The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Better Black and Whites Using Channel Mixer

This has become the favorite of many professionals (and some will argue this is the absolute best way to create grayscale photos from color photos) because it lets you blend all three RGB channels to create a custom grayscale image. It's easier to use (and more intuitive) than applying the Calculations feature (that I'll show you later in this chapter). Here's how it works:

Step One

Open the color photo you want to convert to grayscale. Choose Channel Mixer from the Create New Adjustment Layer pop-up menu at the bottom of the Layers palette (it's the half black/half white circle icon). Channel Mixer is also found under the Image menu, under Adjustments; however, by applying it as an adjustment layer, you have the added flexibility of being able to edit your grayscale conversion later in your creative process, or to change your mind altogether and instantly return to a full-color photo.

[View full size image]

Step Two

By default, the Channel Mixer is set to blend color RGB channels. When you're using this tool to create a grayscale image, you have to turn on the Monochrome checkbox at the bottom of the dialog to enable the blending of these channels as grayscale. You can then use the three color sliders to combine percentages of each channel to create your grayscale (black-and-white) photo.

Step Three

There was an old rule of thumb that your numbers had to equal 100%, but we've pretty much abandoned that (especially for printing to an ink printer). Now we just focus on how the print looks (not the numbers in the dialog), so feel free to push the numbers to create some nice contrast (I usually lower the Red setting, so I have some room to increase the Greens and Blues). When you click OK, the Channel Mixer is applied to your photo to create a black-and-white image.

Tip

If you decide you want to edit your settings, just double-click on the Channel Mixer thumbnail (to the left of the layer mask) in the Layers palette. The Channel Mixer dialog will appear with the last settings you applied to your photo.

Regular grayscale conversion

Channel Mixer black-and-white conversion