Black and White Photography in Aperture
There is something pure and simple about a black and white photograph. Perhaps it is its common use among the classic photographers such a Ansel Adams and its adoption in fine art photography. It may be that to create a ‘good’ black and white photo is harder than a ‘good’ colour photo; reason being the lack of colour information forces you to focus more on the image content, detail and contrast.
Most image editing applications support the conversion of an image to black and white. However, not all are created equal and some simply support a ‘convert to greyscale’ option that does not give you the flexibility to adjust the image further. Both iPhoto and the software bundled with most cameras do a reasonable job of converting an image to black and white, but the greyscale images they produce can be quite flat and it can be hard to get the effects you desire.
New Zealand - Milford Sound
Aperture provides a set of adjustments for black and white conversion that will be common to photographers that use filters to achieve their black and white effects.
After selecting the image you wish to convert to black and white you will need to ensure that the Monochrome Mixer is added to the Adjustments window. Select the ‘plus’ symbol above the histogram and select the Monochrome Mixer option. Alternatively you can press the ‘Control M’ key to also add the Monochrome Mixer adjustment tool.
Select the ‘plus’ symbol to open the list of available adjustments
The Monochrome Mixer will be added to the bottom of the available adjustments. The adjustment tool is enabled by default with the ‘Monochrome’ preset selected. This preset provides a fairly good black and white image by default, but the additional adjustments can help to refine the image further.
Monochrome Mixer adjustments
A number of different presets are provided. The names of the presets match the range of filters typically used by photographers when taking black and white images (in the good old days of film and filters.)
- Monochrome
- Monochrome with Red
- Monochrome with Orange
- Monochrome with Yellow
- Monochrome with Green
- Monochrome with Blue
- Monochrome with Custom Filter
A Custom Filter option is also provided to allow you to fine tune the red, green and blue sliders individually.
Australia - Dee Why
I have found the Black and White Digital Photography article to be a great source of information on black and white photography using software tools.
We have obviously only touched the surface of what is possible with Aperture in the creation of black and white images. However, the Monochrome Mixer provides a core set of adjustments to convert a colour image to black and white. It is worth experimenting with the other adjustments to see what effects can be achieved.
Tags: Aperture, Photography Techniques
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