Lightroom Presets: 6 Black and White Presets

Today I am giving you five black and white presets, talk about a Black Friday Special... and you don't even have to deal crowds here. Four of the free presets I am giving away are color filtered presets and the fifth is a strong contrast black and white preset.


The image to the left is a strong black and white image on its own, but with a little boost of contrast or using a color filter the image can change either a little or drastically.

The image below is the same image with the Black and White Blue Filter. This is applied by amplifying the blue tones sliders in the B&W tab in the HSL tool.




Black & White Blue Preset

 Blue comes in many tones ranging from green-blue (aqua), blue and red-blue (purple). I accomplish this type of effect by increase the gray value of blue to 100%, and the gray values of aqua and purple to 50%. All other colors are set to zero. As a result, anything with a blue tone to it is brighter and more vibrant.

You may notice a light shift in the blue tones in the water. Click on any of the images to see a larger version of the image and see more detail in subtle changes.



Black & White Green Preset

 The Black and White Green Filter image is the same image but with a green filter applied to it. This is applied by amplifying the green tones sliders in the B&W tab of the HSL tool.


Green comes in many tones ranging from yellow to green-blue (aqua). I accomplish this type of effect by increase the gray value of green to 100%, and the gray values of aqua and yellow to 50%. All other colors are set to zero. As a result, anything with a green tone to it is brighter and more vibrant. Looking closely at the image, click on it to see the larger version, the belt of the young man is brighter than the original image above.



Black & White Red Preset

 The Black and White Red Filter image is the same image but with a red filter applied to it. This is applied by amplifying the red tones sliders in the B&W tab of the HSL tool.


Red comes in many tones ranging from Magenta to orange. I accomplish this type of effect by increase the gray value of red to 100%, and the gray values of magenta and orange to 50%. All other colors are set to zero. As a result, anything with a red tone to it (mainly in the skin in this image) is brighter and more vibrant. Looking closely at the image, click on it to see the larger version, the ribs of the young man and the arm of the young lady are brighter than the original image above.


Black and White Yellow Preset

The Black and White Yellow Filter image is the same image but with a yellow filter applied to it. This is applied by amplifying the yellow tones sliders in the B&W tab of the HSL tool.


Yellow comes in many tones ranging from orange (red-yellow) to green (green-yellow). I accomplish this type of effect by increase the gray value of yellow to 100%, and the gray values of orange and green to 50%. All other colors are set to zero. As a result, anything with a yellow tone to it (mainly in the skin highlights) is brighter and more vibrant. Looking closely at the image, click on it to see the larger version, the ribs of the young man and the arm of the young lady are brighter than the original image above and are highlighted differently than the Black & White Red preset results.



Black & White Original Image

 Finally, we have the strong contrast black and white preset.

Contrast in photography is the opposition of light and shadow. The more opposition there is between light and shadow the stronger the contrast.


In the original photo on the left, there is a natural high contrast to the image due to the position of the unfiltered sun in the sky. This contrast can be exploited to make a strong artistic statement with a few adjustments I made and saved as a preset.

 
 



Black & White Strong Contrast

 By amping the contrast, black levels and tweaking the tone curve into a strong S-Curve, the contrast of the image is made unnaturally strong creating a depth to the image that was lacking in the original. The patterns in the water are more pronounced and the highlights on the back of the boy are blown out completely.


Now while blown highlights are not a good thing according the rules; it is only a rule so it can be broken if it helps the image to work. In this case, I like the result and am sticking by it.

Download B&W Blue Here

Download B&W Green Here

Download B&W Red Here

Download B&W Yellow Here

Download B&W Strong Contrast Here

To install the preset, copy the file in the zip (xxx.lrtemplate) to your Develop Presets folder on your computer. If you don't know where to find this folder, open Lightroom. Click on Edit menu and select Preferences. Click on the Presets tab and click the Show Lightroom Presets Folder... button.