My latest favourite.

Yep, you are right, the channel says lightness....but it is the luminence channel.... You do get a truer black and white image using the lab mode I think.

[Gracious]

Thanks Lara!!! I appreciate the time you took to explain.
Like RVB Pix my version of PS6 has 'lightness' instead of 'luminence' in the Channels window.
Thanks for the help folks!

Grayce

[IcarusFree]

Originally posted by RedShoesGirl
Another very effective and much simpler black and white conversion involves using LAB mode.

This is it! Great method Lara. I only wish it could be automated. somehow. I will keep playing with it and see what happens. Perhaps if I convert to LAB-Grayscale first and then add an adjustment layer for contrast....

Thanks again!

Originally posted by IcarusFree
This is it! Great method Lara. I only wish it could be automated. somehow. I will keep playing with it and see what happens. Perhaps if I convert to LAB-Grayscale first and then add an adjustment layer for contrast....

Thanks again!

I built an action that does most of the work. I set levels manually and then hit my action, it converts to lab, sharpens to what I use the most and the makes the greyscale conversion. Really easy to do! We process a lot of AP art at work and this action saves me hours of work it seems. I lighten up the midtones and then action time! Take all of about 30 seconds.

lara

[drlynnmc]

Lara,

I have done something similar. My action converts to LAB, deletes a and b, converts to grayscale, then applies a simple Curves layer. Nothing dramatic, but simple and quick.

Originally posted by drlynnmc
Lara,

I have done something similar. My action converts to LAB, deletes a and b, converts to grayscale, then applies a simple Curves layer. Nothing dramatic, but simple and quick.

Yes that is what my action does too, although I do like making most of my adjustments _before_ the grayscale conversion because there is more information to work with using RGB space.

lara