For this post I thought I would try something a little different. I wanted to go through a black and white editing process step by step in Lightroom to explain not just the tools I used but what I thought the image needed and how I decided to go about it.
But instead of just explaining how to edit one particular image, I thought this was a chance to go a lot further. Lightroom’s editing tools are non-destructive and they can be bundled up together into a preset that you can re-use on other images. You can also export your custom presets so that other people can use them, and that’s what I’ve done here.
What’s especially clever about Lightroom presets is that they don’t just include global adjustments. You can also create presets with masks. These can be either manual masks which you can move around manually, AI masks which adapt to the contents of images they’re applied to, or combinations of both.
I will add some more articles that go into more depth on the tools and processes used here and add links to this article. But for now, though, let’s just get started.
01 My starting shot
This is a RAW file I shot at dusk with a dramatic sky and still a little light in the foreground, but I think it’s going to look much better and black and white with some creative dodging and burning.
02 My end shot
And this is my finished image, complete with some global adjustments which I’ll explain below and two masks. One is a combined, or ‘intersected’ AI Sky mask and the other is a simple radial mask to ‘relight’. the foreground. Both are included in the preset and both can be adjusted once you’ve applied them to your own photos.
03 Global adjustments
There are three key things I did at the start. The first was in the Basic panel (1) where I clicked the B&W button at the top to switch to Lightroom’s black and white mode. The second was to swap to the B & W panel and set the Black & White Mix to Auto (2). The third was to go back to the Basic panel and click the Auto button (3) to automatically adjust the Exposure, Contrast, Shadows, Highlights and more.
04 The Sky mask
I want to intensify and add drama to that sky, and Lightroom has just the tool. If I swap to the Mask panel I can simply create a new Sky mask. Straight away, though, you might spot the issue. If I click the Show Overlay box, you’ll see the mask extends right to the horizon line where it ends abruptly.
If I then make some adjustments using the sliders (Exposure, Highlights, Dehaze) you’ll see the result is pretty crude. I can fix that, though, in the next step, which is to combine, or ‘Intersect’ this Sky mask with a regular linear mask.
05 Intersecting a linear mask with the Sky mask
To do this, I just click the three-dot icon next to the sky mask then select the Intersect Mask with > Linear Gradient option. Now I can drag out a linear gradient downwards from the top of the sky and the sky adjustment is blended in nicely.
The beauty of this approach is that any non-sky elements remain masked by the sky mask, so you’re getting the best of both worlds. (Also, the sky mask will ‘adapt’ to whatever image you apply this preset to.)
06 Relighting the foreground
My preset is designed to add drama to a sky but also add light to the foreground, and this is easy to do with a new Radial Gradient mask. I usually drag these out as a horizontal ellipse roughly where I need them and fine tune the positioning later. All I need to do with this adjustment is give the Tone Curve a strong upward shove to get a lightening effect – I don’t want to use the Exposure controls because they will be modified separately.
07 Saving the preset
So that’s pretty much it. What I need to do now is save these adjustments as a preset. You can do this with the ‘+’ button at the top of the Presets panel in the left sidebar, and you’ll get a dialog where you choose the settings you want to save with the preset.
This is where you need to be careful. First, choose only those adjustments that make that make this preset unique. Don’t include any cropping or perspective adjustments, for example. Second, make sure you include any masks you’ve created – this option is over on the far right and may not be selected by default. Finally, I’ve enabled the Auto Settings and Auto Black & White Mix boxes at the top. The Auto settings will automatically enhance your image in the Basic panel and the Auto Black and White Mix option should make the preset adapt a little better to different images – I hope.
08 Importing and using the preset
Assuming you’ve just downloaded my preset, you can import it with the ‘+’ button at the top of the Presets panel again and the Import Presets button. Now you can open your own images and move the mouse pointer over the preset to preview the effect.
09 Adjusting the masks
Now for the clever bit. Although this preset includes masks which are pre-positioned, it’s very simple to move and adjust them. You won’t need to move the sky mask because Lightroom will create that automatically for your image, but you can move the ‘intersected’ gradient mask by selecting it either with its ‘pin’ directly on the image or via the Mask panel. Now you can change the way the sky adjustments blend in with the rest.
As for the ‘relighting’ mask, you can change its shape and size by dragging on the edge handles and move it by dragging on the centre. This might seem much too simple and crude an approach to relighting a scene but, believe me, with some careful positioning and judgement it can be remarkably natural looking – typically a lot more natural than Lightroom’s AI Subject masks.
So that’s it. Don’t forget to download the preset and try it out for yourself! I hope you like the dramatic black and white look it applies to outdoor images and that the explanation of how it was done is useful.
