| Oz to Kansas: The Black and White on Black and White Conversions - Online

There is not just one way to convert an image from many colors to hues of gray.

SOLD OUT!! Email [email protected] to be placed on a wait list.

NOTE: This class will be held in a live, online format using the Zoom Platform.
Class will meet M – F, 10am–12pm ET and 3 – 5pm ET.  Instructors will be available from 1 – 2pm ET for additional questions and answers. Students will need to have Photoshop installed on their home computer.

Black and white conversion techniques are like politicians making election promises. Every one of them claims to be the penultimate solution to your needs. Regardless of their claims, usually, you find yourself still needing a solution that creates images that look like photographs and not like something the viewer sees as “something you did in Photoshop”.

“Oz to Kansas: The Black and White on Black and White Conversions” is the evolution of thought that began with the chapter in my first book “Welcome to Oz: From Oz to Kansas. How to convert an Image to Black and White Without Ever Leaving the RGB Color Space.” This class takes a practical application approach to when, why and how to convert an image. In it, you learn which methods give you the best results and when to choose a simple or a complex solution.

Some of the topics covered in this class are (depending on the needs of the class):

• When and why you should and should not use global de-saturation.
• When and why you should and should not use LAB conversions.
• Split Channel conversions – what they are good for and a way to get the same effect with a file two thirds the size.
• When to use the black and white adjustment layer to bring out and separate the tones in a color image.
• The only soup to nuts overview of the Silver Effects Pro Plug-in.  How to use it and when.
• Multiple Channel mixer black and white conversions that replicate the physics of film.
• When and how to most efficiently use the Gradient tool for black and white conversion.
• Mid-tone Contouring
• Combining multiple conversion techniques to get the optimum black and white image.

Every technique that will be shown has already been made into an action for Photoshop CC and CS6.

Class will meet daily M – F, 10am – 12pm ET and 3 – 5pm ET.  Instructors will be available from 1 – 2pm ET for additional questions and answers.

Students must be comfortable in the use of Photoshop.

Header Image:  ©Vincent Versace

Past student work (clockwise): Peter McCutchen, Howie Motenko, Ron Perry, Marek Pleszczynski, Jean Claude Schmidt, Margaret Skiles, Catherine Titus Wilcox