Fine Black and White from Color in ON1 PHOTO RAW 2019

Jim Austin Jimages offers you two ways to create fine BW images from color using ON1 Photo RAW 2019.

Time: 5 minutes
Software: ON1 Photo RAW 2019
Steps: 7
Level: Beginner.

Let’s go right to the tutorial. If you want to try out ON1 software, you can download PHOTO RAW free for 30 days with no watermarking.

First Method for Black and White

How to use a Black & White Preset to Convert a Color Photograph to B & W.

Step 1: Import the File

Open ON1 Photo RAW and import an RGB image from your camera or drive with FILE > IMPORT.

Step 2: Develop

Tap or click the “D” key on your keyboard to bring up the Develop Module.

Caption 1: The ON1 Browser window. Next Step is to Hit letter “D” on your keyboard or click on the Develop Icon, screen right, 2nd from the top.

Caption 2: Black & White is the third default Preset in the Develop Module.

Step 3: Choose a Preset

At screen left, in the Presets, you should see a list that includes Black and White. To bring up all the presets in a grid matrix, click on the icon with four small rectangles. This will bring up various versions of Black and White Presets. In this HOW TO, I chose one called Glowing Chocolate, but you can use any Preset for your style of Black and White.

Caption 3: After choosing a B & W Preset, adjust your Tone and Color Sliders. In this example, Contrast, Highlights, Whites and more have edits put in.

Step 4: Develop Module TONE and COLOR

You can show or hide a palette in ON1 by clicking the counter-clockwise arrow near the name of the palette. Now, find and open the Tone and Color Palette. It is under the Develop Module at screen right. Adjust your tone sliders to maximize your image. ON1’s Haze slider is an effective way to boost an image and make it clearer.

Step 5: Detail

Below Tone and Color, is the Detail palette. Put in your Sharpen amount and threshold. Then, side the Noise Reduction settings to reduce noise, just as you would in your usual workflow. To see your sharpening and noise reduction in action, hold down your keyboard Alt/Win Opt/Mac key. For example, hold the Alt/Opt key to see the areas in the image that show the Sharpening amount and Sharpening threshold. You can also hold down Alt/Opt with Noise Reduction luminance, NR detail, and NR color as you adjust these variables with your sliders. If you find a consistent set of changes, you can save your Style by clicking the “MORE down arrow” and saving your settings as a New Style.

Caption 5: Click the Resize Icon to access dimensions, size and image type options.

STEP 6: Resize Pixels, Document, and Settings

At the lower left, third icon from the lower left corner, you’ll find the Resize Icon. It looks like a small orange square with a black arrow pointing to a larger orange square. Click it and enter in your Pixel Dimensions width and height, any preset Document Size and resolution in pixels per inch, Sharpening, Image Type presets and any other options you may desire such as film grain and tiling. For weird, surreal effects, experiment with the Gallery Wrap setting. However, the practical tools are the resize Presets at screen left with their settings for ink jet print paper types, web, email, and social media.

Step 7: Export

For your last step, we’ll fill in where you will export your image. Click the Export Icon or File > Export. At the bottom right of your ON1 interface screen, there are boxes to fill in: File Type, the location on your drive, and a rename option. Remember to click Export Now to enter the info you’ve just filled in.

Second Method for Black and White

Black and White Filter and Color Enhancer filter to Darken Sky and Boost Contrast for fine Black and White photography.

Caption: Second Method for Black & White using two Effects Filters

Steps: Six.
Level: Intermediate.
Time: 15 minutes.
Software: ON1 PHOTO RAW 2019

Caption 6: Open a photograph in Browse and click Effects.

In this method, we use ON1’s color information, to create fine art black and white. First, we go into Effects, then add a Color Enhancer filter layer underneath a Black and White filter Layer.

Step 1: Open ON1

In Browse, click on Effects to open the Effects Module.

Caption 7: In the Effects Module, click Add Filter and choose Black & White to add a Black and White filter layer. Do the same for Color Enhancer, and make sure the Color Enhancer layer is underneath the Black & White.

Step 2: Adding Two Effects Filters

Use the Color Enhancer and the Black & White filter. To add the filters, click “Add Filter” or click the Plus Sign (+) Add Filter button.

Caption 8: We boost contrast in the sky by clicking the blue color square in Color Range and adjusting the sliders, as described in the text.

Drag the Color Enhancer Filter under the Black and White Filter. Use the Color Enhancer Filter, then the Black and White Filter. Let the BW filter alone for now. With the Color Enhancer, in the range options, click the BLUE color square and move the saturation slider to the right to darken the sky (+25 to +100). Increase the Range (+15 or so). Then, change the temperature to -10 or -15 to remove blue from the sky. I also decreased the brightness of the blues (-100) Increase the saturation in the image as a whole.

Step 3: Color Enhancer Filter Layer

Staying with the Color Enhancer, in the Yellow color square, increase the yellow. Make the greens darker. Yellows will then stand out, and greens will be darker. The Color Enhancer makes the color sliders much more powerful.

Caption 9: After you finish adjusting sliders in the Color Enhancer, move to the Black & White filter layer and adjust colors to change black and white tonality.

Step 4: Black and White Filter

Now, with your Black and White Filter, slide the blue slider left (-25 in my example, yours may be -15 to -50 depending on your image). Click the Aqua color square and boost the aqua slider to the right (+65).

Step 5: Adjust the Tone

Adjust highlights and shadows by dragging the two sliders to the right.

Step 6: Finish

Add any more filters or fine-tuning, resize, export as you would with your usual workflow.

Fine Black and White from Color in ON1 PHOTO RAW 2019