Getting to BW from a color only camera?

[NathanJK]

Originally Posted by Rick Waldroup

I've tried all kinds of things but the one thing I found best is a program from a company called The Imaging Factory. It is a plug-in for PS or PS Elements, which is what I have. You can try it for free for 30 days.

I JUST started using this over the weekend based on what srwatters had said about it elsewhere...and yeah, its everything they say it is I'm very happy!

[Texentric]

If you are looking to do curves or channel mixer in Photoshop Elements, go to the website Earthbound Light. It's a free download. You can install these functions into Elements. The only problem is once you click OK you cannot double click on it again to adjust it any further. There are many ways to do a B&W conversion, the channel mixer is just one. I now have CS2, but before that, I got a lot of use out of these effects.

If you purchase Elements, sooner or later Adobe will send you an e-mail to upgrade to CS for $299, definitely easier on the pocketbook. Have fun.

[d2creative]

1. Make a new layer.
2. Select all and fill with white.
3. Turn that new white layer off by clicking the little eyeball
4. Go to channels
5. Option click the rgb channel and this will make a selection.
6. Go back to your layers
7. Turn that white layer back on by clicking the eyeball again.
8. Fill the selection with black
9. Deselect
10. Invert the image
11. Go to levels and move the left slider to 10 and the right slider to 245 (sometimes I'll adjust the middle slider slightly, too.

This is one of the easiest and best techniques I've seen so far and I have Convert to B/W Pro. Make your own action so you don't have to go thru all the steps every time.

[tragic hero]

One quick note on shooting in black and white on your camera, shoot in raw that way you still have the color image as well as the b&w