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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
shifting color images to black and white
David Royal, Photographer
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Monterey Bay | CA | USA | Posted: 7:51 PM on 05.13.09 |
->> I'm currently using desaturate to shift color images to black and white.
I'm just curious if there is a better/ preferred way to make this shift?
Thanks |
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Mark Peters, Photographer
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Highland | IL | USA | Posted: 8:30 PM on 05.13.09 |
->> In CS4, Image, Adjustments and either Channel Mixer set to MonoChrome or Black and White. Both allow you to tone with the various color channels.
IMO, this is far superior.
There are also a ton of plug ins (Max Simbron has a decent one in his Pshizzy set) and on-line tutorials. |
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David Royal, Photographer
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Monterey Bay | CA | USA | Posted: 9:32 PM on 05.13.09 |
| ->> Thanks |
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Robert Benson, Photographer
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San Diego | CA | USA | Posted: 10:39 PM on 05.13.09 |
| ->> The best way to do it is to go to Image, adjustments, black and white. You can tweak individual channels and really make a black and white images with some sizzle (it's only in CS3). |
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Max Gersh, Photographer
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St. Louis | MO | USA | Posted: 12:54 AM on 05.14.09 |
->> I use multiple methods. One is the channel mixer method. It works great.
The other method is to do Image/Mode/Lab Color. Then, on the channels pallet (tabbed behind your layers), choose the lightness channel. Then go to Image/Mode/Grayscale. It will ask if you want to discard the other channels and just say yes.
I find the second way to be very fast with more acceptable results than straight desaturation or conversion to black and white. The channel mixer will give you more control up front.
A few tips if you use the channel mixer route:
-You can do the channel mixer as an adjustment layer rather than straight adjustment.
-Make sure you click the "Monochrome" box at the bottom.
-You can mix the RGB percentages. You will get a proper "exposure" if you make the three numbers equal 100% however sometimes it looks better when they don't.
As always, there are so many different ways to do it in photoshop, do what works best for you. |
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Darrell Miho, Photographer
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Los Angeles : SFO : HNL | CA | usa | Posted: 1:49 AM on 05.14.09 |
| ->> if you're sending these out to be printed by a photo lab, check with your photo lab first before using 'gray scale'. i found out that my lab requires an RGB file to print black and white photos, so they recommended using 'desaturate'. the gray scale prints came out BLAH!!! |
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Kevin Leas, Photographer, Assistant
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Rochester | NY | USA | Posted: 9:07 AM on 05.14.09 |
| ->> Another vote for channel mixer, which goes back at least as far as the first CS addition. |
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Steve Violette, Photographer
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Gulf Breeze | FL | USA | Posted: 10:46 AM on 05.14.09 |
| ->> Take a look at Nik's SilverEfx Pro. lots of variations on B/W conversions - quick and easy as a photoshop plug in |
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Scott Evans, Photographer
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Bay Village | OH | USA | Posted: 1:18 PM on 05.14.09 |
->> Agreed on mixing color channels although, contrary to Robert's statement, you even have some of this functionality in PS Elements. Enhancements==>Convert to Black and white. Once there select a "standard" option on the left to get close then use the color channel sliders to add pop. Finish by adjusting contrast to suit in the same window and you're good to go. I do this in a layer as well so I can adjust the amount of the effect if I like and/or start over if I don't like how the conversion looks.
As a tip to start, bringing down your blue channel will tend to create "richer" blacks while bumping your red will make the highlights pop. As mentioned above adding up the values to = 100 gives the proper exposure but I have found that I like my results far more when I use that rule only as a guideline. |
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