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In this tutorial I will show you how to properly convert an image to black and white. Certain images look better in black and white than they do with their original color. Removing color from an image evens out the tones and imperfections. There are other black and white conversion methods around, but I find this method to be the best. The below method does not run the risk of loosing tonal range or image sharpness. I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS2.

1. Open an image you would like to work with. I chose an image of a stairway.

2. With the image open hold the Ctrl key and press 1. This will show you Red channel of the image. Now press Ctrl + 2 for the Green channel. Next, Ctrl + 3 for the Blue channel. To go back to the original color image press Ctrl + ` (the key to the left of 1). The purpose of looking thru the different color channels is to find which one has the best representation of the image in black and white. Go thru the color channels again Ctrl + 1, Ctrl + 2, and Ctrl + 3. Remember which color channel looks the best.

3. Make sure you are back at the original image (Ctrl + `) and go to Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer.

4. This will pull up the Channel Mixer dialog box. Check off the Monochrome box to remove the color from the image. For my image of the stairway the green channel had the best looking image, but the red and blue channels had some parts with the highlights and shadows that looked good. So I selected 20% red, 60% green, and 20% blue.

5. With the preview box checked on the channel mixer dialog box you can see how the different percentages effect your image before you commit to the change. Play around and see which percentages make your image look the best. Sometimes it is as simple as 100% red. Below is the black and white version of my stairway image.

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