Tag: lightroom

Converting Photos to Black and White

Using Lightroom to edit your photos is definitely a lot simpler than using Photostop. Lightroom is more streamlined, and organized (at least in my opinion). However, there are times when it can be difficult to figure out how to do something in Lightroom. Converting your images to a good black and white can sometimes be confusing if you are not familiar with the way Lightroom works, or if you are simply new to editing photos in general.

There are a few ways to get a black and white photo when using Lightroom. There are some presets that you can use that will just automatically convert your image. However, sometimes these don’t look the way that you want them to. There just isn’t enough contrast, or something just looks off. Along with that, you can set your camera to shoot in black and white, which will give you a black and white image from the get go. OR you can just slide the saturation and vibrance sliders all the way down (depending on your picture this won’t give you a complete black and white result). While these might be the easiest ways to get a black and white photo, it isn’t necessarily the best.

To get the best black and white photo, you are going to want to adjust everything individually. In “Develop” on the third panel down, you should see something that says “B&W”. This is where you can change the individual colors in your photo to get the desired black and white effect without getting a super flat and dull result. There are sliders for basically every color, so you should have no trouble getting a black and white photo.

If you still aren’t really liking the way that your image looks after adjusting each color individually, changing the clarity might help add a little depth to your photo. The best thing to do is to simply adjust the sliders until you find that sweet spot that works the best for your personal preferences! Personally, I am very picky when deciding what images I want to have in black and white. I tend to select the ones that have the most contrast in them because I find that they work better as black and whites. But again, photography is all about personal preferences, so do whatever works best for you!

I hope that this will provide some help when it comes to getting a nice black and white image. Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!

Clipping

Clipping is a very common problem when working on photos in Lightroom. It happens when there are areas in the photo with no information. Typically, this is caused when the lighting is either too bright or too dark. Most of the time, photographers call these areas “blow outs”. Having small areas with clipping isn’t really an issue, but when there are large areas of highlight or shadow clipping it would be in your best interest to fix it.

There are a few ways to fix clipping in your images. You can find presets made by other people and download them (sometimes these options cost money), or you can use the sliders in the Tone Curve Panel. However, the easiest and most cost efficient way to solve clipping is by using the highlights and shadows slider in the basic panel.

Lightroom will use either the color red or the color blue to show you that there is clipping in your photo. Red indicates highlight clipping, while blue indicates shadow clipping. Press the “J” key on your keyboard to turn these on if you do not already have it turned on. Along with that, there is a way to turn them on and off individually. On the histogram in the top right corner of Lightroom, there are two little triangles, one on either side. Simply clicking on those will turn the clipping indicators on and off. The one on the left is shadows and the one on the right is highlights.

Once you have the indicator turned on, you will just need to move whichever slider to up or down until you do not see the color anymore. If you fix all of the clipping and are not satisfied with how your photos looks, then just stop the slider in a place where you have most of the clipping gone but still like the way the image looks. Like I said before, having some clipping isn’t a problem, it’s just the large areas that you should be on the look out for. Along with that, when it comes to editing pictures, a lot of what you do depends on personal preference. It is important that you are satisfied with your work!

Be sure to stop back again tomorrow for another blog post! Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and to share my thoughts with the world!