Here you’ll find all the presets that render a black and white image.

Reset…

Three presets that reset either the split-toning, the white balance (to “As Shot”) or everything.  These are duplicated in the B&W section for easy access, because some B&W presets add toning that you might want to remove, 50K screws with the white balance, and sometimes you just need a clean start because things are looking weird in general.  It’s simply a convenience to put them here.

50K

I love this black and white.  It’s my personal favorite, and one of the first things that came out of our development efforts that made me really, really happy.  It’s contrasty and gutsy.  Mostly it just seems to have an uncanny knack to know where to put the tones of the image to make it look good.  You’ll often have to bump the exposure up to 1/3 in either direction, as this is a very contrasty B&W, but once you get the exposure right, it makes almost any image look great.  The Lighter and Softer versions do exactly what they suggest, relative to the plain 50K preset.

Why is it called 50K?  Because part of the formula involves racking the white balance slider all the way to its maximum of 50,000 degrees Kelvin.  Coupled with some calibration tweaks and the right grayscale mixer, it seems to be magic.  I don’t understand it, but it works.  It’s one of the few formulas we’ve ever created that defies all logic, and I’m sure Adobe will break it someday by changing their development routines, but until then, just enjoy the magic and mystery that is 50K.

As an important side note – it’s been said before, but if you apply this preset, and then apply a color preset without first resetting the white balance, you’re in for funky results.  Bear that in mind, and use that undo command when you want to remove this preset, instead of just clicking another one.

Finally, this preset makes weird things happen with highlight transitions sometimes, particularly with images that have strongly blown-out areas.  Bummer… there’s not really any way around it aside from using a different preset.

Image Courtesy Chenin Boutwell - www.boutwellstudio.com

Bodie

Looks like a stained, antique photo from a bygone era – an artifact from some western ghost town.  Part of what makes this look possible is a hack that we came up with, allowing us to darken the highlights (Lightroom doesn’t give you full control over an image’s curves, by default).  Named for the famous ghost town in California.

Note – you can change the tone of the image by applying a preset from the Tone group after this one – either to neutral or something else.

Image Courtesy Fer Juaristi - www.ferjuaristi.com

Concrete Jungle, Great White, Grey Matter, Night Man, Riot Juice

Concrete Jungle – A somewhat gritty B&W conversion, good for general purpose use.  Somewhat dark and moody, with increased highlight contrast at the expense of some openness in the shadows (HC-110 anyone?   Named for the 2-tone ska song by The Specials.

Great White – An excellent B&W for lighter-skinned subjects where a creamy, bright, smooth rendition of skintones is desirable.  Named for the the 80s hair band, and for the sharks that make Chenin worry every time I go surfing.

Grey Matter – A dramatic black and white that lightens reds and deepens blues.  Reminiscent of infa-red or red-filter B&W photography, but not intended to be an exact duplicate.  Good for epic landscapes and ethereal portraits.

Night Man – A relatively dark, moody B&W – in many ways the conceptual opposite of Great White.  Think evening, mystery, and drama.  He’s always fighting the Day Man.  He’s a master of karate and friendship to everyone.

Riot Juice – Despite the name, a very straightforward B&W conversion.  Its conceptual parallel would be “Boring Old B&W” from The Original Totally Rad Action Mix.  Renders similarly to Concrete Jungle, but a little lighter and softer.

Image Courtesy Fer Juaristi - www.ferjuaristi.com

Sketchy

An homage to Paolo Roversi’s stunning nudes – sketchy renders a very low-contrast image with fine, delicate detail that seems to materialize from the ether.  It also takes advantage of the same Lightroom hack that makes Bodie possible.  Not for every image, but perfect for some.

Note – you can change the tone of the image by applying a preset from the Tone group after this one – either to neutral or something else.

Image Courtesy Doug Boutwell - www.dougboutwell.com