I know it isn't Monday, but here goes...

Personally, I prefer this photo in colour. I lamented the loss of those lovely rich browns and greens.


Click on the image to view a larger version

1) Opened a my photo in Photoshop, duplicated it, cropped it, then duplicated the layer.

2) Looked at the channels tab (in the layer palette), saw which needed to be bumped up by selecting either the red, blue, green and deselecting RGB (click on the little eyes to select and deselect a layer)

3) Added an adjustment layer > and selected Channel mixer. Selected monochrome and moved the red, blue and green sliders until I was happy.

4) Added an adjustment layer and selected levels. Played around with the top slider to intensify the black and white

5) Selected the stalk to bring out the texture. Added an adjustment layer - levels - and pulled black over quite a distance

6) Selected the cap to bring out the white flecks. Same process as above, except bringing the right hand white slider over more

7) I had lost detail in the underside of the cap, so I selected that next. Added adjustment layer - levels again. This time, I pulled the black slider on the lower sliding thingamebob to the right to lighten it. That brought out its existing texture.

8) I wanted the mushroom to stand out without interference from the wood texture, so I merged the image, duplicated the layer, applied gaussian blur (20), then changed the layer blend to soft light. I didn't want to lose the texture in the mushroom, so I selectively erased using various opacities in my eraser tool.

I took a screenshot of my layer palette to make the whole thing at least halfway more understandable....




And here is the final product for disection ; )


Click on the image to view a larger version

Visit Gary's Mono blog to join in.

Hm... I've never had to really think about the steps I take to get the result I'm looking for. I generally just feel my way, sliding this and that and adding one thing and subtracting another. So much depends on what program I'm using. For this photo below, I used Paint Shop Pro.

The very first thing I do with any image is to create a duplicate. In PSP, this would be Shift+D. I then close down my original photo. My next step is to duplicate the layer, so that I work on the second layer. It is so much quicker to delete the layer if you want to start over than going back so many steps in your history. Once I have done this, I can start playing. These two steps are so automatic for me that I don't count them.

So many colour photos turn out terribly in b/w, as what appears high contrast in colour is really bland in b/w. I mostly look for light/dark contrast when deciding what photo to convert.

With this photo, I first went to my Chanel Mixer by going to New layer in my layers palette and selecting adjustment layer or by going to Layers in the menu, then adjustment layer and Chanel mixer. PSP, like Photoshop, has a checkbox at the bottom for 'monochrome'. I took the easy way out and checked that. I then played with the sliders, raising the red a smidgeon and the green, dropping blue and so on until I go the effect I wanted. I don't usually move those around a great deal. What I like to do then is see how much 'drama' I can get. Back to Layers > adjustment layer > Levels. I drag the black 'diamond' on the top slider to the right fiddling around till I'm happy, then do the same to the white one, dragging it to the left. I may move the middle 'diamond', but I seldom do. For this particular photo, I increased the contrast by adding yet another adjustment layer and bumping up contrast by about 10. I like adding adjustment layers, as they're easy to delete if I don't like the effect or I can change their opacity or blend modes.




Monochrome Monday is Gary's new project. Do stop by to view his work and see other entries.