Black & White

[Cannon_Chrissy]

Any good tips on converting photos digitally from color to black & white? Mine seem to appear to harsh - I'm looking for a softer look when converting portraits, while still allowing the photo to appear bright w/out being washed out... help!!!

[DrJalapeno]

Here's my favorite method using PS or Elements:

1. Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer (Layers->Adjustment Layer->Hue/Saturation); click 'OK' and set its Blending Mode (in the Layers palette) to 'Color'.
2. Add another Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer; set the Saturation at -100 and click 'OK'. Keep its Blending Mode at 'Normal'. Now you have two Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers.
3. Double-click on the layer thumbnail of the bottom Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer.
4. The 'Hue' slider is what makes it all happen-move it around to see how the conversion reacts. You can also boost the saturation to make the effect more drastic.
5. Adjust it to your liking, flatten (Layers->Flatten Image) and you're done! Tweaking the 'Hue' slider results in as if the picture was taken with different color filters.

Message Edited by DrJalapeno on 07-06-2007 07:35 AM

[wickerparkbilly]

If you have Photoshop... there are some excellent tutorials on the Russell Brown website. You'll need Quicktime player to watch them. He also has a set of actions to simplify the conversion(s).

[DrJalapeno]

Check out the free plugin called 'Virtual Photographer' for even more options.

[drh681]

then there is the good old gradient map.

which you can set for your choice of colors, where the "middle gray" falls and how white the whites are and how black the blacks are.

If you want longer shadow details, set the gray marker at 66% and make the black maximum 5%

more details in the whites? set the white max to be 95% and the gray marker to 33%

Message Edited by drh681 on 07-06-2007 02:50 PM