Expert: LizaL - 11/26/2005

Question
Dear Lizal,
   first of all thank you for your incredible advice on using the pen tool.  I think my next question is somewhat a two-part question.  First of all what is your favorite way of turning a color photo into a black and white photo.  I have used channels.  And the channel mixer.  If you have a better way would you please give me step-by-step instructions.  Also how do you achieve sepia coloring.  If I used channels I cannot ascertain the color balance sliders under adjustments.  Any step-by-step instructions you could give me would be most appreciated.  All the advice you have given me in the past has been 101 percent on the money.  Again I will give you the equipment I am using a cannon 4000 U.S. scanner a gateway computer.  Windows XP.  With tons of memory.  An Epson 1280 printer.  Please let me take just a moment to wish you and your family the healthiest and happiest of holidays and good health through the coming year I remain your friend Stewart Arno

Answer
Hi Stewart,
Thank you for the nice things you said! That was really refreshing to read. I'm glad I've been able to help you. But it sounds like you're doing pretty well in Photoshop if you use channels and the channel mixer in order to turn color photos to black and white! That's a good way to do that.

Another way is to go to the Image pulldown menu, select Hue/Saturation, and slide the Saturation slider all the way to the left. This method doesn't actually create a grayscale image, though, in the strictest sense of the word; it only removes the color.

Still another way, maybe more obvious, is to simply go to the Image pulldown menu, select Mode, and then select Grayscale. You'll be asked if you want to discard color information and if you say yes, you'll have a black and white photo. (You can also click the option not to show that dialog box again.)

You might be aware of this next part, but if not, I'll take the opportunity to digress just a bit!

Sometimes black and white images can be lacking in detail and contrast. The most obvious ways of correcting this would simply be to manipulate the Brightness and Contrast controls themselves (found under the Image pulldown menu and the Adjustments submenu). But to do a cleaner, more discriminating job, you should use the Levels command, found under the (ever-popular!) Image pulldown menu, and the Adjustments submenu.

Levels can be used for all images, and a lot of people probably think of Levels as useful for only color photos. I've found, however, that this is a good routine for black and white as well, especially when used to push the threshold of the image's tonal values. Here's how you can do that:

Open the Levels menu and you'll see the image's histogram, with three sliders underneath: from left to right, they correspond to the image's shadows, midtones and highlights. Simply moving any of these beyond their default position will result in a shift in tone (or color, in a color image); but if you hold down the Alt key while moving a slider, you can gain a lot more contrast.

By holding down the Alt key while you move the slider, what you're actually doing is “pushing” the contrast of the image. For instance, if you hold down the Alt key and slide the left (shadows) slider, you'll see the image turn white -- and for as long as you move the slider, you'll see bits of the remaining black disappear. The point at which you start to see the black is the “threshold,” and you're using Levels to push the tonal values to this point.

Ditto the highlights slider on the right. It's the same principle, but in reverse: As you hold down Alt and push the slider to the left, you'll see the image (now black) start to show clipped areas of white. And the midtones slider will react in the same manner, too, although usually if you've adjusted the shadows and highlights, you might not need to adjust the midtones, unless there's an overall cast to the picture.

Take a look at the little movie I made and you'll see how I was able to gain more contrast and tonal value in the leaves picture. Note that at the end I hit “Reset” in order to show you how the image looked in its “before” state.
http://little-works.com/all_experts/bw_levels.mov



You also asked about creating a sepia tone for a photograph. There are several ways to do that; here are two.

1. Use the Hue/Saturation dialog box, if you're creating a sepia tone from a color photograph.

You can choose the Hue/Saturation command from the Image pulldown menu and the Adjustments submenu, or create an adjustment layer by clicking on the Layer pulldown menu, then selecting New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation (or clicking the New Adjustment Layer icon in the Layer palette). Either way will yield the same dialog box, but using an adjustment layer gives you the option of later deleting your adjustments really easily, if you're not happy with your results.

Once you have the Hue/Saturation dialog box showing, tick the Colorize box, and presto! A sepia image! Now you can adjust the sliders to your liking.

2. But the method I always use for sepia toned images is creating a duotone. This method definitely gives you more options in terms of tinting color.

First make your image a Grayscale by selecting the Image pulldown menu, then the Mode submenu and Grayscale. Discard the color information if you're prompted to do so. Then go back to the Image pulldown menu > Mode, and this time, select Duotone. When you see the Duotone dialog box, you'll be presented with a Monotone image. Click and hold the Monotone pop-up menu, and select Duotone. Now you can click on the right square in the second line, and up will come your color picker. At this point you can choose any color you wish to be the other half of your Duotone. (Black will always be your first color.)

The boxes on the left represent the Duotone's curves. Just like you might change the tonal value of a photograph using the Curves command, you can do the same thing with a duotone.

Like this:
http://little-works.com/all_experts/duotone.mov

Note that you can also create a Tritone image with black and two colors, and a Quadtone (black and four colors). Black always has to be one of the choices.

Well, I hope this helps! Please post back if any of this is confusing or if I can add help with anything else.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season too! And best wishes for a happy new year.

Lisa