Introduction to the Black and White Street Photography

In this tutorial we’re going to be creating a grungy, filmic, black and white street portrait. We’ll be showing you how to transform a regular street photo to a vivid black and white one with grain and vignette effects. The Lightroom Presets v5 has everything you need to stylize your photos in just a few seconds and clicks.

[Note: In the new Lightroom Presets v5, we have revamped all of the presets to improve image tonality and quality, allowing you to achieve even more amazing results. We’ve also added 95 new presets to reach a total of 311 presets in what is the gold standard of Lightroom image processing. In this series we’ll be going over how to use the new v5 presets to create great looking photos.  Click Here to learn more or purchase the system.]

Do I need the Presets for this Tutorial?

Nope! With each of our Ordinary to Extraordinary Edits, we’re going to first be going through how we create our effects with the SLR Lounge Lightroom Presets v5, then we’ll be going through the details in the develop settings so everyone can understand exactly how we get to a specific look. This way, whether you have the presets or not, everyone can benefit from watching this video or reading the article below.

Lightroom Presets v5 Mixology Recipe

For those who have the Preset System, you can follow the Mixology Recipe below to get to the same results. If you don’t have the Preset System, please continue to watch the full video tutorial, or read the written article below.

My Mixology

  • 01-30 BASE – VIVID: 36a. HDR Heavy Grunge – B&W
  • 03-70 ADJUST – VIGNETTING: 71e. Vignette – Medium
  • 04-10 SFX – FILM & LENS: 11e. Max Film Grain

Watch The Lightroom Video Tutorial

Read The Complete Written Tutorial

The first preset I’m applying to this image is the “01-30 BASE – VIVID: 36a. HDR Heavy Grunge – B&W” preset. I’m choosing the “HDR Heavy” version because I like the way this image looks with the extra contrast boost. Here’s what our image looks like when our preset is applied.

Raw Image

before

Part 1: Using the HDR Heavy Grunge Preset

hdrheavygrunge

Adding Vignette

Now I’m applying a vignette preset to pull more focus into our monk. I’m choosing the “03-70 ADJUST – VIGNETTING: 71e. Vignette- Medium” because it gives this portrait a nice, subtle vignette.

vignette

Adding Film Grain

The last thing I want to do to this image is add a film grain effect. I want a lot of grain in this image so I chose the “04-10 SFX – FILM & LENS: 11e. Max Film Grain” preset.

filmgrain

Part 2: Getting the Same Effect without the Presets

In the Develop settings, our HDR effect is raising the Contrast and lowering Highlights and Whites. Our preset also adjusted the Shadows and Blacks from +50 each to +15 and +30 to give this image even more contrast. Our Clarity is raised to +60 and that’s pulling out a lot of great details in this image. In the Tone Curve we have a subtle “S” shaped contrast boosting curve.

We have our standard Sharpening settings applied to this image and no Noise Reduction adjustments because we added a Film Grain effect. In Lens Vignetting we have the Amount at -60 and Midpoint at 25 to give this image a nice subtle vignette. In the Grain settings we have the Amount at 90 and Size and Roughness both at 30.

developsettings

Here’s what our image looks like before and after our presets are applied.

Before

lightroom-5-tutorial-bw-filmic-hdr-grunge-0001

After

lightroom-5-tutorial-bw-filmic-hdr-grunge-0002

Conclusion and Learn More

We hope you all enjoyed this tutorial. If you are interested in learning more or purchasing the SLR Lounge Lightroom Presets v5, please click any of the links in this article. Also, remember that the SLR Lounge Lightroom Workshop Collection not only includes the Preset System, but also full A to Z instruction on mastering Lightroom Image Processing, Organization and Workflow.

Stay tuned for more SLR Lounge Weekly Edits!