What's new
By:
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Greyscale layer to specified color


T

treddie

Member
Messages
10
Likes
0
Howdie.

Was curious if there is a way to tell Photoshop, and in a CMYK or RGB file, that I want to make all the 100% blacks in a greyscale layer a solid specified color, and all greys just percentages of that solid color? And to be able to do this without having to use spot channels or dial in CMYKs via Channel Mixer? In other words, a "one-click" method, or close to it.

Thanks for any replies!
 
You mean using Solid Color from New Adjustment Layer?
In CMYK it easy just CTRL+mouse click on Black channel and make Solid Color with color you need.
With RGB it will not work so good becouse there isn't "greyscale" to select in it.
 
SeniorS > Do you mean Solid Color from New Fill Layer? When I click CNTL + mouseclick on the black channel, all I get is a partial selection.

At any rate, here is an image of what I am trying to achieve. I did this using Channel Mixer, but was hoping there was a way to do this by application of some filter or something quickly.

Grays toSpecified Color.jpg
 
But thats a point getting partial selection which will used in Solid Color (yes from new fill layer). That selection (if everything done right) contains "transparent" selection. Where black is 100% there selected 100% fill, 50% -> 50%. And Solid Color will fill with these percentage.
 
Oh...Duh! Club me on the head. I can't see the entire selection since the greys are below the "ants" threshold.

You're 1st idea works great with CNTL+click. Your 2nd idea with duotone idea would not work for me because I would have to change the color mode for the file or move a layer into its own file to work it alone in duotone.

One question about the CNTL+click, though. The selection is spot on accurate...the pixels selected are exactly like the original. But when I fill the selection with say 90/60/0/0 CMYK, it actually fills with 89/60/0/0, even though the selection channel is 100% white where 100% color should paint through. In 99% of the cases that is no issue, but I have run into printing problems where even a one% difference is really noticeable in those instances where butted colors need to be perfectly identical. Why does PShop do this?
 
Hmm...intresting...i tried and at my side it give 90/60/0/0 without problem so sorry don't know what can couse it.
 
I think color profile don't affect it (shouldn't anyway). Maybe there isn't 100% grey? Have no idea actually.
 
Well...it is weird. I find that a lot of times, I will dial in a channel mixer combination and Info tells me I'm where I want to be, only to have it be off by 1% in one channel after I click OK.
 
Don't know what that problem. Can you make solid color from that selection with your 90/.... and post it here?
 
SewniorS > Sorry for the delay. Been slammed with work.

Here is the PShop file. One layer shows the 3 original grey shapes that were filled with 0/0/0/100 black for the square, 0/0/0/50 gray for the circle, and the feathered brush was painted in 0/0/0/25 gray.
I CNTL+Clicked the black channel, inverted the resulting selection and saved it into a new channel, and checked out the tones in that channel. You can see that white is 0%K, solid black is 100%K with the grays where they should be.

I then used that selection to paint onto a new layer with, except that I chose 90/60/0/0 blue as my fill color. Note that the result is 89/60/0/0 for the square, and that mismatch in the cyan trickles into the reported %'s of that cyan in the other two shapes.:confused: Magenta, Yellow and Black do not have errors.

My color profile is default, N.A. General Purpose 2.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Another mystery. We just have one similar :)

Don't know why. But it really happend, 89/60/0/0 by filling selection.

Solution,don't fill it. Instead make Solid Color (from new layer fill) with that color. It gived me correct result.
Best par of that joke is that.....only color which is 90 goes to 89 (cyan, magenta whateve, test that). 91,89, 100 or some other i tried (not all of course so maybe there is some others value which goes wrong) after fill stays as they should be.

Another bug in PS mathematic, thats all. Nothing you can do, except know it, avoid that 90% or fix it my curves, or use Solid Color.
 
Back
Top