[Ali]

When I joined Pixalo, I said that my Photoshop/PaintShop Pro skills left more than a little to be desired, I so have much to learn! I’d never really considered conversions* to black and white before joining here, so I've had a small dabble.

* Please note I use the term ‘conversions loosely as I really am not sure what I am doing!

My dabblings - nothing spectacular, but I always really appreciate your comments.

First up we have Lucy...

Original unaltered


A friend had a copy of this image and ‘twiddled’ – leaving a black and white picture with the red collar, so I took her lead as a good subject to practise with and I was most proud that I managed the effect if nothing else!!



And here we have Bagheera, a friend’s kitten.
OK, so we all know his namesake was really a black panther but my friend has a strange sense of humour

Original – just cropped out all the unnecessary bits


And ‘converted’



Comments (good, bad, indifferent!) would be most welcome as ever, as are any hints and tips! Thank you.

[Markulous]

Only suggestion I'd make is that you need to watch the brightness when you convert but both look pretty good

Here is my attempt - tried to keep the eye/ear fairly light


Convert from colour, touch dodge, sharpen, border

[Ali]

Thank you, that looks much better.
I well overdid the contrast then..!

I've not played very much with the dodge tool - so thank you

[Markulous]

Originally Posted by Ali

Thank you, that looks much better.
I well overdid the contrast then..!

No, not really, as it's all pretty sensitive. My motto is "little and often" so tend to change by very small margins (except when I don't take my own advice and end up with a total hash of things - not seen in public too much these days, I'm pleased to say!)

[fionaB]

as mark says its little and often, its so easy to overdo things in conversions.
as a first attempt you have done very well, however there are lots of different techniques for converting to mono, so would be interested in knowing how u did the conversion,
One of the most important things to remember is that in mono u need to get a full tonal range for it to look great, you can keep an eye on the tonal range in "levels" in the editing package u are using, i think most of htem have it.

Fi

[Ali]

Thank you for your help and comments

Originally Posted by fionaB

as a first attempt you have done very well, however there are lots of different techniques for converting to mono, so would be interested in knowing how u did the conversion

I didn't really do very much, and in probably not quite the right order... but hopefully am learning as I go along. This is what I did with the cat (I think!).

Using Elements 5:
Enhance -> Convert to Black and White. The dialog box then gives some preset options and an intensity slider. I opted for "More Contrast" but reduced the intensity from the default slightly.
Enhance -> Unsharp Mask - I think about 60% with 0.5 radius

Unsharp mask for me is still very hit and miss and I don't fully understand all the terms etc, but I am trying not to use the 'Auto' options so that I learn to use and understand the functions and tools. It's a slow old process