Black & White Photo Artistry Course

Photography Tips

Black and white photography just got a lot more exciting… In fact, it got a lot more artistic. Last year, Sebastian Michael’s Photoshop Artistry Course was one of our most popular deals, and now he’s releasing a much anticipated course on creative black and white photo artistry. The offer we received on this course has now expired, sorry about that, stay tuned to see what’s next!

With Creative Black & White Photo Artistry, Michaels hopes to radically expand your imaginative skills as a photographer, but more importantly, to train you to composite extraordinary works of photo art unlike anything you’ve created before. Partly because of all the new techniques you will learn, and partly because it will inspire you to take some chances and try new things.

You’ll learn how to capture more creative images, edit them to perfection, push them further through artistic treatments, use advanced compositional methods, and then polish them with pro-level post-production techniques.

Most of the training takes place in Photoshop and Lightroom (or Adobe Elements), combined with Auto FX Mystical Black and White (which you get for FREE), but you can employ any of these, along with any of several other excellent programs we will be training you on as well: Adobe Camera Raw, Photomatrix Pro 5, NIK Silver Efex Pro 2, Topaz B&W, and OnOne Perfect Black & White.

Each session consists of an array of training videos, cheat sheets, downloads, and assignments—all designed to ensure you get the most from this program.

And each week you’ll have a chance to see your own work brought into the discussion on a private Flickr group, while expanding your vision of what’s possible from seeing the art of other photographers like you, all working through the same lessons, all around the world.

What’s Included?

Online Training | Lifetime Access

When you sign up, you get immediate access to the Introductory Session and the first two bonuses listed below (worth a combined $108 themselves). After that you will have four principle training sessions scheduled for each week. And on top of these, we will have a weekly bonus session, where the course creators will review student work in the private Flickr gallery, answer questions, and work in some additional training and techniques as you go along.

Introductory Module

• Learn to capture the most creative black and white photos of your life.
• Learn to execute your initial black and white conversions
• Learn the best mobile apps for capturing images in black and white
• Learn the components that go into creating fantastic works of black and white photo artistry
• Learn to use the bonus software and presets in creating stunning conversions
• Get signed up for the private Flickr group

Module 1

• Learn to execute pro-quality black and white conversions
• Learn to edit your images like a pro (across a variety of programs)
• Learn to dodge and burn your black and white images like an expert.
• Learn to employ gradient maps to craft exquisite duotone, tri-tone, and quad-tone images
• Learn to employ blend modes, adjustment layers, and layer masks
• Learn to achieve a wide range of artistic black and white treatments
• Bonus session reviewing the work submitted to our private Flickr group

Module 2

• Learn to execute even more elaborate black and white artistic treatments — with all 9 programs
• Learn to employ texture layers and artistic overlays
• Learn to introduce advanced lighting approaches to make your work more dramatic
• Learn to give your work a wide variety of artistic edges and finishing touches
• Bonus session reviewing the work submitted to the private Flickr group

Module 3

• Learn to create more elaborate effects, vintage looks, and film simulations
• Learn to create custom brushes to use on your layer masks (for artistic and painterly effects)
• Learn pro-level techniques for creating sophisticated photo-composites
• Learn pro-level post-production techniques to polish your work and make it stand out
• Bonus session reviewing the work submitted to the private Flickr group

Module 4

• Learn how you can find your artistic voice and vision
• Learn how to compile world class photo essays
• Learn how to assemble your work into an online portfolio
• Learn how to print and publish books of your black and white photo art
• Learn how to promote yourself as a serious photo artist
• And follow this once more with a bonus session reviewing the work submitted to the private Flickr group, answering any questions you send in, and setting the stage for you to then submit your best images for possible inclusion in the upcoming special black & white edition of our magazine Living the Photo Artistic Life

Bonus: Copy of Auto FX Mystical Black and White Software (worth $57)

When you sign up for this course, you’ll get a fully-functional copy of Mystical Black and White by Auto FX.

Part of their complete Mystical Suite, this one component is in itself worth $57, but you get it free, along with training in the course on exactly how to use it, either as a stand-alone program or as plug-in for use with Photoshop, Adobe Elements, or Lightroom.

This software makes creating artistic black and white conversions (or sepia or toned images) not only easy but a delight. It allows you to craft your conversion with exquisite control; and whether you employ it separately or as just one step in your process, Mystical Black & White will transform the way you approach your black and white photography.

Bonus: Set of 25 Pro-Designed B&W Lightroom Presets (worth $49)

This is an amazing set of pro-caliber Lightroom presets designed by Mike Newton of Hacking Photography.

Michaels covers how to use these in the course, and they will immediately step up your black and white conversions to a whole new level, enabling you to quickly convert your images and achieve polished advanced effects that would normally require endless fiddling.

And as with the software above, you can either use these presets as a stand-alone one-stop solution, or you can use them as but one step in one of the more elaborate processes you learn in the course.

Bonus: 30 Sets of Pro-Designed Bonus Content (worth $297)

To enhance your work and make it easy to produce pro-caliber results, you will receive 30 substantial sets of pro-designed high-res content with full commercial licensing, which you can then employ, using the techniques you learn in the course, to achieve the most extraordinary advanced effects in your artwork. You’ll be receiving everything from a wide array of hand-crafted artistic textures and overlays and edge effects, to custom brushes, presets, and more.

What makes this course unique?

The course covers creative photography skills and then moves your images further with programs like Photoshop, Elements, and Lightroom, with additional coverage of Silver Efex Pro 2, Auto FX Black and White, Topaz B&W, OnOne Perfect B&W, Photomatrix Pro 5, Adobe Camera Raw, and more.

In this course you will learn to not only convert images to black and white but render advanced artistic treatments and emulations, composite like a pro digital artist, and create imaginative works that will set you apart as an artistic photographer.