What looks great using your color vision, may not look as great as
a B&W photograph.
The reverse may be true, as well.
A so-so color scene may become stunning as a B&W photograph.
Back in the film era, beginning B&W photographers learned to see
with B&W vision by using two cameras at once—one with color film—and
the other with B&W film.
Physically encumbered, the photographer was also mentally encumbered.
He or she had to ask three questions before selecting which camera
to use:
1) Is this a color picture?
2) Is it B&W?
3) Could the picture work as either color or B&W?
Today, you can ask yourself the same questions in the field.
And, when you're before your computer, you can compare color and
B&W versions of the same photograph side-by-side.
Use Your Computer—Not Your CameraConvert color photographs to B&W with your computer rather than your
camera.
Your desktop computer software is better, and processing power is
much greater, than your camera.
Changing the Colors Changes the GraysYou can change how a B&W version looks by changing the colors in
the original color photograph.
For example, let's say the clouds and sky in the B&W version of a
photograph lack contrast.
In the color version, the clouds pop out from the sky.
In the B&W version, the clouds are a similar shade of gray as the
sky.
If you adjust red or cyan (blue/green), you can darken the gray sky,
making the clouds pop out.
You can see an example with a clown photograph
below .
Note how the clowns yellow hair, can be made into different shades
of gray.
Experiment with a photograph that has expanses of various colors,
such as the clown photograph below.
Be sure to check off as you go along.
Beginners should use Method #2 .
1) Preserve your original file.
If you haven't already done so, go to
Preserve
Your Original File .
2) Create a Background copy layer.
If you haven't already done so, go to
Create a Background Copy Layer .
A Common Method for Photoshop Users
(Not for Photoshop Elements)
Use a channel mixer adjustment layer, and select Monochrome.
Adjust each color, red, blue, and green.
The percentages of each of the three channels should add up to 100%,
to maintain brightness and contrast.
80% red and 20% green is a good starting point.
A disadvantage of using the channel mixer is that when you change
one of the three colors, you're also changing the complementary color
of that color.
For example, if you change red, you're also changing cyan, the complementary
color of red.
In contrast, Method #2, below, gives you control of individual colors.
That is, when you change a color, that color is the only color that
changes.
The complimentary color doesn't change.
Here are the complementary colors.
Red
Cyan
Green
Magenta
Blue
Yellow
Mnemonic
Here's a mnemonic for the color relationships.
R ed
C orvette
B Y
G eneral
M otors
Two Common Methods
For Photoshop Elements Users
Method #1, below, replicates the above Photoshop-only method.
The disadvantage of Method #1 is that when one color is changes,
its complimentary color also changes.
Method #2 has the advantage of allowing you to change each of the
six colors individually.
For example, if you change red, you're only changing red.
Cyan, the complementary color to red, is not changed.
Method #1
1) Create a
Levels adjustment layer .
The Levels window will open.
Click OK (Pre-8.0 only).
2) Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer .
The Hue/Saturation window will open.
Set the saturation to -100.
Click OK (Pre-8.0 only).
3) Do the following.
Pre 8.0
Double click the Levels layer thumbnail in the Levels 1 adjustment
layer.
The Levels window will open.
Select a color from the Channel box.
8.0
Go to the Adjustments panel, and look for the box with RGB
inside.
That's the channel box.
Select a color from the Channel box.
Click, hold, and drag the middle, gray, pointer to adjust the chosen
color.
Method #2
1)
Create a
Hue/Saturation adjustment layer .
The Hue/Saturation window will open.
Click OK (Pre-8.0
only).
Double click the
name of the Hue/Saturation layer, and change it to Color.
Change the blending
mode from Normal to Color.
At the top of the layers stack, look for the unlabeled Blending Mode box.
It's to the left of the
Opacity box.
The Blending Mode box probably has Normal inside.
2) Create a second
Hue/Saturation
adjustment layer .
Set the saturation
to -100.
Click OK (Pre-8.0
only).
Double click the
name of the second Hue/Saturation layer, and change it to BW.
4) Go back to the
Hue/Saturation adjustment layer that you named Color.
Pre 8.0
Double click the
Hue/Saturation layer thumbnail in the layer.
The Hue/Saturation window will open.
Pre 8.0 & 8.0
Select a color in
the box that has Master inside the box.
Move the Hue slider back-and-forth to adjust the tone controlled
by that color.
Use the Saturation
slider for fine tuning.
You can also use the Eyedropper in the Hue/Saturation window (not
the Eyedropper tool from Tools) to select a color from
the photograph.
1) In the Hue/Saturation window, select a color in the box that
has Master inside the box.
2) Click the Eyedropper tool in the Hue/Saturation window.
3) Click a color in the photograph.
Note how the color range at the bottom of the Hue/Saturation window
changes.
The top spectrum is the color in the original photograph, and the
bottom spectrum reflects changes you make.
4) Move the Hue slider back-and-forth, and use the Saturation slider
for fine tuning.
As mentioned, experiment using a photograph with expanses of colors.
In the clown photograph below, photograph 2 is a straight conversion.
Compare it to photograph 3, in which the decrease in the yellow hue
made the clown's hair lighter.
While I don't like any of these clown photographs, I prefer
photograph 3 over the straight conversion.
1 - Original
2 - Converted to B&W
3 - Decreased Yellow (-75)
4 -
Increased Yellow (+75)
Color to B&W
Go to
Plug-ins .
Toning
Colorization
Go to
Plug-ins .
Saving the PhotographIf you haven't already done so, go to
Saving Files .
