In this sixth tutorial in our series on the many ways of converting color photos to black and white in Photoshop, we're going to take our first look at Photoshop's color channels and how they can help us create convincing black and white versions of our images. I said "first look" because both this tutorial and the next one will focus on color channels. In this tutorial, we'll learn how to use the Channels palette to view and select a specific color channel which can provide us with a ready-made black and white version. We'll also see how to quickly improve the tone and contrast of the final image using a simple Levels adjustment. In the next tutorial, we'll combine all three color channels to create a custom black and white version using Photoshop's Channel Mixer.

We won't be getting into a detailed discussion here on how color channels in Photoshop work, but to learn more about them, be sure to check out our RGB and Color Channels Explained tutorial which you'll find in the Digital Photo Essentials section of the website.

Here's the image I'm using throughout these black and white conversion tutorials, just in case you haven't grown tired of me repeating myself, just in case you haven't grown tired of me repeating myself (sorry, bad joke):

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Step 1: Switch Over To The Channels Palette

By default, digital images like the ones captured by your digital camera use the RGB color mode. The term "RGB" stands for Red, Green and Blue, and it means that every color we see in the photo is being made from some combination of red, green and blue, which are the three primary colors of light.

Each of these three primary colors is represented in Photoshop as a color channel, and we can view these color channels in the Channels palette, which you'll find grouped in between the Layers and Paths palettes. Click on the name tabs at the top of the palettes to switch between them. The "RGB" channel at the top is simply the image as we see it in the document window with all three color channels combined. The real channels are the Red, Green and Blue channels below it:

Step 2: Select A Specific Channel To Use As The Black And White Image

If you look at the preview thumbnail to the left of each channel's name, you'll notice that each channel is represented by a black and white version of the image, and that the black and white version is different for each channel. The reason they're different is that each black and white version represents how much of that color is being mixed in to create the colors we see in the photo, just like a painter mixes colors to create more colors. Lighter areas in the black and white version mean that more of that color is being mixed in, while darker areas mean less is being used. A blue sky, for example, would use lots of blue and very little, if any, green or red, so the sky in the Blue channel's black and white version would appear much brighter than it would in the Green or Red channels.

We can view each channel separately in the document window simply by clicking on each one in the Channels palette. In fact, we're going to pick one to use as the black and white version of our image! First, let's check out the Red channel's black and white version by clicking on it. The other channels will be deselected and only the Red channel will remain highlighted in blue:

Here's what my Red channel's black and white version looks like in the document window. Notice how light it is (your image may be different), especially in the faces of the three people in the photo, since skin tone always contains lots of red. Remember, the lighter a certain area of the image is, the more of this specific color (in this case, red) is being added:

Next, click on the Green channel in the Channels palette to select it:

The document window now displays the Green channel's black and white version, which is not as bright as what we saw with the Red channel, although the background appears brighter than the people in the foreground due to all the trees. Again, the brightness of your Green channel will depend on your image so it may appear quite different from mine:

Finally, click on the Blue channel in the Channel's palette to select it:

Since there isn't much blue in my photo, the Blue channel's black and white version appears too dark to be of much use to us:

In most cases, especially with portrait photos, it will come down to a choice between the Red and Green channels, but of course the specific image you're working with may give you very different results than what I'm seeing here. Right now, my Green channel seems to give me the best combination of overall tone and detail, and if I didn't have time to make any other edits to the image, I would go with the Green channel's black and white version. However, since I do have time to help the image out a bit more, I'm going to choose the Red channel. I know it looks too light and washed out, but in a moment, we'll see how to quickly improve the tone and contrast of the Red channel's black and white version using a Levels adjustment.