black and white photography

[dunlin]

Hi everyone,
I have always liked black and white pictures and was wondering if any of you had any advise on converting colour digital images using photoshop 7 or similar.
can you recommend any good websites, books or techniques that you use.
many thanks mark.......

[glsammy]

One of the easiest ways is to use the desaturate command. In CS2 its under image, adjustments.
You can also do the same under the Hue/saturation command simply by selecting -100 saturation.
The advantage of doing it this way is that you retain the full colour detail, nothing is lost.
There's many ways of applying this, you can do it through an adjustment layer, which is probably the best way as it's very easily reversible.
There are many other methods that can be done.
One book I can recommend is "Photoshop for Dummies" I've got the CS2 version and it's very well done with easy guides. It's what I use most of the time.

[RobSutton]

Canon cameras come with a thing called Digital Photo Professional which I thinks works better than any of the Elements versions of Photoshop (I've never tried the full versions) and I've also tried another piece of software called DxO that works really well and can even simulate some of the grain effects you used to get in B&W films such as HP5 and so on. It also works as a RAW editor and will correct for any lens distortions - I think they do a free trial download and it costs c£150 (from memory) for the real version.

This is one I converted with DxO to look like Kodak Tri-X 400 and at full mag I think the grain works pretty well.

[galanthus]

I use the channel mixer option quite a lot for mono conversion. Along with Graham I also have photoshop for dummies book, tho it's the cs3 one, very informative and a great help. Also keep an eye out for the big photography mags such as digital camera, digital photo, practical photography etc, they quite often do mono 'specials'.

[Tormentil]

There are some excellent Photoshop techniques illustrated in these downloadable video clips. Just ignore the banalitities of the idiot presenting them.

Dr Browns Photoshop Tips & Techniques

There are techniques for both CS2 & 3. Some are well worth trying.

They are in Quicktime .mov format, which I don't and won't have, on my PC, so I converted the ones I wanted to Media Player format.

[pressld2]

I know you specifically asked about Photoshop so this may not be relevant, but...

If you shoot in RAW then there are a number of presets available in Lightroom for converting to black and white or monochrome images. Here are some examples:


Original colour image (with a simple curves adjustment to boost contrast)


L to R: Grayscale, B&W Low Contrast, B&W High Contrast


L to R: Antique Grayscale, Antique Light, Selenium Tone, Sepia

All of the above where done with a single click (although IMO, most of them could do with some further tweaking).

Dave P.

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Tormentil

There are some excellent Photoshop techniques illustrated in these downloadable video clips. Just ignore the banalitities of the idiot presenting them.

Dr Browns Photoshop Tips & Techniques

There are techniques for both CS2 & 3. Some are well worth trying.

They are in Quicktime .mov format, which I don't and won't have, on my PC, so I converted the ones I wanted to Media Player format.

This is a really interesting link Ben, thanks.
He may be a bit of a twit, but the techniques and the actions are very useful.
I've already installed some actions from the link.

[Geoff F]

Like Galanthus, I prefer the Channel Mixer method as it gives a wide range of options and personal preferences. I've never liked any of the automatic conversions as no two photos are the same to start with. I don't have the same programme as you but this should work with most software.

My method is: Add a Curves Adjustment Layer, but don't adjust anything yet, just click OK and leave it. Do the same with a Hue & Saturation adjustment Layer. Then a Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer.

Click Monotone on the Channel Mixer and set RGB percentages as required. As a starting point, I would recommend R30 G60 B10 or R60 G30 B10. You can vary the amounts as you wish but make sure they add up to 100.

Then adjust the Curves Layer to add some contrast. An 'S' type curve often works well.

Then go to the Hue/Sat layer and play around with the Hue. Try moving to + and - in varying amounts until you get a good image. This is particularly good for landscapes. You might then want to readjust the Curves a little.

Once you get used to it it is quite easy and gives you a lot of personal variation.

[Geoff F]

There is another alternative; The Gradient Map. Possibly not to everyone's liking but this method is prefered by some professionals'. The exact method will vary with different software.

Select the Gradient Map (if you can find it) and check the image is in positive not negative view. Open the Gradient Adjustment control and move the colour sliders to achieve best results. New 'stops' can be added or moved as required.

It is worth a go, if just out of interest.

[dunlin]

Many thanks for the replies. Thats a great picture rob id be really proud of that one, it looks like a place ive just been to today malham.
Thanks once again for all the advice that should keep me busy for a while.
Geoff ive just tried your first post and it works well and gives you quite a lot of control, (just what ive been looking for).
regards mark.....