Although I am, in most cases, not keen on coloured shots being transformed into mono I think I should learn to do it as there are times when it is what is required.

I am using a not very good shot of Saxon because it is the handling of the conversion I need help with.

Original



with the green increased



With the blue increased a little and the green decreased a lot


Sure there must be more to it than fiddling to taste so can you find the time to offer help and suggestions please.

Why not just desaturate and then play with the levels until you get the contrast you want? That's how I normally do it

Will try that, I used the B & W control in CS3 and got a bit confused. To come clean when I see others say very nice conversion I don't really know why, the shot looks ok but how was it achieved, when I try I mess around fiddling and have no idea what I am doing. When I am PP on a colour image I know just what I want and in most cases how to get it, with mono I am floundering to try to achieve those soft tones you can get in a darkroom and an old film camera.

Still working at the mono lark and I don't think I have got the hang of it, what you think folks, please take time to help.

Im not sure whether its noisey or slightly OOF Jackie. What does the original look like?

Think in all probability both Dawn, I was using odd snaps to try to understand the conversion to mono, perhaps should have used a decent shot but could not find anything I though would convert.

I have a big problem with most mono but I do want to learn how to do it.

Its not too bad though, it looks like a really old picture, I kinda like it.

I do the same as Azz says, its the easy option I think!

Start off with a well composed shot Snapper then practise on that A noisy/bad shot will still be a noisy/bad shot even after mono conversion :-/

Thing is I don't know when it is right, I fiddle for ages, take a second look and then delete I just can't get what I am aiming for which is more graduation, more grey tones and a overall softer look.