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Converting Colour to Monochrome. Advance Techniques 2: The Film/Filter Method devised by Russell Brown from Adobe 1
First create a new Adjustment Layer by clicking the icon on the toolbar - Select Hue/Saturation and rename it Filter & set the mode to Color.
2 Create another Adjustment Layer - Hue/Saturation, and Reduce the Saturation to -100 & name it Film. This converts the image to monochrome.
3 Next double click the Filter icon, this opens the Hue/Saturation control box and Drag the Hue & Saturation sliders & watch how the tones change. Aim to emphasize particular parts of the image.
4 However more control can be achieved by restricting changes to a single colour. Do this by selecting that colour from the drop down menu before dragging the Hue & Saturation sliders.
So after this advanced conversion is the print ready for printing out? NO! As in the good old days of darkroom work, there are still a number of stages to go through to create the master print. 5 Next check the levels as we've rushed straight into the conversion, we still need to process the print in the normal way.
6 the print is still lacking in contrast so we need to work on both the shadows and highlights to enhance the image further. The quickest way is to work on a separate layer, create new layer and fill it with 50% grey, however the clever bit is to change the blending mode to overlay.
7 Then by painting either black or white onto this layer we can either dodge or burn selected parts of the image. But remember to set the flow to about 5% or less so that you have a lot of control and the effect will be subtle. The beauty about this technique is that it is 100% repairable, as you simply paint over in the opposite colour. If you have made it too dark repaint over it with white, or paint black if it is too light. Remember that because we are using a new layer the original image is unaffected by all the work.
8 An alternative technique is to use the dodge and burn tools, however for these techniques you have to work on the original image so is not easy to recover any mistakes. Remember to set the exposure to a very low number for a more subtle effect about 6% works well.
The advantage of this technique is that you can work on highlights, shadows, or mid-tones independent of the others. 9 So is the image finished and ready for printing yet?
10 The final stage is to tweak the contrast, in the darkroom printers had the option of using different grades, we must use curves. First create a new curves adjustment layer and lock the midtones by clicking on the centre point. To create a simple S curve first increase the light tones at the quarter point (top right hand grid) then darken the darker tones at the lower quarter point (bottom left hand grid). Different grades of contrast can be obtained by varying the curve to either effect the shadows (dark tones) mid-tones or highlights (light tones).
The final image, ready for printing. |
