Greg Gorman (Luminosity-based) B&W Conversions in Lightroom?

[patrick_j.]

<p>hello --</p>

<p>I keep experimenting with B&W conversions and wonder if there is a way to emulate the look of a luminosity based conversion in lightroom? so far i keep going to PS and using an action to create a new virtual copy. a simple preset would help me getting a sense which conversion method would be best, as i am having a hard time visualizing the results ahead of time. </p>

<p>thanks in advance,<br>

patrick.</p>

[digitaldog]

<p>No, Greg’s technique can’t be totally replicated in LR (there’s no way to get the Lab data as an example). That said, there are so many ways to convert to B&W, even just in LR, I suspect you can find something to suite your needs. For tone, you’d have to mess with the LCH or tint sliders. </p>

[r_johnston]

<p>You could try creating a, to see if you can get it at least close.<br /> Get an average image as close as possible to what you want in <em>Develop</em> Mode.<br /> Do not remove saturation yet....<br /> Then go down to HSL, (you can click on one or all) or just Luminance, and set it to look the way you desire.<br /> Go back and remove saturation.<br /> Then, click On Develop in the top menu, new Preset and save...<br /> Try to see how it works, you may have to play with it a bit, then re-save it to the preset you want.</p>

[patrick_j.]

<p>thank you for your replies. <br>

<strong>@Robert: </strong>thanks for the tip. why is it important to desaturate later? it seems that in LR3 i can desaturate and still use the luminance settings. however, so far, i haven't been able to reproduce or get a close enough preset. any tips there?<br>

patrick.</p>

[patrick_j.]

<p>Oh, and before i forget it. could somebody explain to me what the difference is between the 3 ways to create a B&W conversion? i se these ways:</p>

<ol>

<li>in the basic panel i can desaturate</li>

<li>in the HSL i can desaturate individual channels, and get b&w if i desaturate them all</li>

<li>i can just click on b&w and get an instant one (i have disabled to automatically apply settings)</li>

</ol>

<p>i am not sure i understand the difference and the benefits of the various ways.</p>

<p>thanks again,<br>

patrick.</p>

[r_johnston]

<p>Perhaps I am not remembering correctly or because Im using LR 2.6....<br>

Ive adjusted colors for the zone range of each as I want them, without removing saturation.<br>

Then removed it. Thought that after removing saturation, when I tried adjusting Luminance, it made not change in the shades of gray.</p>

 

[r_johnston]

<p><img src="http://rjohnston.zenfolio.com/img/v8/p415024514-3.jpg" alt="" /> <br /> By using the HSL you can adjust more than 3 ways, to get the gray zones you want.<br /> An example would be if you desaturated in Basic you can not control the density of the sky individually. In HSL, you can increase saturation to the point it is almost or is black if you want, by changing the blue saturation, hue, luminosity.<br /> In basic, shades of red will be locked into the setting.<br /> In HSL, by changing Red, Orange, Yellow, Purple, Magenta, you can control the shades of gray in many different ways. The degree of controls depending on the image if virtually limitless.</p>