J O H N PAU L C A P O N I G R O
TECHNIQUE
1. Full color image
“One sees diff e rently with color photography
than black-and-white . . . in short ,
visualization must be modified by the specific nature of
the equipment and materials being used”
ANSEL ADAMS
ADVAN CED COLO R TO
BL ACK- AND-WHITE
Method
T h e re are almost a dozen ways to convert an image
f rom color to black and white And, you’ll find at least
one authority in the industry to support each method
as the best one. The bottom line is that most of them
work reasonably well. What works best for you
depends on your particular workflow and what you’re
c o m f o rtable with. Based on that criteria, I won’t say
the following method is the best method. It’s not the
fastest. It generates a larger file. But, it offers the
most control and flexibility.
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C reating layers from channels offers more contro l
than any other conversion method. It also offers the
flexibility of being able to change any aspect of the
conversion at any time in the future.
How do you do it? Simple. You copy the individual
channels of a color image and paste them into the
same document as layers and renaming the layers
a c c o rd i n g l y. Then you reduce the Opacity of the layers
to achieve a result that you find pleasing. If you want
a neutral image and don’t want the color of the
B a c k g round layer to show through, keep the opacity
of layer directly above the color Background at 1 0 0 %.
If you start with an RGB file you’ll end up with thre e
new layers – red, green, and blue. There ’s another
channel you can explore adding a fourth channel/layer
to the mix, the L channel. If you duplicate an RGB file
and convert the duplicate to LAB ( Image:Mode), you
can then copy the L or Luminosity channel from the
duplicate file and paste it back into it’s original RGB
s o u rce as a layer. the L channel has a diff e rent tonal
s t ru c t u re that can be useful.
Painting on layer masks takes this technique to the
next level. When you add a mask to each layer and
paint on it with a black brush (generally at a low
o p a c i ty) you can vary the conversion in specific are a s
of an image. If you choose to do this you’ll want to
keep the opacity of the layer at the highest setting
needed for any one area within the image and re d u c e
opacity in other areas by adding density to the mask.
Think of the Opacity of the layer as a global change
in opacity and the density of the mask as a local
change in opacity.
While there are things to watch for, shadows that are
too dark, highlights that are too light – there ’s no
right answer. Each image will re q u i re a diff e rent mix
and each individual will mix the channels diff e re n t l y
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2. A D V A N C E D C O L O R T O B L A C K - A N D - W H I T E
2. Red channel
4. Blue channel
depending on their objectives and personal taste.
And those may change over time.
The opacity of both the layer and the density of the
mask can be changed at any time – now or in the
f u t u re. That’s why this method is not only incre d i b l y
p recise but also incredibly flexible. It’s why I stopped
shooting black and white film a long time ago. Yo u
simply have more control this way.
W W W. J O H N PA U L C A P O N I G R O . C O M
3. Green channel
5. L channel
Seeing in Black and White
B l a c k - a n d - w h i t e c o n v e r s i o n s a re r a d i c a l t r a n s f o rm a t i o n s
of an image. They’re about reestablishing the tonal
foundations of an image. That’s quite diff e rent than
dodging and burning, or lightening and darkening
l o c a l l y, which is a matter of accentuating existing
tonal re l a t i o n s h i p s .
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Once you’ve worked with black-and-white conversions

you’ll begin to develop an eye for how the tonal
s t ru c t u re o f a g i v e n s c e n e o r i m a g e c a n b e e s t a b l i s h e d
in a variety of ways. You’ll find that some subjects,
o n e s c o n t a i n i n g a v a r i e t y o f s a t u r a t e d c o l o r s , o ff e r t h e
w i d e s t r a n g e o f p o s s i b i l i t i e s , w h i l e o t h e r s , m o n o c h ro m e
or neutral subjects, offer fewer possibilities.

When preparing to make a portrait, Arnold Newman

told his subjects, “Wear a nice shirt. Something with-
out stripes. Black or white would be best.” I’ve taken
a c u e f ro m h i m a n d a s k m y s u b j e c t s s o m e t h i n g s i m i l a r,
“ Wear a nice shirt. Something without stripes. And
p referably something in a bright saturated color,
i d e a l l y re d , g re e n , o r b l u e . ” T h a t w a y, I c a n l a t e r m a k e
t h e s h i rt b l a c k , w h i t e , o r a n y s h a d e o f g r a y i n b e t w e e n .

R e s o u rc e s

This method is outlined in my book Adobe Photoshop

Master Class. I cover black-and-white conversions
6. Layer stack for color to
and printing black-and-white images in detail in my
black and white conversion
w o r ks h o p T h e F i n e D i g i t a l P r i n t. (We u s e E p s o n U l t r a-
C h ro m e I n k s w i t h b o t h A t k i n s o n ’s p ro f i l e s a n d C o l o r-
B y t e ’s ImagePrint RIP to achieve excellent neutrality
and graybalance.)