One Way to Convert Color Images to Black & White in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro 2
Whether you’re just starting to convert color to black and white or you’ve just never been satisfied with how your previous attempts have turned out, this short tutorial by Hong Kong street photographer Gary Tyson will come in very handy.
The tutorial will show you how to take a RAW file, prep it in Lightroom, convert it to black and white in Silver Efex Pro 2, and then finish it up back in Lightroom. And although it’s meant specifically for images shot with the Fuji X-T1, it’ll give anybody who wants that grainy, filmic black and white look — which is particularly well suited for street photography — a great place to start.
The great thing about this technique is that, after the first time, you have your presets set up and each subsequent conversion takes no longer than about 30 seconds or maybe a minute if you need to play with the settings a bit to suit each individual image. Here’s a screenshot that shows how the conversions turn out:
If this kind of look isn’t what you’re going for in your black and white photography, or you have (or know of) a workflow that you feel yields better results, be sure to drop us a link the comments.
To see more of Tyson’s work, or if you’re interested in learning more from him, head over to his Facebook page or check out the F8 Photography website.
