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Easy Black & White Conversions…Really!

July 19, 2011   Author: Renee Pearson   Categories: Techniques

Here’s a technique I learned at Photoshop World a few years ago but it’s still one of my favorites. It was part of a workshop taught by Scott Kelby…the grand poobah of all things Photoshop.

I use it consistently and it never fails to produce sharper color to black & white conversions than any other technique I’ve tried. Here’s the technique along with my results. The steps and screenshots below were captured in Photoshop CS5, but they work just as well for Photoshop Elements.

Download a pdf with the steps for this technique.
Step 1. Open a color photo and make sure the Foreground and Background color boxes are set to black and white.
Step 2. Click the Create new fill or adjustment layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette. Select Gradient Map.
Step 3. The settings options for the Gradient Map will appear in the Adjustments panel. Check the Dither option to avoid banding. Then, click anywhere inside the gradient bar to open the Gradient Editor.
Step 4. Now you need to choose a shade of gray for the midtones in your photo. In the Gradient Editor, click once in the center just below the gradient bar to establish a color stop.
Step 5. It defaults to the black that was located at that stop in the gradient. Here’s what your photo will look like at this point because Photoshop thinks you want to use this color for your midtones.
Step 6. All you need to do is adjust the color of the stop to a shade of gray to correct the midtones in your photo. To do that, double-click the color stop you added to open the Color Picker. Now, just choose an appropriate shade of gray. If you watch your image, you’ll see the effects of different shades of gray as you choose them.

 

And that’s it. Here’s my converted photo. Cool, huh? Thanks, Scott, for sharing your knowledge!

 

 

 

Renee Pearson

Renee Pearson

Renee Pearson is a digital designer, illustrator and educator and the owner of reneepearson.com. An established authority in the digital crafting world, she’s the author of two digital design books and former Associate Editor of “Digital Scrapbooking” magazine.

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5 thoughts on “Easy Black & White Conversions…Really!”

  1. I certainly do miss Digital Scrapbooking.…got all the mags on my bookshelf and refer to them constantly, for inspiration and tips. One of the few I read over and over cover to cover. And to find your blog simply made my day.….Thanks Renee.…for all you do for us digi addicts, you ROCK!

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