Hello!  Erin here with a quick tip for using black and white photos.

The other day I was talking in a forum with some ladies about photography and scrapbooking.  Someone brought up using black and white photos and I noticed that most people either loved them or hated them. Now if you know me, then you know I LOVE black and white photos. Curious about this love/hate relationship I had found, I started asking questions and I soon came to the conclusion that those that hated using black and white photos felt the way they did because their photos tended to turn out gray and boring. Further inquiry helped me to see the reason why.

The problem lies in the way in which scrappers process their photos (in other words, the method they use to turn them black and white).  I found that scrappers who use an action, a filter, or a Lightroom preset tend to LOVE using black and white.  But scrappers who simply hit “desaturate” don’t get the same vivid results and tend to struggle using (or even liking) the photos.

Many people use the desaturate command as a black and white short cut. It can be found here, in the Image adjustments menu.

But using the desaturate command simply takes all the color out of a photo.  It does not take into consideration any of the other elements that make up a good black and white photo.

If your photo was awesome to begin with, having great color balance and exposure you might end up with a pretty good end result, but any other photos (ok, basically most photos) are going to turn out gray and dull, like this.

There are several reasons for that, but in the interest of keeping things simple I am going to focus solely on contrast as that is one of the easiest ways for us as scrappers to correct the problem. In order to correct the dull grey effect, you will need to play with your brightness/contrast.

Most photos do not need to be adjusted very much because even a little bit of contrast boost will help a black and white photo to really pop.

You do have to be careful, however, not to give your photo too much brightness, or too much contrast as this will overexpose your photo and wash it out causing it to lose most of the detail.

I like my photos to be a little overexposed because I like to have some crisp contrast between the brightest and darkest parts of my photo. In other words I like to have parts that are White and parts that are black and avoid the greying effect.  Some photographers will argue against this, but I look at it from an artistic point of view and let’s face it – art can bend the rules right! Plus, I feel that this contrast helps the photo to really stand out in my layout. You should spend some time playing with the sliders to see what you like best and to get a feel for adjusting your photos in this way.

If all the fiddling with the photo makes you nervous, I suggest you find an action, or a preset that you really LOVE and invest in it. The difference it lends to your photos, and the speed in which it gives you awesome results really is worth the upfront cost in my opinion. With the touch of a button I can get this difference!

I hope this helps you to enjoy the beauty of black and white photos a bit more, and gives you some confidence in converting your photos for use in Scrapping.  Feel free to leave any questions you might have below, and have fun!