Converting to black and white

Sometimes, one wants to convert a color image to black and white. Before I demo that, consider that I have little cash. So still I use the following ancient MS Windows XP versions of the following programs: Adobe Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro and (recently uploaded) GIMP, a genuinely free image processor! Below are two images, made from a color original that's posted elsewhere in this blog.

The first image is where one simply discards color (converts straight to b&w) or directs that the image saturation (color intensity) be set to 0 (zero). Discarding color produces a monochrome image leaving the image with no color information. The second creates a color image but with no colors visible - essentially a B&W color image.

In the second image, I used GIMP's color channel mixer to increase largely the red channel. Then I also reduced blue and green. Finally, the obnoxiously red image was subjected to the saturation set being to 0. At that point, I have a colorless color image that looks b&w but I could, if I wanted, go one to color tint it or do other things.

Here's why the channel-mixer process changed the b&w appearance. Increasing red and reducing blue darkens the blue sky. Foliage lightens because it reflects much red, I added more red, and subtracted most green. The surface of the water darkens because it was reflecting blue sky and has now darkened for the same reason as the sky. The darker water surface contrasts better with the bright boats and reflections.

I adjusted the overall brightness levels of both images below to approximately match in terms of the tree shadows on the Kentucky hillside and of the brightness of the boats. Much can be done with the color channel mixer to improve the drama of b&w images as converted from color. The final results are subjective, also. Therefore, some might say they like the de-saturated version better. As some might say ... de gustibus non est disputandum. Darks recede, brights advance - the experts say. So, in the second, the foreground advances, the sky recedes and, to my opinion, the image is more 3-dimensional and less gloomy.

However, I opened up the then-saved channel-mixed b&w image and changed the mode to color (somehow it ended up being monochrome). Then I added some blue to the shadows and mid-tones. Then I reduced that saturation considerably so the image will have just a slight blue "cold tone", reminiscent of many older b&w images.

De-saturated Color Image:

Color Channel-mixed then De-saturated: