Color to Black and White: Using Channels Plus Grayscale
Another way to convert images to black and white in Photoshop is to use channels.
Like a color film image, a digital color image in RGB mode is composed of three pri-
mary colors: red, green, and blue. Each of those colors can have different contrast
levels and may convert to black and white differently as a result.
To see how each of the three colors converts to black
and white, choose Window, Show Channels. By look-
ing at the image in each channel—red, green, and
blue—you may find a black-and-white version that
already looks close to what you want in your final
print.
Converting to black and white using this method
involves deleting two channels. Converting to
Grayscale while in the remaining channel strips its
color but retains its contrast information. This often
translates to fewer contrast adjustments following
the conversion.
When you open the Channels Palette, three black-and-white thumbnails appear
below the color composite channel. An eye icon shows which image is selected.
Click on each thumbnail to see its effect on the image. Usually the green channel is
best because it contains the most brightness information (closest to black and white).
With your final choice highlighted in the palette, choose Image, Mode, Grayscale to
discard the other channels and convert the image to black and white, and then
choose Save.Fixing Red Eye
Another common fix for portraits is the dreaded red eye (see Figure 22.5). This isn’t
really an issue in black-and-white photography, but is so common in snapshot pho-
tography that everyone needs to know how to resolve this issue—beginners and pro-
fessionals! Photoshop and Photoshop Elements provide a number of ways to fix red
eye. Today’s automated red-eye reduction features in cameras are usually annoying
and don’t work that well—the manual method is usually best.
This section shows you a few ways to reduce or eliminate red eye. There are proba-
bly 10 or 12 different ways to fix red eye, so don’t despair. If you experiment with
the steps in this section, you might find an even better way.330 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TODIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Photoshop Elements
does not include channels,
so this technique is not possible.