Colour cast in Black and White photos (Page 2): Love it!!Love B&W!!

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

Love it!!Love B&W!!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Ozychatie wrote:

Hi All, br This sounds like a contradiction in ter... (show quote)

I see a slight Sepia to your posted image, nothing bluish. That being said, when I have PRINTED my own B&W images, either from digital camera and converted or from scanned B&W prints or negatives I often have trouble getting neutral B&W on my prints. But that is a issue with the printer (Canon Pro 9000, Pro 100) and paper, but mostly lack of calibration of my monitor. By trail and error I get darn good B&Ws. The color images look fine on my monitor and print fine.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

BebuLamar wrote:

I see that it said 41 for all R,G and B. No more red than other colors.

That was my point of course; that after applying a black and white adjustment layer, the image was now neutral throughout. Prior to applying the adjustment, there was more red in the image than either of the other two.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

Ozychatie wrote:

Well thanks everyone. Interesting that different folk are seeing different colours/casts. I guess this can be attributed to many variables - monitors, eyes, perceptions etc.

That is precisely the reason for using Photoshop's Info palette for measuring the actual color data in the image. It is possible to color correct an image without even seeing it, if you know how to monitor the color numbers while manipulating them. A person who is color blind can get perfect color using this method.

This is also why monitors are calibrated, especially in a setting where there are many monitors that must get the same results, say in a photo lab setting.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

I see no blue or red color cast on your image and I blew it up to 500% on my 32" monitor.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

Earnest Botello wrote:

I see no blue or red color cast on your image and I blew it up to 500% on my 32" monitor.

I'm not sure what the size of the screen or the magnification of the image has to do with the color, but it is what is there and not what you can see that is important. This is what Photoshop sees, and coincidentally, what both my monitors show as I look at the image. The OP said it had a blue cast, but immediately upon opening it looked red to me, so I measured just to be sure.

(Download)

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Ozychatie wrote:

Hi All, br This sounds like a contradiction in ter... (show quote)

When I opened your image in Photoshop it says the mode is RGB. If you want a monochrome image it might be better to change the mode to Greyscale.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

Sorry, this was a reply to Dirt Farmer, I just clicked the wrong reply function.

I guess it depends on what your final goal is for the image, but converting to grayscale just removes color data and limits your ability to control tones.

When you convert an RGB image to grayscale, Photoshop will pop up a message: "Discard color information? To control the conversion, use Image>Adjustments>Black and White."

This is how I have converted to B&W for a very long time, but with an adjustment layer rather than a destructive conversion.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

terryMc wrote:

I'm not sure what the size of the screen or the magnification of the image has to do with the color, but it is what is there and not what you can see that is important. This is what Photoshop sees, and coincidentally, what both my monitors show as I look at the image. The OP said it had a blue cast, but immediately upon opening it looked red to me, so I measured just to be sure.

Well Terry, if you blow an image, if there is any color fringing, it will show up on the screen, especially at 500% and the size up the monitor helps to see it better and I see no color fringing, just B&W.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

StanMac wrote:

My screen, and eyes, show a sepia-like image. No blue

Stan

I agree

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

terryMc wrote:

Sorry, this was a reply to Dirt Farmer, I just cli... (show quote)

Yes, I don’t do much B/W so when I tried it I got the same message. But Photoshop does say there’s some color in the image.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

Earnest Botello wrote:

Well Terry, if you blow an image, if there is any color fringing, it will show up on the screen, especially at 500% and the size up the monitor helps to see it better and I see no color fringing, just B&W.

We're not talking about color fringing or chromatic aberration though, we're talking about a color cast over the image. I see a red color cast and Photoshop confirms it, so it is not "just B&W."

tomc601 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

Just change the Mode to Grayscale. If there's still a cast it's your monitor.

hookedupin2005 Loc: Northwestern New Mexico

Longshadow wrote:

I see no blueish cast on my monitor.

I see a more purplish tint, in the pantlegs.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

terryMc wrote:

....Prior to applying the adjustment, there was more red in the image than either of the other two.

That suggests that there's an issue with that image (the original file from the scanner). The fact that the OP is seeing a blue tint shows that there's also an issue with how he's viewing it.