Rockin' black and whites on a budget

You don't need an expensive editing program to achieve a great black and white! In this tutorial I am using flickr/picnik to edit but you can use almost any editing program to achieve this affect. Picnik costs $24.95 a year. Lightroom costs $300.

Here is our original photo. Click on edit photo.

Which takes us to this page. Click on the create tab.

Click on the effects tab. And then click on black and white.

Then click on the edit tab. You will get asked this question. Yes! We would like to apply the effect.

Once in the edit section click on the exposure tab.

Go ahead and boost your contrast up!  Ok, we're almost there.

Click the create tab again. And then click on the advanced tab.

Then click on curves.

Go ahead and adjust it just a smidgen to brighten our photo. There we have it! Doesn't it look awesome!

This can be done with almost any editing program. Follow these steps: change to b&w, boost your contrast, brighten your photo just a smidgen, and depending on the photo you may want to sharpen. Anyone can do it!

Now can you tell which one I edited with lightroom and which one was edited with picnik?

I didn't think so. :)