Black &White

[billywifta]

I understand that there are a few ways of turning colour photos into black & whites, but which way is the best? :\

 

[xam-e]

Desaturate is the easiest

 

[lasa]

B/W

If the end result is important I would use Image / Adjust / Channel mixer set to monochrome. A good place to start is R+50%, G+50%, B0%. This give you the most control over the results.

Desaturate is quick and painless but tends to be bland or flat no control. Hue/saturation is also workable saturation set to -100.
or gradient map with default b/w

Adobe studio exchange also has some very good free b/w actions:
http://share.studio.adobe.com/

Lasa

 

[chillman]

Something I learned in another forum is to create a new gradiant layer and use black and white as your gradient colors. Here is the link. This works much better than just dsaturation or setting to Grayscale.

http://www.photoshopforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2377&highlight=black+white

 

[anepu]

That works Great! chillman

Really improves the look in B&W and is easy to do.

 

[billywifta]

Thankyou one & all..........

as usual, most helpful.