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alan brown
Converting colour to Monochrome
Before converting an image to mono careful consideration should be given when choosing the image.
Some subjects and scenes produce better monochrome images than others. Some have lots of impact
while others are flat and lifeless. Select images which have a wide tonal range, going from the darkest
shadows to the lightest highlights, i.e. after conversion to monochrome it should contain plenty of shades
of grey.The contrast between these differing tones can be increased to suit the image via either the ‘Curves’
command: Image> Adjustments> Curves and making a slight ‘S’ curve or in the ‘Levels’ command:
Image> Adjustments> Levels and dragging the outer sliders toward the histogram in Photoshop.
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Methods of Conversion to Mono
in Adobe Photoshop CS3
Desaturation: Image> Adjustments> Desaturate. Or Image> Adjustments> Hue and Saturation
and move the Saturation slider all the way to the left.
Channel Mixer: Image> Adjustments> Channel Mixer, tick the Monochrome box.
Selective adjustments can be made by experimenting with the Red, Green and Blue channel sliders.
Hue and Saturation: Image> Adjustments> Hue / Saturation. With the Edit
mode set to Master move the Saturation slider all the way over to the left.
Photoshop CS3 Black & White: Image> Adjustments> Black & White. Apart from the initial
straightforward conversion to B&W this command allows hundreds of different monochrome
effects by altering the tones via the individual colour channels of the image by moving the sliders.
Experimentation is required to suit the image.
This command also allows you to apply many colour tones to an image by checking the Tint box
and moving the Hue slider until you find the required colour. Intense colour toning of an image is not
recommended as these tend to look too garish; the colour should be reduced with the Saturation
slider to between 10 and 25%.
An alternative and simpler method of toning: Image> Adjustments> Hue & Saturation.
Tick the Colorize and Preview boxes, move the Hue slider to the required colour but, again,
keep the amount of Saturation low.
Alan Brown LRPS EFIAP 2009
2 Seater ‘colomon’ conversion
This image started out as an under-exposed slide from a visit to Bourton-on-the-water in Gloucestershire.
After scanning the slide I found it impossible to rescue any shadow detail, even in Photoshop without
greatly degrading the image.I decided to convert it to monochrome with a programme from Alien Skin which mimics almost all film types.
I tried them all and finally settled on the Kodak Tri-X 400 asa version, added a gold tone and a little ‘grain’
with the noise filter and finally, added a border which looks like a medium or large format negative edge to
give the image an ‘old-fashioned’ appearanceAlan Brown 2009