B&W conversion

B & W Conversion...

Note: As with all image manipulation it is advisable to save the image with a new name as soon as you open it to avoid overwriting the original...

The six colour image on the right is the image on which this conversion tutorial is based... It consists of Red, Green and Blue squares, the three colours used by most monitors and Yellow, Magenta and Cyan, the three primary colours used in printing and photographic processing ...

The easiest way to convert the image is to click on Image from the menu bar... Select Mode from the drop down list... Click on Grayscale...

The image on the right is the result of using the above method to convert the image to greyscale, which shows how the colours would look in a black & white image... Notice how the red and magenta squares are almost the same shades of grey, as are the green and cyan squares... This is where a lot of people make mistakes when taking photos in B & W or converting colour images to greyscale... That is why the use of red, green, blue, yellow or orange filters are important when taking B & W images as these help separate the colours more...

This method is all well and good but you are stuck with the converted colours and have thrown away all of the colour information...

The method I use, and it´s not the only way, but the one I´ve found has the best control over how the shades of grey are finally interpreted, is by the use of layers...

1... Open your image in Photoshop and click on the layers palette, F7 key, or F11 in Elements...

2... Click on the new adjustment layer icon shown in red in the image
3... Click on Hue/Saturation from the drop down menu to create a new layer but do not make any adjustments to this layer at the present time, just click OK...
4... Now repeat step 2 to create a second Hue/Saturation layer, but this time take the Saturation slider right down to the left to remove all the colour from the image, leaving you with a grayscale image...
5...

Double click the first Hue/Saturation Layer that you created, as indicated by the red arrow in the diagram Right...

6... When the Hue/Saturation layer opens you use the Edit... box to choose the colour band you wish to adjust; Reds, Greens, Blues, Yellows, magentas and cyans...

7... You now move the Lightness slider left or right to adjust the selected colours depth... As you would expect, moving the slider to the right lightens the colour and moving it to the left darkens the clolour...

6... Repeat this procedure with any of the other colours that you wish to adjust...

With this method all the colours can be separated as if you used filters on your lens and B&W film...

You will notice from the desaturated animated image on the right, which consists of two images with different slider settings, that by using the slider, all the tones can either be lightened or darkened to suit the image...

Now this is where most tutorials would end but mine doesn’t... If you have adobe CS you can also do the following to add some little tweaks or effects...

1... From the layers pallet select the background layer, which is still in colour as this method of conversion is non destructive... Hold down the Ctrl key and press J to create a new layer... Go to the Tool bar and click on Image... Adjustments... Photo Filter...
2... On the new window that appears make sure that Preserve Luminosity box is checked...
3... You can either choose one of the pre-set filters by checking the Filter: box, or choose any colour you wish by checking the Color: box and clicking on the colour swatch next to it... Now slide the density bar along and you will see some changes to all the shades of grey in the image as you are altering the colour bias of new layer... You can play about with different colours, filters and densities to achieve some unusual effects...

	Freelance Photographer Seeing things differently A taker of Photographs - A creator of images
Kennymc.com

B & W Conversion... Note: As with all image manipulation it is advisable to save the image with a new name as soon as you open it to avoid overwriting the original... The six colour image on the right is the image on which this conversion tutorial is based... It consists of Red, Green and Blue squares, the three colours used by most monitors and Yellow, Magenta and Cyan, the three primary colours used in printing and photographic processing ... The easiest way to convert the image is to click on Image from the menu bar... Select Mode from the drop down list... Click on Grayscale... The image on the right is the result of using the above method to convert the image to greyscale, which shows how the colours would look in a black & white image... Notice how the red and magenta squares are almost the same shades of grey, as are the green and cyan squares... This is where a lot of people make mistakes when taking photos in B & W or converting colour images to greyscale... That is why the use of red, green, blue, yellow or orange filters are important when taking B & W images as these help separate the colours more... This method is all well and good but you are stuck with the converted colours and have thrown away all of the colour information... The method I use, and it´s not the only way, but the one I´ve found has the best control over how the shades of grey are finally interpreted, is by the use of layers... 1... Open your image in Photoshop and click on the layers palette, F7 key, or F11 in Elements... 2... Click on the new adjustment layer icon shown in red in the image 3... Click on Hue/Saturation from the drop down menu to create a new layer but do not make any adjustments to this layer at the present time, just click OK... 4... Now repeat step 2 to create a second Hue/Saturation layer, but this time take the Saturation slider right down to the left to remove all the colour from the image, leaving you with a grayscale image... 5... Double click the first Hue/Saturation Layer that you created, as indicated by the red arrow in the diagram Right... 6... When the Hue/Saturation layer opens you use the Edit... box to choose the colour band you wish to adjust; Reds, Greens, Blues, Yellows, magentas and cyans... 7... You now move the Lightness slider left or right to adjust the selected colours depth... As you would expect, moving the slider to the right lightens the colour and moving it to the left darkens the clolour... 6... Repeat this procedure with any of the other colours that you wish to adjust... With this method all the colours can be separated as if you used filters on your lens and B&W film... You will notice from the desaturated animated image on the right, which consists of two images with different slider settings, that by using the slider, all the tones can either be lightened or darkened to suit the image... Now this is where most tutorials would end but mine doesn’t... If you have adobe CS you can also do the following to add some little tweaks or effects... 1... From the layers pallet select the background layer, which is still in colour as this method of conversion is non destructive... Hold down the Ctrl key and press J to create a new layer... Go to the Tool bar and click on Image... Adjustments... Photo Filter... 2... On the new window that appears make sure that Preserve Luminosity box is checked... 3... You can either choose one of the pre-set filters by checking the Filter: box, or choose any colour you wish by checking the Color: box and clicking on the colour swatch next to it... Now slide the density bar along and you will see some changes to all the shades of grey in the image as you are altering the colour bias of new layer... You can play about with different colours, filters and densities to achieve some unusual effects...

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