ABSTRACT
The digital black-and-white image is the result of some form of manipulation of the three colour channels in the digital colour original. Obviously, the blend of these channels can be different and different coloured objects in the original coloured image can be made to contribute more or less to the final black-and-white image. An alternative is to separate the colour and ‘black to whiteness’ of the image. One technique is to convert the colour file to Lab mode and discard the colour information in the a and b channels. Both Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom offer great flexibility in the conversion process. For those looking for the ability to match film looks using digital originals there is a range of plug-ins for Photoshop that produce a range of film and darkroom effects.
