Bringing out the Black and White

[jclguru]

For those who've helped me in the past...I promise, no branch questions

I have a bunch of black and white photographs from 1961, which I've
attached one.

Pretty much everything I read in Photoshop deals in color (or b&w -> color).

Can somebody detail the steps on taking a b&w photo and rescuing it,
bringing it back to life.

Thanks
Doug

[Karyn]

This is my first attempt at helping someone. I would duplicate the image and then open a channel Mixer adjustment layer. At the bottom of the Channel Mixer window check the Monochrome box. Now just play with the different sliders (Red, Green, Blue) adjusting them to suit your picture. Remember that the total value of the sliders should equal 100 % (I just know they should equal 100%, but I don't know exactly why). I hope this helps. I am sure there are many other ways of getting better Black & White pictures.

Karyn

[cardmnal]

jclguru,

I'm not sure what your looking for but here's a little something.

1) converted to gray scale.
2) created an adjustment layer for levels, held the alt key and slid the left slider towards the middle until the first pixels began to appear.
3) Created another adjustment layer, this one for curves. I set my white point and black point using the eyedroppers, then adjusted the middle of my curve a little.
4) Applied unsharp mask.

Hope that helps.

[jclguru]

Thanks so far. That is what I'm looking for. Something to get me started
to get the picture to pop out a little more. I'm so use to looking at
color, its kind of hard to explain what I'm looking for in b&w (if that makes
sense).

Doug

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Doug,

Like cardmnal I've used levels and curves layers to expand the range and increase contrast.

Levels is a straight forward adjustment to maximise tonal range, Curves is a simple S curve to increase contrast.

[Duv]

To give myself some nice tonal adjustment options, I do the following:

Duplicate the background layer.
Add Channel Mixer adjustment layer set to Monochrome. Click OK.
Add Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Click Ok.
Drag Hue/Sat layer below Channel Mixer layer.
Playing with the Hue/Sat adjusters can make nice changes to the tonality.

Also, when images look a little flat, try a Z Curve instead of an S.

Cheers
Dave

[cspringer]

black/white gradient map, Grain Surgery to remove noise and sharpen

[Gary Richardson]

Dave, you forgot your image, so we can see the result of your adjustments.

[Duv]

Hi Gary

Actually, I didn't forget. Just wanted to share the technique because it has some neat and variable tonal adjustment capabilities. So it's more to the user's tastes rather than mine. Changes usually aren't dramatic as applying Curves to increase contrast so I usually use this technique in conjunction with other ideas. I've poste a couple of samples that show different tonality in the roof and trees plus included one with a Z Curve that increases contrast but maintains some detail in the shadows.

Cheers
Dave

[Gary Richardson]

Nice ones Dave, interesting technique, and certainly one I'll play with. Sorry for any misunderstanding. With such a detailed explanation I just felt sure there'd be a picture, so thought you must have missed it out accidentally.

[byRo]

Hi there, jclguru,
I used a whole bag of tricks here, think you may find interesting....

1) JPEG Clean-Up*;
2) Get luminosity*;
3) Use whole range: Levels, auto, 0,4%*;
4) Lighten shadows: Duplicate, apply shadow mask (<ctrl><alt><~>, new mask, invert), blending screen, opacity 50%, merge;
5) Equalize: Duplicate, Image>Adjustments>Equalize, opacity 20%, merge;
6) Less Light/Dark area contrast: Duplicate, High-Pass, radius 100, opacity 50%, merge;
7) High-Pass Sharpening: Duplicate, High-Pass, radius 0,4, blending Linear Light, opacity 100%;
8) Tweak Sharpening: byRo B/C* (controlled brightness/contrast adjust), grouped to High-Pass sharpening layer (<ctrl><G>), contrast +50%.

* see 10 min Toolkit

Phew! Who need colours, anyway?

Rô

[Duv]

Leave it to you Roland to take the easy way. Nice Job! By the way, Tricks are for Kids, you silly Rabbit!

Gary, life is good..although, I am feeling a little flushed.

Dave