Help with converting Color to B&W?

[SPStakem]

The other weekend I took some photos for some family friends. The mother wanted to have a photo similar to one she had taken when the kids were infants. With this being the case she wants a 16x20 photo printed out in B&W. I can't seem to get a very good look with the B&W each time I try to convert it though. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

[johnastovall]

How are you trying to convert them? Just desaturation? Channel mixer?

[Steelsun]

You NEED Photoshop CS3 -best converter out there for B&W - you can tweak every color to the best balance.

[HotHolly]

There are a ton of ways to convert to B&W. Tip us off as to what you are doing.

[Duffy Pratt]

I did a quickie verion of your first picture. Only one step I use is at all uncommon:

First, I applied a false profile to the picture to lighten everything up. I used a profile with a 1.8 gamma. There are other ways you could do the same global lightening. I did this because it was quick. A levels adjustment at the midpoint might get close to the same effect.

Second, I applied the green channel in normal mode to the image. This is often a good way to deal with pictures of people, because the green channel tends to carry the most detail in skin.

Then I wrote a fairly steep curve that lightened up the shirt to near white, and kept the darkest part of her hair close to black.

Then, to try to get some more detail in the hair and some shape to her shirt, I did a shadow/highlights adjustment. The numbers were pretty big, shadows something like 30, 25, 20, highlights bigger on the amount and less on the radius I think.

Duffy

[SPStakem]

Wow guys. Thanks already. Duffy that looks great. I will have to show that to the mother and see what she thinks.

I am getting CS3 soon. I just can't decide between a Mac and PC for my next computer so I'm holding off on buying the CS3 until I know which way I am going to go.

I wish I could give you guys a tip on what kind of way I am trying to get B&W. I never even knew there were different ways to convert to B&W. I thought it was just a click of a button! Haha. I am not very good yet with the whole post processing stuff and that is why I was asking what you guys think the best thing/way to do it is??

Thank you guys for all your help already!

[Duffy Pratt]

In Photoshop, there are usually many ways to do the same thing. Sometimes the different ways make a difference, and sometimes they don't.

The typical simple ways of converting to B&W include:

1) Converting to greyscale
2) Using the channel mixer in monochrome
3) Applying a single channel to the image (often the L channel in lab, or the green channel from RGB for portraits)
4) Applying a B&W gradient
5) Desaturate

There are others that may be pointless: like using a black photo filter at 100% while preserving luminosity. And there are probably lots of ways that I don't know about. What's best in any situation will depend on the picture itself and the effect you are trying to get.

Duffy

[brad]

Photo-plugins.com .. they have a FREE plugin for B&W conversion that does a great job.

[venchka]

Then there is the easy way...the real way...or the modern way

Linked image...



Sometimes even a digital camera can get B&W correct.

[venchka]

Lightroom does B&W a lot cheaper than CS3. Search TPF for a link I posted to a whole bunch of Lightroom presets. There are about a dozen B&W presets in the batch. They work nicely.

ps: Wondering what equipment was used to produce the photo above?

[venchka]

Using the WOW presets in Lightroom...I picked BnW_10

[Comanche]

Shaun - as you can see, there are a gazillion ways to do it.

If you aren't crazy about spendings lots of $$$ for CS3, the $100 Photoshop Elements 5.0 does a very good job for most work. Here's an example.



Done in PSE 5.0, I did these steps:

Add a "Levels" layer, but don't do anything but click OK.

Add another layer - this one a gradient map (be sure you do the B&W one, but sepia is there if you want it.) Don't do anything - just click OK.

Now - go back to the Levels layer. Just as in CS3, you can adjust each of the colors - so experiment with the sliders for red, green, and blue. When it looks the way you like it, click OK. I made it a little "contrasty" - I just like that look.

Sharpen if you wish.

Have fun!

[johnastovall]

CS2 with Alien Skin Exposure, Ilford 100 Delta, no grain, with tweeked tone curve.

[Donb10]

Here is my try. I tried using the shadows and highlight filter but did not like the results. I changed the blending mode to screen, made a levels adjustment layer and adjusted all three colors. I then increased the saturation a little and then used an action that is a modified form of a black & white conversion made by Greg Gorman.

[loana0320]

here is my play
I lightened up a bit with levels, curves, and than added a bit of contrast, added saturation, and than I used the action in photoshop aly's black and white conversion and did sharpening usm