Fade to B & W

Here I’ll explain the process of fading from colour to B & W in as few steps and with as much flexibility as possible. This technique is not selective colouring but is more about achieving a gradual fade from colour to black and white, sepia or in fact any other combination of the same image that is different.

For those of you more familiar with photoshop, it's a two step process!

Step 1 Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White

Step 2 press G select Black to transparent Draw a gradient on the new layer mask

That’s all there is to it!

Step 1

Add a new Black & White adjustment layer

Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White




There are many alternative ways of converting to black & white, for example the channel mixer or simply hue/saturation

Step 2

Ensure that the mask on the Black & White layer mask is active by clicking on it.



Select the Gradient tool either from the tools menu or by pressing the letter G.




You’ll need to make sure that the default black to transparent or transparent to black gradient is selected, This is normally the first one in the drop down box





Step 3

Draw a gradient over the picture the longer the line you draw, the longer the transition from colour to B&W



Experiment with different gradients.

Here's the finished picture




If this is of use to at least one person, then it was worth my time.

Alistair

This looks good will have a try later, thank you

Thanks Alistair you are just the kind of member we need in this site thank you for taking the time to pass on your knowledge I have CS2 and find it very difficult I’ll try this one today.
Brian.

Nice one Alistair. Good example.

Another great tutorial, thanks for posting this Alistair. You're definitely someone that our members can learn a great deal from.

Thanks again for sharing.

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Paul

www.phrphotography.com

Thank you Alistair, just tried this and worked well. I dont seem to have Black and White adjustment on my drop down (CS2 is yours Elements?), but just did a Hue and Saturation adujustment layer. and desaturated Initially it didnt work but found if I changed the mode to Normal (it was on overlay) or Multiply it does.
Sharron

This was introduced on CS3 I think

Thanks for the tutorial Alistair, I'm going to give it a try, looks good to me
Julie