As with everything in Photoshop there are a hundred and one ways to achieve the look or task you want. Here's just one way to get black & white images with a bit of kick & punch to them.

Open your image and make a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. This can be found in two places -

Either at the bottom of your layer's palette

Or go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation & click OK to open the Hue/Saturation window.

Once you have this window open take the saturation slider all the way to -100.

Then in the drop down box at the top of the Hue/Saturation window go through each of the colors and adjust the lightness slider in either direction. Sometimes the difference in contrast is only minimal with single colors but once you tweak all the main colors the effect is much stronger. You'll see what works best by viewing your image as you adjust this slider. (For those of you who don't normally use Adjustment Layers, the great thing about them is that it doesn't destroy the original image and it's easy to click back on that layer & open up the dialogue window to re-tweak those sliders again if necessary.)

And for a little extra punch, duplicate your background layer, either by dragging your background layer to the create a new layer icon at the bottom of the layer's palette (next to the trash can!) or go to the task bar and click Layer>Duplicate Layer. Next go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set to anything from 5 - 15, click ok and then change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay or Soft Light, as shown below. If the effect is too much lower the opacity until it's suitable.

Before: Color

Desaturated: Grey & White

After: Black & White

Many thanks to those of you that sent some of your before and after images. It was difficult selecting just a handful to feature but here are some of our favorites, show-casing the great post-processing skills of our readers:

Ross James Photography (Ross James)

Uncontained Photography (Christine Mariner)

Javie Photography (Javier Gonzalez)

Studio Picard (Thierry Picard)

Divine Light (Brian Elledge)

You may remember we introduced you to Paige Elizabeth a few months ago with an interview here on Don't Box Us In and a few months later she was doing an awesome job of helping us out with admin for a couple of months... well, we just can't help but pull her out of the "box" again and feature more of her stunning work! !

During WPPI, Paige set up a truly one of a kind unbridal shoot at The Boneyard in Las Vegas, photographing female photographers and vintage cameras. The outcome was a series of fun & unique images that were also featured in Rangefinder magazine. For more info about the session, read what Paige says in this post on her blog.

The photographers featured in the images:

Amanda

Jonilyn

Kammi

Julia

Bridget

ReJana

Jamie

Tana

Erin

Shannon

Aimee

Over the past year, we have proudly compiled a list of reputable creative photographers that we can gladly recommend.  As the demand for modern fresh photography continues to increase,  we are ready to launch a new site featuring a strong network of photographers that we recommend.  Brides will have a resource to view some of the best cutting edge photographers in the industry through this new site.  Photographers will have a support system focused on introducing them to like minded couples to ensure further success and happiness for all parties involved.

We will be looking for photographers who:

*have a legitimate business license

*have backup equipment

*have strong technical knowledge on using their equipment

*have strong ethics and customer service

*have a creative eye

*are looking for a way to compete with national studios taking the discount store approcach to canned wedding photography

*are looking to become part of an elite association within their region

*don't believe in labels such as photojournalist or traditional but rather believe in documenting the client the best way possible to capture their personality

*want to compete in worldwide and regional competitions that encourage creativity

*want continuing education from leaders in the industry

*want refreshing retreats with like minded photographers

 

If you feel like you would qualify for this new network of photographers,  please visit www.modernphotographers.com to sign up for details as they become available in the next few weeks.  For now,  we will only be accepting up to 3 photographers per area code (unless more than 3 are currently on our referral list).  So sign up now for more details, step into the now with Modern Photographers.