Changing a photo to Black and White??

[digiferfer]

April -- at the class last week you said that there is a better way to change a photo to b&w other than desaturate, just wondering what that was and why is is better.

Thanks, jenny

[alb52]

what program do you use??? there's a lot of variations of b&w these days... lol.

[April]

I think she is talking about Photoshop. I will get back to you on this if no one else answers. There are some really good photographers here that will be able to answer much better than me and I'd love to learn from them. I'll give some ideas soon when I get back.

[April]

Ok... I'm back. I really hope some others will share their thoughts and teach us here. My answer for great BWs is to use actions or plug-ins. I have some really nice ones I like and they are so easy to use. I used to do everything by myself but I've given up because I've never been that great at converting to BW. You can do it by yourself but the actions are so easy. I know converting to BW by yourself isn't that hard but someone is going to have to show me how to do it really well before I switch back from using actions.

As Jenny mentioned above I do not recommend simply using desaturate (CS) or remove color (Elements) because your bw pictures won't look as good as they could. Here are some examples I've shown in previous classes... You can see there is a major difference in just removing the color and going through a process to change to BW.

Below I used one of Mindy's actions that can be used with the full versions of Photoshop not Elements: http://www.mindysphotoactions.blogspot.com/

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/oakapr/bwMindy.jpg

The next two examples are using Scrapping Pro's plug ins which can be used in Elements or the full version of PS: http://www.scrappingpro.com/

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/oakapr/bwscrappinpro.jpg

I think the newest version of Scrapping Pro has a way to adjust the levels but I need to ask. Below I also adjusted the levels after using his actions to get this look. You can read how to adjust levels here on this link but I do think this is all included in his actions now so it's super easy to get several different options for how you want your BW to look. http://www.digitalscrapbookmemories.com/tips/levels.asp

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/oakapr/bwscrappinglevels.jpg

[April]

Does anyone want to share a magic formula for using the Channel Mixer?

[tisha]

Oh a question I can answer..lol...
Let's see...I have the channel mixer method on my old tutorial blog from back in the day http://tisha.typepad.com/my_weblog/black_and_white_conversion/index.html
(there are some other tutorials on there as well if you look to the side under "categories") I keep saying I am going to start doing tutorials again once I have free time...if I even have free time again...lol:p
Now for the way I do black and white conversions (I actually have it set as an F key...check out the tutorial on "setting actions as function keys"....LOVE f keys)

I am running CS2 right now but I have used this method for the version before as well..

take your color photo hit >image> adjustments> Gradient Map> hit the black and white square on the gradient map
Ok so now you have a great BW but I am a contrast girl so I take it a step further..in lower versions simply hit images>adjustments>brightness/contrast> hit the contrast up a bit
Newer versions hit images>adjustments> exposure and then crank the buttons up and down to give it some contrast.

Ok I could go on and on...I am a photoshop junkie...LOVE THE STUFF:D

[April]

Cool. I've never heard about using the gradient map first before using the channel mixer. Below is a view of the desaturate verses tisha's method but I also tried the channel mixer without the gradient map and it made a big difference - I mean using the gradient map was much better. Cool. I love learning new things. Thanks Tisha.

Elements users can't do it this way... I don't think. Hopefully someone can help you Elements users. The actions are always an easy way to go though no matter what version of photoshop you have.

182

[alb52]

another option is to check out some of these actions/plug-ins for photoshop...there are some pretty neat ones here & it's free!

Virtual Photographer (http://www.optikvervelabs.com/)

[Amanda J.]

I'm an elements user. I use gradient map. I start with a well exposed image. Duplicate Layer. Then Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map. Click the black and white box in the drop down menu. Layer flatten. I have a curves plug-in. You can download it for free to use in Elements. I do a slight s-curve to make it more contrasty. You can get the curves plug-in here: Free Curves & More. (http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/photoshop-elements-curves.html)

http://usera.imagecave.com/NanasMama/PrettyKittysm.jpg

http://usera.imagecave.com/NanasMama/PrettyKittybwsm.jpg

I see I have a channel mixer plug-in, too. I found a formula and tried it out. It's red=30%, green=59% and blue=11%. This is what I got.

http://usera.imagecave.com/NanasMama/PrettyKittybwsmchannelmix.jpg

Hope that helps someone!

[April]

Thanks so much Amanda!

[Amanda J.]

You are very welcome!

[Tori Easton]

I was looking at the actions that April suggested above. I am confused about what a preset is. Anyone?

[Jamie Hamblin]

A preset is to me, another word for action... but i'm sure people would despute that!

[Tori Easton]

So it would be okay to buy something that she had that was actions and presets and I would be able to use it on CS2

[Jamie Hamblin]

So it would be okay to buy something that she had that was actions and presets and I would be able to use it on CS2

Um Let me look! Cute new avatar~

[Jamie Hamblin]

Oh duh! CS2 yeah, you should be able to :)

[Tori Easton]

Thanks...I am so excited about this stuff!

[Tori Easton]

Okay so I just bought a package from Mindy now how do I get them? Nothing showed up for me to download them.

[chryslergreen]

She should email you - at least I think that's how it was when I bought some from her.

[Tori Easton]

Does it take a little while or did I do something wrong?

[jessie]

I think it can take up to 24 hours to get your download. Don't worry. Mindy is great about getting things out! :)

[montmeag]

Dumb question from an Elements user, what are curves and channel mixers and why would I want them?

[Tori Easton]

I got it everyone. I am a little over anxious!

[Tori Easton]

I will post some pictures later so you can all see how great the actions are!

[tpowers]

Mindy has made some of her actions for Elements users. I bought some and I love them. They work great and she was great to buy from. I had a problem with 2 of them and she fixed it immediately.

[Liz]

Can someone please define actions and plugins for me??

[Tori Easton]

I am lost (what is new?) I love doing all of this stuff but feel lost a lot of the time. I am trying to load some of Mindy's presets and am having a hard time with the directions. She said that I had to go to CAMERA RAW. I only have a plug in for this and am not sure how to make it work, does anyone know?

[digimad]

An action is a set of steps in photoshop that create a certain effect. So for example, I downloaded an action that will make anything look like it is chipboard. It will make a font look like a chipboard alphabet, it will also work on stickers or other types of embellishments or shapes. So I could type my text in the font I want and then click on the action, which I have loaded into my effects menu and then the action goes through all the necessary steps to make that bit of text look like chipboard. You can get actions to use on your photos that will boost the color in your photos or give it a vintage look, or black and white, etc. Hope this helps, Liz.

[supermombritt]

How do we get in touch with Mindy about this action? Is it just one action that changes the photo to black and white? Are there actions to change it to sepia as well?

[supermombritt]

Okay so I just found the link to mindy's actions.

[Liz]

Thanks Digimad. That did help. I have a lot of actions from Atomic Cupcake. I just don't know how to use them. So is a plug in the same thing??