I created this PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition preset after taking back-to-school photos of my kids. It combines the Angel Glow effect and Kevin Kubota’s B&W GM Warm and Snappy effect and I think makes for a nice, moody, black and white effect.

The preset starts out with Jack Davis’ Auto Tone and Color (Neutrals) and then adds a Diffuse Glow (reduced so it doesn’t blow out the highlights). Next comes the Bleach Bypass followed by one of Jack Davis’ black and white conversions. It’s topped off with a Vignette. You can adjust the strength of the Diffuse Glow and the Bleach Bypass items to best suit your photo. The photo used here is from onOne Pro Corner member Andy Kruczek.

Okay, I realize that “Vibrant” is typically a term used to describe a color image and not a black and white one, but in this case, I’ve combined one of Kevin Kubota’s Vibrant effects with one of my favorite black and white conversions by Jack Davis. The result is a new Vibrant Black and White preset for PhotoTools Professional Edition.

Original Photo

This PhotoTools preset combines several effects: Kubota Daily Multi-Vitamin, Kubota Anime and the Davis Global Contrast Boost.

Before PhotoTools Preset

With this preset you might want to consider adding a curves adjustment layer to lighten up portions of the image if they get too dark. To do that, simply add a Curves Adjustment layer to the image and click in the middle of the straight curve (a straight curve?) and drag it up until you get the missing detail back. Click okay and then fill the curves adjustment layer mask with black, change the foreground color to white, select the brush tool and then paint with white on the layer mask to bring back the missing detail. That way, we get the black and white conversion we wanted and maintained the detail in the important area like the eyes. Keep this trick in mind with all of these PhotoTools presets.