This is not to espouse a particular method of b/w conversion. But rather to show why a simple "remove color" or "grayscale" conversion is so often a disappointment.
The fact is those methods do not take into account the "tonal value" of color
the same brightness and saturation of all colors will be converted to the same shade of gray.
This image show what happens to your colors when you convert the "easy way"
we can also see that the channel mixer tool and the gradient map tool give better, though differing, "gray weights" to each color.
By far the new Black and White tool in psCS4 is a superior converter.
But if you need a conversion and have a more limited image editor you can still get a better image if you look beyond the "lable"
and...
While I am blathering on about the gradient map tool, let me show you something that might be useful.
You can adjust the gradient to suit your needs.
do you want a longer middle gray zone? or to deepen the entire image?
start pushing the sliders at the bottom of the gradient bar in the gradient editor. you can even add precise color tone back into the image:
here I shifted the middle point of the gradient left and right and in the third frame I added a hue value of 30 saturation 50 and brightness of 66 to the middle "gray"
You can edit and save different gradients with color or gray values to apply a consistant look to every conversion.
The fact is those methods do not take into account the "tonal value" of color
the same brightness and saturation of all colors will be converted to the same shade of gray.
This image show what happens to your colors when you convert the "easy way"
By far the new Black and White tool in psCS4 is a superior converter.
But if you need a conversion and have a more limited image editor you can still get a better image if you look beyond the "lable"
and...
While I am blathering on about the gradient map tool, let me show you something that might be useful.
You can adjust the gradient to suit your needs.
do you want a longer middle gray zone? or to deepen the entire image?
start pushing the sliders at the bottom of the gradient bar in the gradient editor. you can even add precise color tone back into the image:
You can edit and save different gradients with color or gray values to apply a consistant look to every conversion.
