Opinions on a Black and White Technique

[AFrazier]

To convert to black and white using Photoshop 7.0, I used the following steps (and you can make this an action just as in CS3 by clicking on the Window option and the Actions menu to bring up the Actions pane. Then click on the icon to the left of the garbage can at the bottom, which will say "Create New Action" if you run your mouse over it. Click that icon, name the action something like "Black and White Conversion," and select, if you wish, a hot key to run the action from the drop down menu next to where it says "Function Key") ...

01) This step is the same as CS3. Begin by going into the Image menu, under the Mode submenu, and convert the photograph to RGB Color if it isn't already on this setting (if, for example, the photograph was made black and white through a Grayscale procedure).

02) This step is also the same as CS3. Go into the Image menu, under the Adjustments submenu, and select the Channel Mixer. Click on the Monochrome checkbox at the bottom. The default values will need to be adjusted in PS7 (unlike CS3). The Output Channel will be “Gray.” Red (which will be +100% by default) needs to be set to +40%, Green to +40%, and Blue to +20%. The Constant is 0%. Click OK.

03) Since the “Black and White” option doesn’t exist in some of the earlier Photoshop versions (like 7.0 in this instance), in the Image menu, under the Adjustments submenu, select Selective Color. Click on the drop down box for Colors. Select “Whites” from the menu. Adjust Cyan to –6% and Yellow +12%. Repeat the process for the “Neutrals” and “Blacks” colors from the Colors drop down menu box. When you’re done, click OK.

04) Again, lacking the filters in CS3 through the “Black and White” option, the Maximum Black with tint has to be simulated through two separate steps. Go into the Image menu, under the Adjustments submenu, and select Hue/Saturation. Leave the Edit mode on Master and adjust the Hue to –30 and the Saturation to –65 (I tried voiding this step … it is actually necessary for the toning). Leave the Lightness at 0. Click OK.

05) Now, go back into the Image menu, under the Adjustments submenu, and select the Selective Color option again. Select the “Whites” color as before. This time, set your Cyan to +11%, your Magenta to +10%, your Yellow to +12%, and your Black to –16% (leave the “Absolute” radio button checked). Go back into the drop down menu and go to your “Neutrals” color. Set your Cyan to +9%, your Magenta to +9%, your Yellow to +12%, and leave your Black at 0 (again, leave the “Absolute” radio button checked). Go back into the drop down menu and go to your “Blacks” color. Set your Cyan to +11%, your Magenta to +10%, your Yellow to +12%, and your Black to +5% (leave the “Absolute” radio button checked). Click OK.

That should have reproduced the CS3 “Black and White” portion of the process almost identically.

06) Next, go into the Image menu, under the Adjustments submenu, and select Curves. There aren’t any presets in PS7, so the Strong Contrast (RGB) setting from CS3 has to be simulated manually. Create three points on your curve line (besides the two in the corners), then click on the bottom of those three. Down at the bottom of the Curves dialog box, there are two edit boxes (Input and Output). For the bottom of the three points, type in 31 for the Input % and 26 for the Output %. Click on the middle point and type in 41 for the Input % and 40 for the Output %. Click on the uppermost of the three points you created and type in 70 for the Input % and 80 for the Output %. Click OK. (See image 1)

07) In the Image menu, under the Mode submenu, select Lab Color to convert the photograph to a different rendering type.

08) Under the Image menu, select Apply Image. When the dialog box comes up, Select Channel “b” and check the Invert checkbox. The blending mode you want to select from the Blending drop down box is Vivid Light, with an Opacity of 5%. Click OK.

09) In the Image menu, under the Mode submenu, select RGB Color to convert the photograph back to RGB color mode.

The final steps are to tweak the shadows and highlights.

10) In CS3 you can simply use the Shadow/Highlight option, but once again, Curves are going to have to do the trick (which is really all those new tools do anyway … adjust curves). Go back into the Image menu, under the Adjustments submenu, and select Curves. Again, create three points on the curve line. Click on the bottom most point (of the three, not the corner point). Type in 25 for the Input % and 30 for the Output %. Click on the center most point. Type in 50 for the Input % and 50 for the Output %. Click on the upper most point of the three and type in 75 for the Input % and 70 for the Output %. Click OK. (See image 2)

11) Lastly, since Curves don't bring out the highlights in the image like the Shadows/Highlights option in CS3, you'll need to do that another way. Go into the Layer menu and select Duplicate Layer.

12) Select that layer in your layers dialog box and go into the Image menu, under the Adjustments submenu, and select Equalize. Set the layer opacity to 20%. Duplicate the Equalized the layer and set the opacity (of the new duplicated layer) to 15%. Duplicate this layer and set the next new layer opacity to 10%. Then duplicate that new layer and set the layer opacity to 5%. Link all four duplicate layers together and merge them. Then set the Blend mode of the merged layer to Luminosity. Adjust the opacity as desired for the amount of darkness/lightness or detail (I've actually found that 100% opacity, or default, looks about consistent with the CS3 version at this step, if not a touch lighter).

13) When you are satisfied, merge the equalized layer down.

If the image is too dark, fine tune by creating another duplicate layer, Equalizing it as in steps 11 & 12 (without the additional duplicates), set the layer Blend mode to Luminosity, and adjust the layer opacity as desired.

That should do the trick.

If, as before, you find on some very few photographs that the tint is just a touch too strong, you can go into the Image menu, under the Adjustments submenu, select Hue/Saturation, and lower the Saturation until it looks right.

I will say that the results aren’t absolutely identical, but they are darn close. The tinting isn’t quite the same in the PS7 version, but it’s not far off (the CS3 version is still definitely better).

[0lBaldy]

AFrazier,
WOW, Thanks for your persistance and hard work on the PS7 version!

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by 0lBaldy

AFrazier,
WOW, Thanks for your persistance and hard work on the PS7 version!

Ditto... an exceptional contribution top to bottom.

[Littlecoo]

AFrazier, your technique does a beautiful job on all the images I've tried it on so far. I am impressed with how delicately it brings out fine detail and texture (and dust on negatives lol). I'm a big fan of B&W, and I still shoot and process B&W film when I can, although not much selinium toning tho it is now starting to grow on me, I might play around with it some more- split toning with sepia would look nice in certain images.
It is so refreshing to see monochrome conversion done well- and easily!
I love it
Thanks for sharing this, mate

I attached one of the images I was playing with, whilst not the greatest photo in the world, I was interested to see what it would make of the white dove and I was pleased with the results.