My black and whites are more grey and white!

[Alkabir33]

I use photoshop elements 4.0 but can't find/don't seem to have the Convert To Black And White window by clicking Enhance > ConvertToBlackAndWhite. Am I missing it or do i need more recent version of elements? if the latter, does anyone know of a plug in i can download?

Any general advise on how to produce black and white's as opposed to grey and white also appreciated.

Cheers

[Oly Paul]

Yes you need Elements 6 or later.

Google free black and white Elements plugin it will bring up pages of them.

As to grey and white, it sounds like you need to learn to adjust the levels of the image rather than need a B&W plugin.

[KeithT]

There are lots of tutorials on the web that will guide you through the conversion process. Understanding what makes a good b/w shot has to be the first priority. Colour relies on the eye having a visual feast, whereas b/w relies on shadow and light alone to tell its story. Adjusting the image levels from black to white through the whole of the greyscale spectrum is essential in getting a well balanced image.

There is a greyscale chart here that you can use to check your monitor with and to use as a guide for your images. Hope it helps. http://www.tranquilityimages.com/grayscale_chart.jpg

[GeoffWessex]

Even back before Elements 4, there was an alternative way to make a B&W from colour..... using a Gradient Map with Black and White in the colour boxes. If that makes sense, perhaps a little light has gone on in your mind..... yes, you could make imitation split-tones without having Photoshop's more feature-rich Adobe Camera Raw. You can make all kinds of split-tone images using a variety of different Gradients - Blue to Yellow is nice, or you could have all the imitations of selenium toning, sepia etc. I made several different gradients, using this "Colour A to Colour B" kind of thing, with Blend Mode set to 'Color' and saved them all in a PSD file..... when I want to try split-toning I just open the PSD and drag the appropriate Gradient Map layer over to my main image.

Split toning is often used to simulate the quality and colour cast of old photographic paper -
platinum, palladium, sepia, selenium and blue.
Instead of using just one colour, as in the Sepia version where you hit "Colorize" in a
Hue/Saturation adjustment and go for a sepia colour at an appropriate saturation, the splittone
process on PSE (and PS if you don't want to use the over-complicated tutorials) just
requires the use of the Gradient Map adjustment layer. You can set your two colours up in
the foreground/background paint swatches and run a gradient map using "Foreground to
Background", or you can make the gradients and save them for future use.
Anyway, with a black and white image prepared (whichever way you like to make a b&w
except via "Image > Mode > Grayscale") and given a little contrast boost, you need to
choose your two different toning colours . Set foreground colour to set the tone for
shadows and set background colour for your highlights - obviously if you set black and
white that's exactly what you'd get, but we want something different.
Ok, so what colours work well...... I like all of these so it's not easy to tell you which to
use, but.....(set the hex numbers in the colour palette - Foreground is the first number,
Background the second number)....
Copper-Blue..... Dusky Blue (#4A616F) Muted Orange (#E6CFAA)
Rich Sepia....... Chocolate (#63441C) Cream (#FFF5D8)
Neutral........... Muted brown (#45392B) White (#FFFFFF)
Blue Tone........ Midnight blue (#2A4468) Muted cyan (#A9C6C6)
Now go to the Layers Palette and make a Gradient Map adjustment layer. You should see a
smooth blending gradient of your two selected colours. Click OK. You will see a
disappointing looking image that's not what you wanted. Now all you need to do is change
the Blend Mode to "Color" and Viola! Alter Opacity as required.

[GeoffWessex]

Ah well, that was 25 minutes of wasted time and effort.