{"id":36288,"date":"2020-07-28T18:00:13","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T01:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/?p=36288"},"modified":"2020-07-28T17:30:18","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T00:30:18","slug":"tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-124","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/2020\/07\/tutorial-tuesday-photoshop-elements-124\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial Tuesday (Photoshop Elements)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s All a Matter of Taste – Black and White<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Well, July is nearly over and I have STILL not managed to get any scrapping done. I thought about it, but that’s as close as I got. We had a crazy-busy week and I think we’re finally (almost) at the end of the big things we needed to do with the house. We have a fence for the dogs, we’re having synthetic turf put down in the yard on Thursday and once I get the plants I dug up from the backyard transplanted, I might be able to relax! Of course, Thursday is forecast to be the second-hottest day of the summer (36\u00b0C\/97\u00b0F) and I’ll be outside shoveling river rock into our son-in-law’s truck. They better bring the beer!<\/p>\n

Anyway… I was looking at some back issues of Photoshop Elements Techniques<\/strong> (only available now as an archive) and came across some tips on converting colour photos to black and white to make them look amazing. So I decided I’d check out the options. I’m using Elements 2019<\/strong>, but the tips I’m going to show you are easily found in most versions.<\/p>\n

When I took a photography course many years ago, well before the advent of digital photography, my teacher talked about how black and white was THE<\/span> true art of photography. I tend to agree with that notion. There are so many nuances to black and white photography that just aren’t there in colour images. Digitally speaking, turning a colour photo into a black and white one is easy, but the ART of it is more in the eye of the beholder. So let’s have a look. I’m using a landscape photo I found at Pixabay<\/strong> for my example.<\/p>\n

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This method is the first one I tried way back in 2006 when I was learning the basics of Elements<\/strong>. Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue\/Saturation<\/strong> can also be reached by using the keyboard shortcut CTRL\/CMD>U<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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This method has been available in all versions, and so many of us have done it this way. Dropping the Saturation<\/strong> down to 0<\/strong> removes all the colour. But that’s all.<\/p>\n

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It IS nice. All the detail in the clouds, rocks and reflections is there.<\/p>\n

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In all but the earliest versions of Elements<\/strong>, there’s an option to Remove Color<\/strong> in the Enhance<\/strong> menu.<\/p>\n

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And this is the outcome. I think it looks pretty similar to the desaturated one. Maybe just the slightest bit more contrast.<\/p>\n

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But then there’s this option… Enhance>Convert to Black and White<\/strong>. This option first appeared in Elements 9<\/strong>. Could this be the WSNH<\/strong> (W<\/strong><\/span>ork S<\/strong><\/span>mart N<\/strong><\/span>ot H<\/strong><\/span>ard) method of choice?<\/p>\n

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When I clicked on that button this is what came up. Below I’m showing the default settings; it comes up in the Portrait<\/strong> setting with the colour sliders (Red<\/strong>, Green<\/strong>, Blue<\/strong> and Contrast<\/strong>) as you see them. Now, I know you’re thinking, “Colour sliders? But there IS no colour!” Let’s unpack that.<\/p>\n

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I went through all of the Modes<\/strong> here, looking at where the colour sliders were in their default settings. See if you can see a difference in each of the images as we go along. Newspaper<\/strong> mode looks like this: slightly less Green<\/strong>, a smidge more Blue<\/strong> and marginally less Contrast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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In Scenic Landscape<\/strong>, the Red<\/strong> has been boosted and the Blue<\/strong> reduced. I can see that the image is slightly warmer looking.<\/p>\n

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Urban\/Snapshots<\/strong> mode has somewhat less Red<\/strong>, slightly more Green<\/strong>, a bit more Blue<\/strong> and the same amount of Contrast<\/strong>, even though it seems like the Contrast<\/strong> is a bit less obvious. I think this mode would be great for architectural photos and streetscapes.<\/p>\n

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Vivid Landscapes<\/strong> brings the mood with it. Lots more Red<\/strong>, a good bit less Green<\/strong> and Blue<\/strong>, same Contrast<\/strong>. And yet…<\/p>\n

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I wasn’t sure what to expect with Infrared Effect<\/strong>. There’s less Red<\/strong>, a LOT more Green<\/strong>, a middling amount less Blue<\/strong> and the same degree of Contrast<\/strong>. I think I need to take a deeper dive into Infrared<\/strong>… stay tuned!<\/p>\n

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Okay, so I’ve looked at all the options. I decided to go back to the Scenic Landscape<\/strong> settings and play with the sliders.<\/p>\n

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I left the Red<\/strong> and Green<\/strong> as is, decreased the Blue<\/strong> a bit and increased the Contrast<\/strong> quite a bit. I like that the rocks look more carved and stark.<\/p>\n

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So I went with it. The image is a bit harsh, which suits the subject matter. I could just save it like this, but I want to play with it a bit more.<\/p>\n

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I really like to use the Levels<\/strong> adjustments especially with black and white images. It can be found by clicking Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Levels<\/strong> or with the easy keyboard shortcut CTRL\/CMD>L<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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In the default setting for this tool, the sliders for both Input<\/strong> and Output Levels<\/strong> are at either end of the boxes. With the Input<\/strong> adjustment, moving the slider on the left makes the lighting darker, the slider on the right makes it brighter. The centre slider offers a finer adjustment than either of the ones on the ends. For the Output<\/strong> adjustment, the changes are more contrast-related and inverse – the left slider lightens and the right slider darkens.<\/p>\n

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These are the settings I liked. When using Levels<\/strong> the best way to make them work for you is to watch what’s happening while you move the sliders. That way you’ll know when to stop!<\/p>\n

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There’s just one more thing I did to this image that I want to show you. As you can see, I added a Copy<\/strong> layer so that whatever I do, my original image isn’t touched. You may wonder why I keep doing more and more, when I have a perfectly useable image already. Well, how better to encourage you to experiment than to do it myself? There’s always the Undo<\/strong> (CTRL\/CMD>Z<\/strong>) function! (And I use it a TON!)<\/p>\n

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I played with some Filters<\/strong> and liked how this one looked, so I clicked Filters>Stylize>Glowing Edges<\/strong>. What do you think happened?<\/p>\n

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This. This happened. Remember that when you use Filters<\/strong>, you’ll see this screen, with the Filter<\/strong> adjustment panel<\/strong> on the far right. It’s hard to know what it’s going to look like later, but I wanted to have the “glowing” effect to be prominent at this stage.<\/p>\n

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Here’s the result. So much drama! But it’s a bit on the gloomy side.<\/p>\n

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So I changed the Blend Mode<\/strong> (naturally I tried several before settling) to Soft Light<\/strong> and decreased the Opacity<\/strong> to 35%<\/strong>. Now I have what Mrs Hansen would call Photographic Art.<\/p>\n

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Give these methods a whirl and see which one works best for you!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s All a Matter of Taste – Black and White Well, July is nearly over and I have STILL not managed to get any scrapping done. I thought about it, but that’s as close as I got. We had a crazy-busy week and I think we’re finally (almost) at the end of the big things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[229,102,284,92,62],"tags":[373],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 05:50:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"private","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36314,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36288\/revisions\/36314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gingerscraps.net\/gsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}