Part 5 - 1 :- Converting a colour image to black and white.

In this part, I am using some specific tools to convert an image to black and white.

Technique #1 - Simple desaturation followed by adjustments

This is quite straightforward and there is nothing wrong with it. You will need to do some further adjustments to get the best effect though. If you want a simple routine, or are not yet fully confident with editing, then try this first.

Note : This is not the best method for skin tones. For simple conversions where skin tone is dominant, skip to Technique #3

The original image.

Step 1 - Select Desaturate

Once you have selected Desaturate, the image will look something like this.

This is a 'flat white' coffee but it really does look too flat !

Basically, all we are doing is stripping away any, and all, colour information.

If you now go to Part 1 or Part 2 you can use the techniques described there to get some better contrast and level to the image.

The image here shows the effect after I have applied Desaturate to the image and then applied a High Pass filter and the other techniques as described in Part 1

You can also try adjusting your converted image with Levels, Brightness/Contrast, etc.

Another simple way to do conversions, is to use an 'off the shelf' action, or set of filters.

There are many available and I have included some links at the bottom of the page. One of my favourites is Virtual Photographer (VP).

This is a free suite, of colour and black and white, filter profiles and you can even create your own profiles very simply.

Once downloaded, you simply click on Filter and select.

Next, you select the profile you wish to use from the top drop down menu.

You can also adjust any of the presets and then save the results as your own profile(s). To re-open your own profiles, you simply click Load at the bottom. there are also many, many free profiles you can download with VP. Try it, it's fun !

The image below shows a comparison between VP (left) and the image used in Technique #2 - Using the Channel Mixer

Here, I have used 'Hard Steel' and then toned it down a little after conversion and desaturated the colour. The VP version displays more noise than the mix method. Hard to see at this size though.

Pretty much that is it. I hope you find it beneficial.

Remember, do NOT save over your original file. Use 'Save As'.

There are hundreds of ways to post process. This is just one technique and I find it works well for many images.

Try it out and have fun. Be sure to try different values in the steps as this will provide you with a wealth of 'self-learned' views of how the values affect the outcome.

For other black and white conversion techniques Click Here

Click here to go back to Main Page

You may also wish to look at some other specific actions/filters at http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm

Also, have a look at Virtual Photographer. This has a lot of pre-set colour and black and white profiles and you can also create your own profiles very easily. It's also free ! You can find it at www.optikvervelabs.com