Converting Color Photos
Into Black and White Photos

And then maybe, bring back
some of the color!

NOTE: Video Tutorial At The Bottom Of This Page

OK - so they were not masterpieces but my family loved the pictures I developed and each Sunday evening I had soooo much fun printing the pictures I had shot during the week or at a special event or on a planned 'picture shooting day'.

I tried printing color once and produced one barely acceptable print so I kept the faith with black and white.

Things tend to happen in life and slowly but surely I got away from my darkroom as it became more and more dedicated to storage. Eventually it was too much hassle to do anything around the boxes and 'stuff' so I stopped doing my favorite hobby.

And then along came Photoshop and Digital cameras and I enthusiastically switched to a digital darkroom. I miss the smell of the Stop Bath and the excitement of slowly watching the image appear on the paper in the Developer but I gotta say a digital darkroom is a whole lot easier to deal with!

My digital darkroom has provided me with the opportunity to return to my favorite medium which is B & W photography, with a twist. Now I shoot my digital shots in color and then convert them to B & W.

With the majority of good digital cameras you can choose to shoot your pictures either in color or monochrome; however the monochrome shots from your digital are not as striking as the ones you can create with either Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.

Black and White Images

Some of the most stunning and captivating photographs you will ever see are monochrome.

I am not sure why that is the case but I think it has to do with the fact that you have to become mentally involved with monochrome pictures. With color shots you see the scene as it was shot (ooo - look at all the pretty colors)- with monochrome you have to engage the brain a bit more.

This is likely why monochrome photography has maintained its popularity over the years. Some may have thought that color signaled the end of monochrome but this is not so.

A good black and white picture can leave one breathless!

Photoshop Conversions

With Photoshop and you can create black and white images using a variety of different techniques. Some are basic while others are very sophisticated.

The conversions affect the whole image or a selected part of the image so there is not much pen and tablet work involved (other than it is so much easier to do anything on your computer with a Graphire).

The only exception is if you want to make an object stand out by bringing the color back using an eraser or the history brush or a hue and saturation layer.

All of the techniques for converting from color to black and white will work with every level of Photoshop (7, CS and CS2) and some will work with Photoshop Elements 3 but not all of them.

These two methods of creating B & W photos are the easiest to use in Photoshop (7, CS, CS2 and Elements 3).

Click here to compare the Desaturate and Grayscale methods of creating greyscale images.

The Channel Mixer monochrome conversion is easy to use and provides you with a lot of adjustments. You can, in fact, simulate the use of colored filters like you would do with monochrome film. (Photoshop only)

Here is where you can learn how to use the Channel Mixerr.

This method of creating a monochrome image from color is probably the most involved, however it is worth the effort. This technique uses two Hue and Saturation Adjustment Layers and it will work with both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

Click here to go to Hue and Saturation Conversion.

This method may produce the most striking monochrome images of all the techniques. As a matter of fact, the picture of Anna the Bull Terrier at the top of the page was created using this technique.

It is relatively easy to use but only in Photoshop. Sorry Elements users - guess you need to upgrade to Photoshop CS2 full version. ( I bought a fully legal copy of CS2 on eBay for my MAC for just under $300.00 - retail is about $895.00!).

Click here to go to the Duotone Conversion page.

The latest version of Photoshop, CS3, has a wonderful new method of converting color photographs to black and white photographs.

Rather than trying to provide a long, drawn out text description, check out the video.

For those of you who were wondering how to justify upgrading to CS3, well, the Black and White Adjustment Layer in CS3 is a pretty good reason, don't you think?