- #26 Understanding Photoshop Camera Raw
- #27 Learning the Camera Raw Interface
- #28 Setting the White Balance
- #29 Adjusting Exposure and Tone Automatically
- #30 Adjusting Custom Exposure and Tone
- #31 Enhancing Color with Vibrance and Saturation
- #32 Using the Tone Curve
- #33 Adjusting Hue, Saturation, and Luminance
- #34 Creating Black-and-White Images
- #35 Using Split Toning
- #36 Using Lens Corrections
- #37 Using the Spot Removal and Red Eye Removal Tools
- #38 Making Localized Adjustments
- #39 Using the Graduated Filter Tool
- #40 Cropping, Rotating, and Straightening
- #41 Sharpening and Reducing Noise
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
#34 Creating Black-and-White Images
Creating stunning black-and-white images is now easier than ever using Camera Raw. If you haven’t worked with black and white, now is the time. You can apply an automatic grayscale conversion by selecting the Convert to Grayscale option at the top of the HSL/Grayscale tab (Figure 34a).
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Figure 34a Select Convert to Grayscale to make a custom grayscale conversion.
Camera Raw makes its best guess at a good grayscale conversion based on the image’s White Balance setting, and the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance tabs are replaced by a single Grayscale Mix tab. The sliders on this tab show the relative proportions of different colors in the image that Camera Raw chose to mix together to create the grayscale image.
Of course, you’re not stuck with the choices made by Camera Raw. For the best results, use the Grayscale Mix sliders. Drag these sliders to make specific color ranges lighter or darker to determine the contribution of each color to the grayscale version of the image.
For example, in a photograph of my daughter Annika, I wanted to modify the tonality of her blue jean overalls. Because the overalls represent the only blue in the image, I was able to modify the tonality using the Blues slider on the Grayscale Mix tab. Dragging the slider to the left darkens the blue in her overalls (Figure 34b).
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Figure 34b The Blues slider on the Grayscale Mix tab has been dragged to the left, resulting in the darker blue jean overalls.
Dragging the slider to the right has the opposite effect (Figure 34c).
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Figure 34c Dragging the Blues slider to the right lightens the overalls.