ESSENTIAL TRICKS
GET THE START FILES HERE: http://bit.ly/type-files
2
Add a gradient
In the main editor add a Gradient Map adjustment
layer. In the pop-out box click the arrow to give you
the menu options and pick the first preset from the list.
You’ll notice your image changes immediately to black and
white. Now click back onto the Background layer in the Layers
panel, ready for the next step.1
Tweak in Camera Raw
Open the starting image in Camera Raw to boost the
tones and contrast. In our example we set the Exposure
to +2.05 to bring out the detail, the Contrast to +27, the
Shadows to -38, Whites to +25, Blacks to +33 and the Clarity
to +25 to boost the midtone contrast. Finally, use the Crop
tool to tidy up the composition.U
nlike Photoshop where you can convert your
image to black and white using an adjustment
layer or the Grayscale tab in Camera Raw,
Photoshop Elements doesn’t have these options.
The biggest benefit of using an adjustment layer is that you
can individually tweak the colours in the image, giving you
far more control over the final outcome. Adjustment layers
are also a useful non-destructive editing technique that you
can return to later on, and keep adjusting.The basic way to convert your image to black and white in
Elements is to go to Enhance>Convert to Black and White.
This is a good feature, but you’re limited in what you can do.
For starters the feature only works by applying the effect to a
layer (not an adjustment layer), and in the pop-out box there
are only three colour channels (red, green, and blue) to adjust.
In this tutorial we’ve come up with a clever workaround
technique using a Gradient Map and Hue/Saturation
adjustment layers...Convert to mono
Try our advanced black-and-white conversion technique
using adjustment layers in Photoshop Elements
4
Tweak the channels
Click the drop-down menu. From the list we can now
tweak the Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue and Magenta
channels individually. In our image the most prominent
colours are Red and Yellow, so these are the two we will be
using. Adjust the Hue slider in the Red channel to +36, and
-147 in the Yellow channel.3
Add a Hue/Saturation layer
Next add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. We can
use the drop-down menu to adjust the colours
individually, like you would when converting to mono in
Photoshop CS and CC. Start by altering the Master setting.
As you’ll notice when you push the Hue slider up and down,
it brings out different colours in the image.