B&W Conversion and Simulating B&W Filters

gmitchel · #1 09-13-2004, 10:01 AM

My "Tip of the Week" for this week demonstrates how to use the Photoshop Channel Mixer dialog for B&W conversion.

I know, there are lots of tips and tutorials on the technique already. Well, this one offers a set of Channel Mixer settings to simulate various B&W filters. I was not happy with the few I tried (Fred Miranda, etc.), so I sat down with a corrected image of a Macbeth ColorChecker Card and created my own settings. I also updated my TLR B&W Conversion action set to include quick B&W conversions using these various filter settings.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/...pOfTheWeek.htm

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Mitch

byRo · #2 09-13-2004, 01:53 PM

Mitch,
I saw your "Tip of the Week" and got a little worried....
Photoshop basically has no "rights" and "wrongs", which is a good thing otherwise there wouldn't be so much to talk about.
However some tools can be classified as "Highly Unrecommended" (made that up, OK?). Into such a category I put the Brightness/Contrast adjustment.

IMHO your last tip, "High Contrast", gets dangerously close to a Brightness/Contrast control - very quickly provoking black clipping.

It seems that you are aiming at beginner / intermediate Photoshop users, and this part of the Tip may cause problems in unexperienced hands.

gmitchel · #3 09-14-2004, 06:51 PM

Hi Ro!

I'm a bit confused. I don't have a High Contrast tip.

I added a quick B&W conversion for high contrast B&W. I agree, it is on the high side. However, a user can just double-click on the Channel Mixer thumbnail and tone down the effect.

How about the other new filter presets? Did you find them helpful?

Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers,

Mitch

byRo · #4 09-15-2004, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmitchel

I'm a bit confused. I don't have a High Contrast tip. I added a quick B&W conversion for high contrast B&W....

Yes, that's the one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmitchel

How about the other new filter presets? Did you find them helpful?

As in everything Photoshop, there are many ways to do the same thing....

Quote:

Originally Posted by me

Photoshop basically has no "rights" and "wrongs", which is a good thing otherwise there wouldn't be so much to talk about.

So, personally, I would not use a preset that moves the levels slider. I do use negative channel amounts to combat noise in faded B/W photos.
My current preference for greyscale conversion is a Selective Color (Flora's tool) topped by a Gradient Mask... but there are some big threads around here discussing this stuff.