1 Desaturate & Duplicate

Use whichever black & white conversion method you are comfortable with to create a base black & white image. Here, Kelly has simply desaturated the image (Shift, Command and U or Image > Adjustments > Desaturate) to achieve an initial conversion. Duplicate this layer by choosing Duplicate from the Layer menu or hitting Command and J on the keyboard and hit OK when prompted. Set the layer blend mode to Multiply in the Layers palette, then adjust opacity to about 30% to enhance the layer’s contrast and shadow detail.

2 Adjust Levels

Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Experiment with the histogram sliders to further boost shadows, midtones and highlights. Here, we boosted shadow and midtone intensity by moving the central and left sliders to the right, and brightened highlights by moving the right-hand slider to the left. Once satisfied with the overall tonal balance, merge the layers by selecting Layer > Flatten Image or pressing Command and E on the keyboard. Next, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Colour Balance to create a Color Balance adjustment layer.

3 The Right Balance

In the Colour Balance dialogue, select Shadows in the Tone Balance section and drag the yellow/blue slider to the right, and the cyan/red slider to the left until the shadows are a rich blue. Press OK to apply the changes. Now create a second Color Balance adjustment layer in the Layers Palette. Select Highlights in the Tone Balance section and drag the yellow/blue slider to the left, and the cyan/red slider to the right to create sepia highlights. Click OK and then double click on this second adjustment layer to summon the Layer Style dialogue.

4 Blue Blending

In the Blend If section, select Blue from the pull-down menu. Now move to the This Layer control and drag the black triangle slider to around 60; then, holding down the Option key, drag the right half of the slider triangle to 200. Click OK to apply, then choose the Burn tool from the toolbox. Choose a brush size appropriate for the image using the Tool Options bar and set the brush to 25% exposure. Move the cursor across the image and apply mouse pressure to shadow areas that could do with a boost. When you are satisfied, do Layer > Flatten Image and save the file.