Color images to B&W?

[mbalensiefer]

I work with a lot of .jpg images.
 Sometimes I prefer a sepia tone over the original color work, so in converting these photos to B&W and sepia, is it ok to simply bring all the images' color values down using Photoshop's Image -> Mode -> Grayscale...or must I select Image -> Adjustments -> Desaturate instead?
 
 What is a preferable way to add an approximately 5% color overlay to simulate sepia within a previously grayscale image?

 Tremacasse!
Michael

[ThePhotoDude]

I work with a lot of .jpg images.
 Sometimes I prefer a sepia tone over the original color work, so in converting these photos to B&W and sepia, is it ok to simply bring all the images' color values down using Photoshop's Image -> Mode -> Grayscale...or must I select Image -> Adjustments -> Desaturate instead?
 
 What is a preferable way to add an approximately 5% color overlay to simulate sepia within a previously grayscale image?

 Tremacasse!
Michael
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

This question is probably better suited in the [a href=\"http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showforum=5]Digital Image Processing[/url] forum.

[Mark D Segal]

That's true - this is a digital processing matter, but to be helpful to the OP, it would be good to know what program you are using. If you are using Photoshop CS3, by far the best and most convenient way of doing this is with a Black and White Adjustment Layer. Alternatively, if you wish to open your JPEGs in Lightroom or Camera Raw 4.x, you have similar technology at the raw processing stage which is very good. Finally, if you use an Epson printer which has an Advanced Black and White capability in the driver (ABW), it also does a very good job, and you can produce a whole range of tones from it; the B&W is "pure", but the drawback is absence of soft-proofing capability.

[mbalensiefer]

Hi. I am using CS3. All images remain on the monitor--meaning that I am not printing them, etc.

How exactly would I use a (B&W) adjustment layer to do this? What is the optimal way to make the sepia hue trend towards yellow, and at other times orange? Just hue slider?

Thanks!
Michael

[Mark D Segal]

In Photoshop CS3 go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Black and White. When the dialogue box pops up, click open the Presetn pane and cycle through the presets to see which one gives you the Black and White tonality closest to what you want. Fine tune the tonality using the indivbidual colour channel sliders below the Preset pane. Then, to add a colour tint, click on the Tint check box under the sliders and adjust the Hue and Saturation controls to taste. Click OK and you're done. The resulting image is good for display or print. If you are posting it to the web as a JPEG you will have to flatten the image. Therefore I would save the original unflattened as a master image which you can go back to for any changes, and have a second flattened JPEG for web viewing or other purposes requiring the use of the JPEG format.