Feature: Getting to B+W is possible directly in a digital camera
Motivation: But most digital camera users make the switch in their software

Five years ago the use of Black and White images had really dropped with the rise of color prints and slide film; getting Kodak 400 or Ilford B+W film became more of an adventure. However, the move to digital cameras has led to a revival in B+W processing despite the fact that most digital cameras are geared to delivering superior color images. The reason ? It is comparatively simple to convert from color to black and white images in software. Also design schools highlight the advantages of Black and White images. B+W puts more emphasis on good design elements of lighting, form, and figure. Finally some of the greatest early creators in photography such as Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Edward Weston, Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and others worked almost exclusively in Black and White.

So it should be no surprise that there is a great deal of interest in "shooting" in black and white. And many digital SLRs are capable of directly doing so. But there are some advantages to delaying and doing the conversions in software as we shall see. In the following examples, we take the Christmas parade portrait:

        The Original Color Image
and use Corel PaintShop Pro to convert the image to Black and White with added commentary.

	Image | Grayscale This is one of the quickest and most versatile ways of converting to Black and White. It is quick, fast and renders most black and white images with good fidelity. Note all the hues cross over to grayscale tones reasonably well: -red to mid gray -dark red to darker gray -yellow green to a very light gray But one could start to argue on some of the relative tonal choices. The blue sleeve maybe should be as dark as the green jacket arm. Or the yellow straps should not be so light. We shall see below how users can control these relative tones.
	Image | Split Channel | Split to RGB This command creates three different grayscale image versions - one derived from the Red layer, a second form the Green layer and a third from the Blue layer. So now users get 3 choices automatically. But note what happens. This is the Green layer and the yellow green paint becomes white - in effect some of the tones get washed out or darkened depending on which layer you chose. So be careful when using the Split Channel method.
	Image | Split Channel | Split to CMYK Here is an example of what can go awry when using Split Channel. Here we have chosen the Yellow layer from the CMYK split out. Now our light yellow green paint has gone dark as well as the complexion on the first girl (skin tones can really move with B+W conversions - check for that first). And the reds have gone darker black. So choose carefully when using the Split Channel.
	Image | Split Channel | Split to HSL When I am doing a grayscale conversion one of my favorite choices is the Lightness layer from the the Split HSL command. And why not ? This layer is geared to reflecting as closely as possible the relative lightness of the various hues and colors in the picture. Again one could argue that yellow green of the paint can spill should be a tad lighter - but unless you went to get in the game of masking and 3 or 4 step conversions - this is one of the best quick and dirty conversions to Black and White.
	Adjust | Color | Channel Mixer As in the case of Adobe PhotoShop, Channel Mixer is really the master control dialog for converting color images to Black and White. Users have control over the effect of all 3 layers - with sliders for Red, Green and Blue. Also one can move the overall brightness with a relative Constant %change. Some users may want to mask off certain colors and do the conversion to black and white in steps for precise control of the conversion. The one drawback - when you resaturate there is an underlying tone.
	Adjust | Colorize | Colorize To get a color tone like we just spoke of above, use the Colorize command. Not only sepia or pewter toning, but really any color in the spectrum and at a user selected saturation level. See the screenshot for an example of a light sepia tone. Again the choice of colorization determines which tones come through - here we have lost the yellow green paint spill again. Also use of the Desaturate tool on touches of color will not go to sepia but neutral gray. So be careful when color retouching Colorized images.

This is just a summary of the available ways to achieve a grayscale or duotone image. For example, using the curves command one can achieve a duotone in any of the primary RGB colors. Also, some of the Effects commands create a grayscale or duotone image. See the QwikTips on a Touch of Color and Painting color back in B+W images for adding style and color to B+W images.