BW conversion

If this has been asked before, please excuse. I'm a noob here.

 

When converting a color image to BW which do you prefer, Channel mixer or some of the options in gradient mapping?

It's terribly frowned upon for some reason, but I always convert to greyscale and then use levels, curves, set white/black point, or play with highlights/midtones/shadows sliders. Whatever gets the results you need I guess.

I used to use channel mixer but now use Nik Silver Efex 2. It's very powerful and flexible although the learning curve is rather steep.. It was available as a free download, if you can find someone with a copy of it.

I always convert to greyscale and then use levels, curves, set white/black point, or play with highlights/midtones/shadows sliders.

I think you're missing a creative trick there Stuart.

 

The dedicated B&W conversion module in PhotoShop* has filter sliders for RGB and CMY. They can emulate any coloured physical lens filter, and possibly do a better job of it! Whereas simply changing to greyscale mode uses fixed colourimetric brightness values for the RGB components, I believe. That doesn't help with a featureless blank sky, or foliage or skin that isn't the tone you want.

 

Using the filter sliders in no way precludes using levels or curves on the greyscale image after conversion. And, after all, it's not an irreversible process that you can't go back and do over if you change your mind.

 

BTW, I stopped using the automated black and white levels and eyedroppers years ago - too crude. Using the histogram in curves is a better guide. Or probing the image with the eyedropper to sample what appear to be the deepest shadows and brightest highlights (that you want to retain).

 

* Other, and less expensive, image editors are available.

Edited April 27, 2020 by rodeo_joe|1

Desaturate all colors and lighten or darken each one. With a mirrorless camera, try the B&W modes, puts you into a B&W mind set. WYSIWYG.

Watch George's video (free), one of the best ever on this topic!

A Few Thoughts on Black & White Conversion… Past and Present

Thanks for the link, digitaldog. Just watched the whole thing, very helpful.

I occasionally just use the channel mixer with (masked) curves layers. But I prefer using the plugin filter Dxo Nik Silver Efex Pro. Applying one of the 40 presets is usually good enough. But I can also make further refinements (globally and locally) to the photo too including toning.

 

I still use the free (but unsupported) 2012 version of the Nik filter bundle (including Silver Efex Pro). You can still request this free version via this page.

The latest, further developed and supported Dxo Nik filters can be purchased at Dxo.com for $160.

 

This article describes a number of alternatives for the Nik collection.

 

There are also equivalent Lightroom b/w conversion preset bundles and maybe even equivalent Photoshop actions.

 

So my main point is to get some b/w conversion tools (presets) that, by browsing through them, quickly allow you to see the effects of the preset on your photo. Find a preset 'look' you like anf fine-tune from there.

 

I think this is a faster, and more sensible approach than starting out from from scratch for each photo.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Mike

Just one more thing ...

 

Whatever the comments are on this one photo, I want to sincerely thank you for opening my eyes to the potential of creating (semi-) abstract images from one or more photo's! I've personally learned a whole lot through your example. Especially in terms of its potential!

 

Mike

 

If this has been asked before, please excuse. I'm a noob here.

 

When converting a color image to BW which do you prefer, Channel mixer or some of the options in gradient mapping?

I think you're missing a creative trick there Stuart.

 

The dedicated B&W conversion module in PhotoShop* has filter sliders for RGB and CMY. They can emulate any coloured physical lens filter, and possibly do a better job of it! Whereas simply changing to greyscale mode uses fixed colourimetric brightness values for the RGB components, I believe. That doesn't help with a featureless blank sky, or foliage or skin that isn't the tone you want.

 

Using the filter sliders in no way precludes using levels or curves on the greyscale image after conversion. And, after all, it's not an irreversible process that you can't go back and do over if you change your mind.

 

BTW, I stopped using the automated black and white levels and eyedroppers years ago - too crude. Using the histogram in curves is a better guide. Or probing the image with the eyedropper to sample what appear to be the deepest shadows and brightest highlights (that you want to retain).

 

* Other, and less expensive, image editors are available.

I found that and had a play in my steam driven Elements 7. I can see how that gives you good control. Do the latest versions of photoshop/lightroom enable image magnification with mouse wheel scrolling, like every other program known to man?? PSE7 doesn't and that's what puts me off it mostly, but I use it for certain things that PSP doesn't have, like panorama-merging. I'm using Paint Shop Pro mostly, but I've also downloaded the free copy of Luminar 3 from a link kindly provided on PN, and like Mike, I use Silver FX Pro, which I got when they were offering the NIK collection as a free download, so I've got a variety of ways to do the conversion, and mostly for nowt!. These serve my needs well enough at the moment. I'm not tempted by anything I'd have to get into an annual subscription for. I'll have a bit more of a play with the sliders (only RGB on my version) and see if I get on better with it. Thanks for the heads-up.

And I thought I was behind the curve with PSE8!

Excellent link, @digitaldog! Thanks for this. I found the tutorial fascination and very helpful. I usually just pick one of the 40 'looks' in Nik Silver Efex Pro (conversation + exposure + contrast) as a starting point, but this video is an excellent explanation of how B/W conversion (including the Silver Efex Pro and other presets) actually works. It took me some time to find the actual tutorial video so I include this direct link to the video.

 

I now understand completely why photographers would choose to use these techniques to personally customize their B/W conversatiffrom scratch rather than choose from a limited number of 'presets' as a basis for their B/W conversations.

 

Mike

 

 

Watch George's video (free), one of the best ever on this topic!

A Few Thoughts on Black & White Conversion… Past and Present