Digital BW, The Print

Hello Mark,

>I have played around with channel mixing but it has only been  
>"playing". Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

I use a combination of Hue/Sat layer and Channel Mix layer in CS.
Here is the full technique I now use, which has evolved over time.  It
gives a large amount of control without being too complex.  First,
change the file directly to Grayscale and save it with a different
file name.  This will provide a different version to compare with
later.  Then reopen the original color file and do the following steps:

1) Create a Hue/Sat layer and save it without making any changes.

2) Create a Channel Mixer layer, check the Monochrome box, leave the
sliders at Red = 100, Green = 0, Blue = 0 and click OK to save.

3) Reopen the ChMx layer and change the sliders to these values:
       Red = 60, Green = 40, Blue = 0

4) Toggle the "Preview" check box to compare the 60/40 version with
the 100/Red version.  Select the one you like the best as a starting
point, then move the sliders slightly to see if it can be improved. 
The slider values should always total 100.  Then click OK to save the
settings.

5) Open the Hue/Sat layer, change the "Edit" list to Reds, and move
the Saturation slider to see if the image can be improved.  Then do
the same for each color. 

6) Then change the Edit list to Master and move the Hue slider to see
if the image can be improved.  Then click OK to save the settings.

7) Flatten all the layers and convert the image to Grayscale mode.

8) Finally, compare this version with the straight grayscale version
to see which one you like the best.  Sometimes I'm surprised.


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm
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