Creating a Classic Black-and-White Image

Recall in Chapter 3 that I quickly covered the B&W panel for making adjustments. Let’s dig a bit deeper into the technique to see how you can transform your photos into classic works of art. When converting an image, I usually create a virtual copy first. If you want to compare a few different looks, just make more virtual copies. Remember that the new copies are virtual so they don’t take up space on your hard drive; instead, they just let you try different effects without having to reset your image.

Adjusting the Tones with the B&W Panel

When you’ve made a virtual copy of your image, press V to quickly turn it into a black and white. The result is Lightroom’s idea of what your image should look like, so you need to take control of the image’s appearance by opening the HSL/Color/B&W panel and then clicking the Target Adjustment tool.