Quoted By:
Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but here's a somewhat metallic black and white conversion I did like eight years ago. Luckily I saved a guide on what I did:
- used a black and white adjustment layer to bring out depth (luminosity blending mode)
- black and white conversion using channel mixer (b&w images seem sharper for some reason, I'm not sure why)
- slightly lowering contrast the edges of the frame to make the center seem more contrasty
- adding a very subtle cross processing with complimentary colors
- enhancing the contrast between the model and background
- separating the frequencies, smart sharpen on the high frequency, unsharp mask on the low
- painting white metallic highlights on an overlay layer
- painted darks next to the highlights to enhance the metallic look (also overlay)
- removing visual snags from the composition so nothing draws the eye too much (mostly high frequency healing and low frequency dodge and burn)
- making sure the eye has the most contrast and darkening areas that are too bright compared to the rest, like the ear
- darkened the top and the bottom of the frame (linear gradients) to make the center brightest
- used Topaz Adjust for some sharpening/tonemapping like effect
- used Topaz In-focus for deconvolution sharpening
- luminosity masked curve adjustment layers to push apart the values without blowing highlights/crushing shadows