadows around his eyes, but the adjustment lighten brush solved that problem.  I also used the adjustment brush to sharpen his nose, darken highlights in the fur and increase the clarity in the creases. There really was a lot I did to this image, so much so I couldn’t list them all.

Many photographers learn by watching YouTube videos but sometimes there is nothing like settling down with a book for inspiration. If you have a friend who loves photography and is creative these make great Christmas or birthday gifts.

Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual Third Revised EditionThe Art of Black and White Photography: Techniques for Creating Superb Images in a Digital Workflow

Photo info: This gorilla lives at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, it’s one of my favorite places to visit.  I posted earlier about the Gorilla exhibit, give it a read, it’s pretty amazing. If anyone visits Omaha contact me and I’ll be more than glad to take you on a tour.

Black and White Photography Hints and Tips

5 digital photography tips only the pros know

Black-and-white photography is a quick way to make a classy portrait photo or atmospheric cityscape. However, the black-and-white mode on your camera is not the way to do it. In that mode, the camera sensor only captures a fraction of the information …

Kim Komando: 5 digital photography tips from the pros

The major don’t of black-and-white photography. Black-and-white photography is a quick way to make a classy portrait photo or atmospheric cityscape. However, the black-and-white mode on your camera is not the way to do it. In that mode, the camera …

Black And White Photography Tips – The SITS Girls

Learn how to capture emotion, texture, light, shadows, and more with these black and white photography tips.

Black and white photography – Digital Camera World

In this black and white photography tutorial you’ll learn best camera settings, subjects and monochrome conversion methods for your photo editing software.

4 Tips to Help you Decide Between Black and White or Color

Half Color. There are many differing opinions when it comes to black and white photography. Some photographers love it, and shoot black and white exclusively, while other photographers absolutely shun the notion and shoot only in color.

My First Award, The Sunshine Award

by

sunshine-award

When I first started blogging it was purely for a learning experience for a new business venture. I never thought I would grow to love blogging and find such a supportive  community. I’m two shy of 100 followers and I have to admit I love watching my stats as I get on average of 50-60 views per day. May not seem like a lot, but I have a sad face when it’s only 20 views in one day.

Thank you to Seasons Girl for nominating me for my first of what I hope are many more badges to place on my site. I’m honored and a little behind on recognizing you but as I’ve said before “Life Happens”

In accepting this award, I need to complete the following:

1. Link the award to the person who gave it to me.

Here again, I get an opportunity to be grateful for this nomination. I love to travel, so the nominating Sunshine blog lets me travel to Virginia  tantalizing life of Season’s Girl

2. Answer the questions about myself. (See below)

3. Nominate 10 bloggers for the award.

4. Link my nominees to the post and comment on their blog, letting them know about the award.

The Questions:

Favourite Number: 7, probably because God rested on the 7th day, I love a day of rest, to have  a guilt free day where I don’t have to do any work.

Favourite Non-Alcoholic Drink: Milk. Yup, still love milk, nothing beats a cold glass of milk and Chips A Hoy cookies.

Favourite animal: Dog, I’ve always had dogs and now have two Brody, a Jack Russell and Leah our Boxer puppy.

Facebook or Twitter: Facebook hands down, have been on since summer of 2007 I can say, I’m addicted. Since I grew up in Connecticut Facebook has reconnected me to so many high school friends.  I have created deep friendships with classmates I never got to really know in high school.

My Passion: Besides my family,…it’s easy photography and photo editing, oh and eating, and taking pictures of food, and bragging about my family.

Favourite Day of the Week: Saturday! I can sleep in and wake without an alarm clock.

Favourite Flower: Tulips, they are just so graceful

My 10 Nominees: I am thrilled to nominate the following for hours of interesting reading, and for taking me on voyages of the mind over the last two years. I have been honored to share your world.

  1. Whitney Photography: who I thank in being the first person to comment on my blog and still finds her way over to visit almost two years later. http://whitneytphoto.com/
  2. A Girl, A Camera, A Challenge, Although her 365 project is finished, we have become friends on Facebook and continue our love of photography there. She has a great eye and also a love of poetry. Her second site is Appearing Closer, where object REALLY are closer than they appear, very very cool site. (this counts as one link, not eleven)
  3. Nebraska Wheatie, Tracie is a local Nebraska blogger, Mom four beautiful girls (one is my daughters friend), president of the Wheat Harvestors Association
  4. All I’ve Got is a Photograph: Bonnie is one of my original 365 Bloggers and one of my top commenters, Thanks Bonnie for all the kind words, you always put a smile on my face.
  5. Brett Erickson Photography: Ready for some amazing eye candy photography? Head over to Brett’s site, he never fails me when I go on my WordPress Reader.
  6. Russel Ray Photography: Are you noticing a trend here, more photography and a great blogger and participant in the WordPress world. Another perk, he resides in San Diego which is familiar territory with me having two Marines and visiting that area a few times.
  7. Donald Reese Photography: If you love country, rural life, farming and a smattering of the Amish living you will love Donald Reese’s treasure trove. Be warned, you will be lost for hours.
  8. Notsofancynancy Nancy touches on many every life subjects but is passionate about documenting her Dad’s WW II experience from letters she has found.  This is poignant to me as I have recently found my Dad’s pictures from the 82nd Airborne and am now on a mission to document and learn more from his WW II days.
  9. A Cord of Three Strands: A military wife on her way to be a Proverbs 31 woman and a wife of noble character. Her husband is a Marine and I’m enjoying her journey.
  10. Martini’s and Mini Vans : Although this is #10, it’s not last, this hip Mom is fighting the battle to stay hip, even with a mini van and kids in tow. A literary collection of extremely well written essays. One other perk, she’s from the Omaha area. I always love reading about local people. I feel more connected. You rock Danielle!
Related articles