Q&A: How can I create high contrast lighting effects?

I’m trying to adjust my images to add a high contrast lighting effect. I’ve tried duplicating the main layer and fiddling with blending modes. I get dramatic blown-out highlights but also garish unrealistic colours. How can I keep the high contrast without drastically altering the colours?
Bernard Whistler

The trick to protecting colours when altering contrast lies in desaturating a copy of the original image, altering its tonal range to create a dramatic contrast and then reintroducing the original colour info. Here’s how…

01: Source
For best results don’t use a flat-lit photo. Choose something with a noticeable range of shadows and highlights like this source photo. Duplicate the background layer by dragging it to the Create New Layer icon in the Layers palette. Hide the background copy layer.

02: Desaturate
Target the background layer and go to Image>Adjustments> Desaturate. For a more dramatically contrasting tonal range go to Image>Adjustments>Levels. Drag the white Highlight slider to the left. This will clip the highlights, causing them to burn out. Click OK.

03: Overlay
Turn on the background copy layer. Set its blending mode to Overlay. This will combine the colour info with the high contrasting tones of the background layer. Experiment with the background copy layer’s Opacity slider in order to create a more washed-out range of colours.