Getting a color image to look good in grayscale is usually a pretty straight forward excersise in Photoshop. Just going to Image-Mode-Grayscale more than often does the trick. Also converting the image to LAB mode then tossing the A and B channels is another tried and true method to end up with a good grayscale image. Sometimes a color image comes along that when converted to grayscale seems to defy all logic and just looks dull and lifeless. Channel Mixer to the rescue!

Let's start with a typical stock photo that needs to be converted to Grayscale mode.

Simply going Image-Mode-Grayscale results in an image that is low in contrast and lacks punch. Contrast corrections could be made on this image but it's not really worth it.

Undo the conversion to Grayscale and make sure the Channel Palette is visible. Click through the individual channels (in this case RGB) Make sure your preferences are set to not display channels in color. Notice how the tonal range varies through each channel. The key thing to observe here is how good the Red channel looks.

Return to the composite RGB channel in the Channels palette and go to Image-Adjust-Channel Mixer. Make sure to click on the Monochrome option. By default the setting for Channel Mixer is to have Red be plus 100. Since we want more Red we are already going in the right direction. Backing of on the Red and adding some Green and Blue will do the trick for this image. Ideally the percentages of each channel should add up to 100 percent in the end. But what we want is an image that looks good so if the numbers are off a little that's ok.

Click OK to apply the Channel Mixer. Go to Image-Mode and notice the Image is still RGB. Click on the individual channels and notice they are all the same. Now finally convert the image to Grayscale and do a save-as.

Once you startt playing with Channel Mixer in conjuction with the Channels Palette you should get the hang of it in no time. If you have been around Black and White photography for a while using Channel Mixer should seem very logical. This is because you can use Channel Mixer much like using color filters with Black and White films to alter tonalities and contrast in camera.

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