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01/22/2012 01:41:58 PM · #1 |
| How do you convert to black and white in PS and stay legit with the basic editing rules? I have used the Hue/saturation slider before but do not like the resulting effect. Is this the only way? |
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01/22/2012 01:45:22 PM · #2 |
| Free a free option, use Virtual Photographer plug in for PS. As long as you don't use a preset that adds a vignette it's legal. You can also use topaz b&w, or topaz detail has a b&w preset. Here's the link for VP. |
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01/22/2012 01:47:51 PM · #3 |
There are lots of ways but in PS maybe the two best are to create a B/W adjustment layer or use greyscale mode.
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01/22/2012 02:18:23 PM · #4 |
| I use channel mixer to convert |
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01/22/2012 03:46:17 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by Cuttooth:
I use channel mixer to convert |
This is what I've always done. It gives really great control over results.
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01/22/2012 04:00:21 PM · #6 |
| Desaturate is also an option. |
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01/22/2012 04:19:21 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by SEG:
How do you convert to black and white in PS and stay legit with the basic editing rules? I have used the Hue/saturation slider before but do not like the resulting effect. Is this the only way? |
you may:
saturate, desaturate or change the colors of your entry, but no selections are allowed.
use only Adjustment Layers (or their equivalent). An Adjustment Layer is a special type of layer containing no image data that lets you experiment with color and tonal adjustments without permanently modifying the pixels. Adjustment Layers must be applied in Normal mode.
This basically allows pretty much all more common approaches to BW, but rules out dodge and burn (which is a big part of BW in both analog and digital).
If you use lightroom, you could play with luminance values for single colours and/or pass it in BW and then play with the white balance colour and tint, so to get something closer to what you envisioned.
Channel mixer is a big hit with many and very powerful. I think PS has now another adjustment layer called BW, which allows more or less what lightroom offers.
Extracting one of the RGB channels, or converting in LAB and extracting the luminosity channel, would be legal and can give very good results, dependently on the image.
Another big favourite in PS involve creating two HUE/saturation layers, desaturating completely on the top layer and play with the hue on the one below (They need to be put in some blending mode, don't remember which, but there is a tutorial here on DPC about BW conversion if you need to check).
If you are really serious about BW, everybody says Silver Effect Pro is amazing. I tried it and, within my limit I found it really good. But it's more an application in itself that a preset based plugin.
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01/22/2012 04:39:21 PM · #8 |
| One more option I often use is to select just one of the RGB Channels (usually the Green Channel) and convert that to a Grayscale file. There are usually twice as many Green pixels on the sensor as Red or Blue, so it typically gives the smoothest gradations of tone. If you want a gritty, noisy, "grainy" image try using the Blue Channel. |
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