Slow Connection or JavaScript Disabled? Go to the Site Maps.
|
Use Your Computer—Not Your Camera Changing the Colors Changes the Grays A Common Method for Photoshop Users (Not for Photoshop Elements) Two Common Methods For Photoshop Elements Users: |
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.
Convert 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.
You 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.
If you haven't already done so, go to Make a Background Copy.
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 |
Here's a mnemonic for the color relationships.
|
Red Corvette BY General Motors |
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.
1) Create a Levels adjustment layer.
Click the Create adjustment layer icon, the half-dark, half-bright, circle at the top of the Layers palette, and select Levels.
The Levels window will open.
Click OK.
2) Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
Click the Create adjustment layer icon, the half-dark, half-bright, circle at the top of the Layers palette, and select Hue/Saturation.
The Hue/Saturation window will open.
Set the saturation to -100.
3) Double click the Levels window thumbnail in the Levels 1 adjustment layer.
The Levels window will open.
Select a color from the Channel box.
Click, hold, and drag the middle, gray, pointer to adjust the chosen color.
1) Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
Click the Create adjustment layer icon, the half-dark, half-bright, circle at the top of the Layers palette, and select Hue/Saturation.
The Hue/Saturation window will open.
Double click the name of the Hue/Saturation layer, and change it to Color.
Change the blending mode from Normal to Color.
The blending mode box is at the top of the Layers palette.
2) Create a second Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
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.
Double click the Hue/Saturation thumbnail in the layer.
The Hue/Saturation window will open.
Select a color in the Edit box, and move the Hue slider back-and-forth, and use the Saturation slider for fine tuning.
You can also use the Eyedropper in the Hue/Saturation window (not the Eyedropper tool from the Toolbox palette) to select a color from the photograph.
1) Select a color in the Edit box of the Hue/Saturation window (above).
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) |
Go to Plug-ins.
Go to Toning Digital Prints.
Go to Plug-ins.
If you haven't already done so, go to Saving Files.