Best way to get great B&W in PS?

[SeanH]

Just traded the 20D for the 1D Mark 2.....great camera......but no B&W mode. Photoshop De-Sat seems to have a blue cast..........any easy ways to get a true good looking B&W???

Sorry I know this is probably basic stuff, but I'm kinda new to the digital world. Thanks for anyones help. Also I think I saw some software that did this very nice......also had a I.R. looking mode, anyone remember what this was. I think I saw it on the Fred M site.

[22littlereasons]

In PS CS, try the monochrome feature in the channel mixer. To get there, start at "image" on the menu bar. The menu sequence is "image/adjustments/channel mixer.

I like it better than desat, but to each their own I'm sure.

[blue_max]

Wow, yet another way. When will it end. This one is a little easy to blow the highlights out of the water and not very precise – it also has a very small preview on my mac.
It is quite good to have the three sliders and be able to control each colour channel.

There must be at least one technique for every shot!

Graham

[aam1234]

What puzzles me is once you converted to B&W using the Channel Mixer you can't do much else with the photo. Things like contrast or levels.
Any ideas on how to further adjust the photo after the Channel Mixer.

Thanks

[BrandonSi]

What puzzles me is once you converted to B&W using the Channel Mixer you can't do much else with the photo. Things like contrast or levels.
Any ideas on how to further adjust the photo after the Channel Mixer.

Thanks

As long as you're converting to B/W and remaining in RGB mode you should still have all the same capability.

[aam1234]

...and remaining in RGB mode..

Can you elaborate on that BrandonSi. I click on monochrome in PSE 2.0 (the CM is a free utility) then play with the channels (predominantly green).

[BrandonSi]

Can you elaborate on that BrandonSi. I click on monochrome in PSE 2.0 (the CM is a free utility) then play with the channels (predominantly green).

Well, I don't use the monochrome function so I'm not sure what that does, but it may put your image in grayscale mode.. Do the monochrome function and then go to the Image menu, and look under "Mode." As long as your mode is RGB you should stil be able to make all your normal changes.. You may have to hunt a bit, I'm not familiar with Elements at all.

[aam1234]

Thanks BrandonSi, I'll try that.

[SeanH]

Wow, I thought you PS wizards would have this stuff down pat. Looks like there is only 1 more way than I have already found out about. Tried the monochrome thing, then just messed with the exposure & contrast........but what is the deal with this "green channel"......I'll have to check that out, then still you never know is you get true B&W until you print one. But thanks for the ideas guys!

BTW I'm using PS CS

[CyberPet]

Mix channels with an adjustment layer. Use another adjustment layer to adjust curves or levels or whatever you wish. Good thing is with adjustment layers is that you can adjust any settings if you're not completely happy without any undo's. When you're happy with the result: flatten the image and it's layers and save it (well save it as a copy so you have the original color image still free).

[EricKonieczny]

Take a look at this: I think it is really good.

TLR B&W Conversion (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/DigitalDarkroom/PhotoshopTools/TLRB&WConversion.htm) includes a Photoshop action set for making high contrast, Ansel Adam's like B&W images from a color image.

Four techniques are available for B&W conversion:

• Selective Color adjustment layer paired with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.




• Curves adjustment layer paired with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

• A pair of Hue/Saturation adjustment layers.

• Color Mixer adjustment layer with selection of various B&W filter effects.
Learn more about TLR B&W Conversion (http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/DigitalDarkroom/PhotoshopTools/TLRB&WConversion.htm) . . .

[Sabina]

I use a lot of different ways to b&w my photographs, including plugins. One way I really like, is duotone, or tritone, or quadtone (all are in the same menu box thingy, for those not familiar).

[JakeC]

Isolating the Lightness channel in lab mode is yet another method. I'd recommend working in 16bit for quality but the process will still apply for 8bit.

Convert your image to lab mode> discard the A & B channels> Convert the remaining lightness channel (alpha 1 channel) to Grayscale>Control Click on layer (for luminosity)>Invert selection>Convert to RGB

From there make a solid fill adjustment layer> choose a mid tone gray (experiment)> Switch blending mode of lightness channel layer to 'multiply'

You should have something resembling a BW image, from here adjust tonality with a curves, levels or even a brightness/contrast adjustment layer.

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment :p

[RAitch]

As I said before (searching in the forum produces a bunch of results) mixing a plain desaturation layer with a selective colour layer gives you the most control. You can tweak certain colour ranges using the 4 sliders available to you to change the contrast from the other converted colours.

For example, if your green trees are blending in with the blue sky, change the sliders for the blue and green colours using the selective colour layer and watch your desaturation layer change them to different shades of grey. You can make your blue skys darker or lighter to make it stand out more. Play with the whites if you have puffy clouds to add more detail.
That's just a simple example.

As far as the channel mixer thing... if there are people in the picture, you'll want the majority of information from the red channel. That's a general rule anyway I guess. Start with at least 80% red and mix in green. Some people suggest some blue channel... but that channel tends to be the noisiest so I try to avoid it if I can. 80-red and 20-green is a good starting point... then adjust from there.

You can also just copy the red/green/blue channels to new image layers and play with transparancy and layer masks. If you add blend modes to that equation, you can really change the results.

Do a search on this forum or google it and you'll find all kinds of methods.

[PacAce]

mixer thing... if there are people in the picture, you'll want the majority of information from the red channel. That's a general rule anyway I guess. Start with at least 80% red and mix in green. Some people suggest some blue channel... but that channel tends to be the noisiest so I try to avoid it if I can. 80-red and 20-green is a good starting point... then adjust from there.

I found the opposite to be the case for me. If I use the red channel, the skin comes out looking too whitish, as if the people in the image had seen a ghost or something. :mrgreen:

I get best result, personally, when I start with the green channel (about 85 to 90%) and then mix in some blue and red.

[PacAce]

Just traded the 20D for the 1D Mark 2.....great camera......but no B&W mode. Photoshop De-Sat seems to have a blue cast..........any easy ways to get a true good looking B&W???

Sorry I know this is probably basic stuff, but I'm kinda new to the digital world. Thanks for anyones help. Also I think I saw some software that did this very nice......also had a I.R. looking mode, anyone remember what this was. I think I saw it on the Fred M site.
If your desaturated images have a blue cast on them, it may mean that your monitor has not been calibrated correctly. An image that has just been desaturated should not contain any color information (other than gray, that is).

[aam1234]

I found the opposite to be the case for me. If I use the red channel, the skin comes out looking too whitish, as if the people in the image had seen a ghost or something. :mrgreen:

I get best result, personally, when I start with the green channel (about 85 to 90%) and then mix in some blue and red.

Agree with Leo. I start with the green around 100%, then tweak the other channels a bit.

[lisa1969]

I really like the D max action for black and white. After running the action I save the picture and then go back and do any contrast adjustments.

[blue_max]

Can anyone actually sum up what a black and white image should look like.

ie lots of mid-tones or starkly black and white, lots of contrast of very little?

What is the holy grail all these 'one-click solutions' are supposed to be giving us.

Graham

[aam1234]

That's a good question Graham, and I often think about it. IMO, there is no "holy grail" for B&W. Sometimes clean and crisp image looks very nice, other times grainy and dark photos take your breath away.

But in my limited experience, and I advise you not to take it seriously, I found two things that help make a good B&W. 1- Simple composition. I know this applies to all photos, but I think it's a bit more important in B&W. 2- Good contrast.