**Program Tutorials** : Digital Image Pro : *Technique

Choose your photo and open it to either your workspace or insert it onto your layout. Ensure you are using a duplicate (Edit>Duplicate) if working on the photo alone.

This is my original color photo.

You have two options for initially turning the image black and white.

OPTION 1:

Choose Effects> Black and White

OPTION 2:

Choose Touchup> Color and Saturation and then move the Saturation slider to zero, thus desaturating the image.

You may be satisfied with the immediate results of either of these effects but fine tuning your image after either step may give you better results.

Choose either of the shown methods above.

Select Touchup > Exposure and Lighting.

You can then use any of the quick fix tools or make individual adjustment to the shadows, midtones, highlights and contrast in the image. I have made small adjustments to my image below to bring out more detail on the left hand side of the image.

You can also choose points of the image that are supposed to be black and white using the eyedropper tool and then allowing the program to calculate the amount of contrast required.

The Histogram displays how light is distributed in the picture. Darker pixels are on the left and lighter pixels are on the right, and the height of the chart shows how many pixels. which collectively make up the images displayed on the screen. are dark or light across the exposure range. You can manipulate the arrows at the base of the histogram to increase the amount of dark or light in the image.

You can also adjust the curve by choosing Edit Curve to open the Levels and Curves dialog (also a separate command on the toolbar)

The levels tool lets you control the overall contrast in an image and set the tonal range of individual color channels.

The curve tool lets you precisely adjust the color, exposure, and saturation throughout the tonal range of the picture.

For a detailed explanation of Levels and Curves read the Help files. Help > Digital Image Pro Help.

MONOTONE TINTING

To add a monotone color tint to your black and white photograph.

Select the photograph and choose Touchup > Color and Saturation.

Increase the intensity of any color, or combination of colors, using the sliders. You can make further adjustments by switching between the choices of Shadows, Midtones and Highlights. Here I have manipulated each slider.

A QUICK TIP!

You can use this tint method to apply color to any greyscale image, such as a brush, and then manipulate the color further using Effects> Change Hue.