Black & White conversion methods

[Shay Stephens]

I read a very interesting article on converting to black and white using Photoshop here:
http://www.zuga.net/freelessons/rgb2gray.shtml

I wanted to try out the different methods using Photoshop Elements and was very surprised by the results. I used three methods to get a black and white from a color photo using Photoshop Elements:

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Method 1 (The easiest, worst looking)

1) Using (Enhance - Brightness/Contrast - Levels), turn off the blue channel by clicking on the "Channel" drop down box and select "Blue". Then set the "Output Levels:" to 0 and 0

2) Change the mode to grayscale (Image - Mode - Grayscale)
3) Auto level (Enhance - Auto Levels)

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Method 2 (Much better results)

1) using (Enhance - Brightness/Contrast - Levels), turn off the blue channel by clicking on the "Channel" drop down box and select "Blue". Then set the "Output Levels:" to 0 and 0

2) Click on the "Channel" drop down box again and select "Red". Set the "Output Levels:" to 0 and 84

4) Change the mode to grayscale (Image - Mode - Grayscale)
5) Auto level (Enhance - Auto Levels)

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Method 3 (The best results)
1) copy the image (Ctrl A - Ctrl C)
2) Paste as a second layer (Ctrl V)
3) Open the layers pallet "Window - Show Layers"

4) Click on the first layer. Using (Enhance - Brightness/Contrast - Levels), turn off the blue channel by clicking on the "Channel" drop down box and select "Blue". Then set the "Output Levels:" to 0 and 0

5) Click on the "Channel" drop down box again and select "Red". Set the "Output Levels:" to 0 and 0

6) Click on the second layer. Using (Enhance - Brightness/Contrast - Levels), turn off the blue channel by clicking on the "Channel" drop down box and select "Blue". Then set the "Output Levels:" to 0 and 0

7) Click on the "Channel" drop down box again and select "Green". Set the "Output Levels:" to 0 and 0

8) set the opacity of the 2nd layer to 33%
9) change the mode to grayscale (Image - Mode - Grayscale)
10) Auto level (Enhance - Auto Levels)

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Method 3 gave the best result of all of them. It is a little more work, but very much worth the effort. The second method gave very good results, but the third method was definatly better in tonality. The reduced sample pictures don't tell the whole story, but if you try out the different methods you will see what I mean.--Shay

http://f707.shay.ws

 

[Erichatch]

Shay, you are clearly The Pioneer for PSE & F707. MOreover, you're nice about it. Thank you. I have made a clipping of your steps and will refer to it often.

You're clearly riding the leading edge of this techology. We all benefit!

Eric--EricF707 http://www.pbase.com/erichocinc

 

[Hans Bolte]

Thanx for the info Shay...

hb

 

[Mike Tichon]

Whew! Your methods wear me out! Maybe I am just stuffed with Christmas dinner, but there seem to be easier and effective ways. In Elements, try Image -Adjustments-Gradient Map tool, the one with the black to white gradient. It seems to work pretty well. Also, an easy method is to use Paint Shop Pro and separate the channels into the blue green red channels and pick or combine as you feel gives the best results. A lazy man's ways to make b&w pictures. I like them both, depending on the picture.

Regards,

--Mike Tichon

 

[Shay Stephens]

Hi Mike,

I tried out the gradient method. Indeed it does work very well. Here is a comparison of the original, gradient method, and method 3
Original:



Gradient Method:



Method 3:



The gradient method was by far the easiest method and produced results better than method 1 and method 2. It looks like it darkens the image slightly. It is very pleasing to say the least. Method 3 looks like it preserves the tonality better. It will be nice being able to utilize the two methods to achieve different looks. Thank you so much for sharing it.--Shay http://f707.shay.ws

 

[David Pichevin]

I read a very interesting article on converting to black and white
using Photoshop here:
http://www.zuga.net/freelessons/rgb2gray.shtml

Method 3 gave the best result of all of them. It is a little more
work, but very much worth the effort. The second method gave very
good results, but the third method was definatly better in
tonality. The reduced sample pictures don't tell the whole story,

I tried method 3. But did you look at the levels once the transformation is done? Aren't you losing a lot of information there?

David.--My photo galleries: http://www.pbase.com/davidp

 

[Shay Stephens]

I just checked the histogram and indeed it does look like there is quite a bit of loss, almost as if there are only 128 shade being utilized. I looked at the histogram of the gradient method and there does not appear to be any loss, the full 255 shades are being used there. If you are going to print, then the gradient method looks like the best bet. And if you want to change the brightness or tone there is more image data to play with using the gradient method as well.
--Shay http://f707.shay.ws

 

[Ulysses]

Yeah, I was checking out the Gradient method. It seems a very elegant one.

I like the way, for example, midtone adjustments can be made. You can even create and save a custom gradient if you want. Very interesting.... the program can get pretty deep if you want it to do so.

I just checked the histogram and indeed it does look like there is
quite a bit of loss, almost as if there are only 128 shade being
utilized. I looked at the histogram of the gradient method and
there does not appear to be any loss, the full 255 shades are being
used there. If you are going to print, then the gradient method
looks like the best bet. And if you want to change the brightness
or tone there is more image data to play with using the gradient
method as well.-- Ulysses