Best way to convert RGB to BW?

When converting from color to B& W is it better to Adjust Color by 1.Remove Color or 2. Slide saturation to -100? or is this basically the same procedure....

Pat,

If your color is good, then you can Image, Mode, Shades of Gray and if needed, change contrast and brightness, but that usually is pretty good as long as your color image was good.

Bob

Pat,

In my opinion, I get superior results using Russell Brown's technique -- to quote him -- the patented "Russell Preston Brown Tonal Conversion Technique" .. (His sense of humor runs a bit toward the sappy side)

Go to http://www.russellbrown.com/tips/photoshop.html. The tutorial in question is named "Seeing in Black & White", and is available as a PDF or a QuickTime movie.

The QT movie is completely devoted to the BW conversion technique. In the PDF file, the part that is applicable to us in Elements is Steps 6 through 11.

If you can, I really recommend viewing the QT movie at least once to get a visual idea of what he's doing. Then, keep the PDF available for a reminder.

It's more than a one-click solution but, IMHO, the added control gives it the edge in quality.

HTH,

Byron

Be careful of using the built ins in both Photoshop and Elements. While they are all good they do all create some problems. I have put up a web page with three pure colour bars (red, green, and blue) against a colourful back ground. Then I desiderated, removed colour and change to a gray scale you may be interested in what happens.

http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Demo.html

Grant

Grant I have shot very little black and white so my knowledge here is limited. I uploaded your photo using the settings I used for our B&W Photo Challenge a while back. What does this tell me? Any help or comments would be appreciated. This was done using the Channel Mixer in PS 7.
http://www.pbase.com/image/26560328

--
Have A Nice Day, :-)
James Hutchinson
http://www.pbase.com/myeyesview
http://www.myeyesviewstudio.com/
wrote in message

Be careful of using the built ins in both Photoshop and Elements.

While

they are all good they do all create some problems. I have put up a

web

page with three pure colour bars (red, green, and blue) against a

colourful

back ground. Then I desiderated, removed colour and change to a gray

scale

you may be interested in what happens.

http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Demo.html

Grant

James

In Photoshop after you click on Mono in the Channel Mixer you can still adjust the RGB components to get a black and white to your liking.

Grant

That is what I did. I should have been more specific with my question. My settings turned blue to black, green to gray and red to white. How does that correspond to what I would have gotten had I been shooting black and white film? Thanks.

--
Have A Nice Day, :-)
James Hutchinson
http://www.pbase.com/myeyesview
http://www.myeyesviewstudio.com/
wrote in message

James

In Photoshop after you click on Mono in the Channel Mixer you can

still

adjust the RGB components to get a black and white to your liking.
Grant

That sound pretty much what you would get if you shot B&W with a deep red filter.

My settings turned blue to black, green to gray and red to white. How does that correspond to what I would have gotten had I been shooting black and white film? Thanks.

Thanks.

--
Have A Nice Day, :-)
James Hutchinson
http://www.pbase.com/myeyesview
http://www.myeyesviewstudio.com/
wrote in message

That sound pretty much what you would get if you shot B&W with a deep

red

filter.

For those of using Macs (the free program Leen suggested is Windows only) and are either using PS or have a channel mixer add-in for Elements, Thomas Neimann's very useful site

<http://epaperpress.com/psphoto/mainTitle.html>

has some channel mixer settings that mimic some standard b&W filters - it's under "black and white - conversion" - you can't link direct to any of the pages on this site; NB: the navigation bar won't talk to Safari - I had to use Camino.

Susan S.

For anybody who hasn't watched that Quicktime Movie yet - the guy is quite a character! It's an interesting technique, too.

Hey thanks all...Bob, Byron..will study these tips.

Grant, very interesting visual example .

In your description, you said
"Then I desiderated, removed colour..".not sure what desiderated means..sorry to be so dense

Pat

You are not dense at all, it is I who often forget and assume too much.

If you go to Enhance > Adjust Color >Hue/Saturation you will see a slider that is labelled Saturation if you slide that down to -100% you have desaturated the image.

Grant

wrote in message
: Be careful of using the built ins in both Photoshop and Elements. While : they are all good they do all create some problems. I have put up a web : page with three pure colour bars (red, green, and blue) against a colourful
: back ground. Then I desiderated, removed colour and change to a gray scale : you may be interested in what happens.
:
: http://www.cavesofice.org/~grant/Demo.html
:
: Grant
:
: