Photoshop CS3 RAW

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CHAPTER TEN

USING CAMERA RAW’S GRAYSCALE MIX

Using Camera Raw’s

Grayscale Mix

Camera Raw’s new Grayscale Mix controls, found under the

HSL/Grayscale tab, have revolutionized digital black and white

conversion. Since using these controls, I’ve retired several of my

more complex and time-consuming conversion techniques.

Once you use the Grayscale Mix controls, you’ll see what I mean.

To start, you need a color image. From

a quality point of view, it’s preferable to

work with a native RAW file like the one

in Figure 10-1, but a JPEG, TIFF, or PSD file

will do, as long as it is in color.

Click the checkbox next to the words

Convert to Grayscale (circled in Figure

10-2) in the HSL/Grayscale tab. Your image

will appear unsaturated, but what you see

is misleading. The underlying color data

is still available, which means you can use

Camera Raw’s Grayscale Mix control to

determine how each color is converted.

If you save your image as a TIFF, JPEG,

or PSD, all color data is eliminated, even

though it is saved in Adobe RGB via the

Workflow Options dialog box. If you save

your converted image as a DNG file, the

color is retained regardless of how you

set your Workflow Options and can be

retrieved, if necessary, in other programs

such as Photoshop.

NOTE Many digital cameras now

offer a Black and White option.

Camera Raw’s Grayscale Mix control

won’t have any effect on these

images, unless ...