Colours into tones 2

This exercise makes use of channel adjustment to achieve a special effect.

I started with a portrait in which I lightened the complexion without significantly altering the tones of the rest of the image.

Colour version – starting point

Black and white default conversion 

Converted into black and white using the following process:
> crop
> clone spots
> new adjustment layer black and white
> adjust new layer channel mixer set to 100% (makes eyes dark, lips undefined, spots more subdued. Noticed green hue still present)
> adjust new layer channel mixer 2 set to blue 100% (makes eyes brighter, lips undefined, spots still subdued) erase all blue mix apart from eyes
> adjust new layer channel mixer 3 set to red 28% green 80% (erase all apart from eyes)
Turn on all channel layers and flatten image.

 Different books had different ways of doing this. I decided to follow the method in Freeman (2008) Mastering digital photography p550-1 as the page was laid out fairly clearly and was easy to follow.

On screen there is a subtle difference in the skin tone. The altered one does appear slightly lighter. I was unable to notice any difference with the eyes. Highlights appeared brighter but I think this is because the skin tone is lighter. The default image has a green hue.

When the two images are printed out, there is a marked difference. The default black and white has sepia like tones to it. The altered one is very orange red and the skin tone is too pale. The eyes have taken on an orange glow. If I hadn’t have just changed the cartridges over in the printer, I would have thought it was the printer cartridges running out, rather than the image which was the issue.