Here's how you can get your black and white mobile phone photos to look better and brighter while retaining detail.
The basic idea is to do the following:
1. Adjust white balance.
2. Remove colour.
3. Minimise highlights.
4. Maximise shadows.
5. Use curves to brighten the bright parts of your photo so only the brightest parts are white or almost completely white (depending on your taste); and darken the dark parts of your photo so the darkest parts are black almost black (depending on your preference).
Here's an example of the process, using a shot I took of the Octagon, an iconic architectural delight in Singapore.
We start with this photo which was taken in harsh noon sun. Instead of choosing the "Style" menu which allows you to use Snapseed's preset filters, choose "Tools".
First, the white balance. In Snapseed, choose the white balance function and adjust it. One way to do it is to use the dropper tool to choose a part of the photo which should you know should be neutral in tone, ie black or white. Here I use a white cloud:
Next, use the Black and White button to remove all colour. Select Neutral setting.
Next we darken the highlights. Do that in the "Tune image" menu.
Still in "Tune image" menu, we then brighten the shadows.
Next we use curves to get the brightest parts white and the darkest parts black. To do this, click and drag a spot near the one quarter mark on the diagonal line and another spot three quarters on the diagonal line to make a smooth S shape curve.
When doing so, make sure you visually check that the details in the bright parts and the dark parts are still visible (according to your taste).
You will finally have your high detail, high contrast black and white photo.
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