Creating Dramatic White and Black Effect Using Photoshop

Photoshop is a magician’s wand to photo lovers. A wonderful aid to carry, this software allows beautiful transitions in photographs possible and makes them look realistic as well. With the help of this amazing software, any effect may be impressed upon a photograph without having to modify the photograph in any way.

The dramatic black and white edit in photographs has always been a classic effect in photographs. It makes photographs look of the vintage while simultaneously being thoughtful. In this article, we will look into the steps involved in creating dramatic black and white effect using Photoshop.

1. The first and foremost step is to upload the image into Photoshop. Next, duplicate the background layer by pressing Ctrl + J/Cmd + J. This new layer will be visible only in the layer panel.
2. The next step is changing the blending mode of Background Copy to soft light selection. The contrast of the image is increased as a result of this.
3. After this, go to the bottom of the layer panel and click on an Add adjustment layer. And then click on the Black and white option.
4. The next step involves modifying the setting. First, adjust the amount to ‘red’. Then you can control the amount of drama in the photo you want to edit.
5. Then all the layers are merged into a single layer by pressing ctrl +alt + shift + E/ cmd + opt + shift + E. This will result in the formation of a single layer that is a combination of all the layers that were created previously.
6. The last step includes duplicating the “layer 1”. This is done by pressing ctrl + J/cmd + J. If you want the left half of your image to be brighter; then change the mode of the most recent newly duplicated layer from ‘layer-1’ to ‘screen’. However, if there is an overexposure of the image, reduce the opacity value to a lower percentage.

You have now successfully created a dramatic black and white effect in the original image. Applying Dramatic black and white effects to an image through Photoshop is a simple task with very less requirement of intellect.

However, for beginners, it may be a little tedious at first. The article above is thus, intended to reduce the amount of effort involved in producing the dramatic black and white effect in Photoshop.