The Art of Black and White Photography

Learn how to create dramatic and compelling black and white images using a range of powerful Photoshop techniques.

Created by: David J. Nightingale
Photographer and Instructor

What Will I Learn?

• How to create technically optimal and aesthetically stunning black and white images with Photoshop.
• How to develop an effective, powerful, and efficient black and white workflow.
• How to use a range of black and white conversion techniques to maximise the impact of your images.
• How to evaluate the tonal range and tonal balance of an image in order to work out the changes that need to be made during subsequent post-production.
• How to use the histogram effectively.
• How to create and use adjustment layers.
• How to use masks to seamlessly blend two or more adjustment layers.
• How to use the Curves tool, Photoshop's most powerful tool, to apply both global and selective changes to the tonal range and tonal balance of your images.
• How to blend two or more conversion techniques within the same image.
• How to smooth skin tones, a technique that's especially useful for portraits of women and children.
• How to lighten your subject's eyes.
• How to maximise the detail in your subject's face: especially suitable for male portraiture.
• How to add unique and compelling tones to your images to really bring them to life.

Requirements

• Ideally, Photoshop CS3 or above.
• If you're using an earlier version of Photoshop (CS2 or below) you'll be able to work with most of the tools and techniques covered in this course other than the Black and White tool which was introduced in Photoshop CS3.
• No prior knowledge of Photoshop. You'll be learning some powerful and sometimes complex techniques, but we'll work through each of these step-by-step.

Target audience

• Anyone who wants to learn how to create technically optimal and aesthetically stunning black and white images.