Converting a Color Image to Black and White.
Sometimes there are images that just scream out that they would be wonderful in
black and white. There are a number of ways to convert a color photo to black and
white.
Some work better than others, some are automatic and others require a few extra
steps. Each extra step that is taken increases the quality of the black and white
image.
Whatever method you use you will want to further enhance the conversion with some
fine-tuning. Using a Levels or Brightness and Contrast (or both) Adjustment layer will
bring out additional details.
Covert to Grayscale
The most common way to convert an image to black and white is to use the Grayscale
command in the Image -> Adjustment menu.
But, this is not the best way. Photoshop will remove all color information, creating a
grayscale image. It will use the same conversion method for every image.
While it may work well for some images in most cases you will want to have more
control over the settings.
Convert to Black andTitle
White
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- Desaturate or Channels
Desaturate
Another common method is to use the
Desaturate option, also in the Image ->
Adjustment menu.
This method differs from Gray Scale in
that it keeps the color information (stays
in RGB mode).
Copying a Channel
Another common practice is to copy one
of the Red, Green or Blue channels and
paste it into the Layers window.
Convert to Black and White By -LAB
Lightness Channel
Another way that is better than the
options above is to convert the RGB
image to the LAB color space.
This keeps all the color information and
gives you a Lightness channel that can be
copied and pasted into the layers window.
Using the Lightness channel is often better than using one of the single RGB
channels.
The image should be converted back to
RGB once the Lightness channel is pasted.
Convert to Black and White By -Channel Mixer
Channel Mixer
The best way to convert to black
and white is to use a Channel Mixer
Adjustment layer and checking the
Monochrome option.
You will have the ability to control how
much of each channel influences the conversion.
It has a similar effect to using color filters
on black and white film to enhance various areas or the image. (I.e., the sky, the
highlights or shadows, etc.).
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