Black and white photographers often shoot with red, orange, yellow, green, and/or polarizing filters to darken skies, create dramatic cloud formations, or enhance foliage. You can create similar effects by using color channels to convert your color image to black and white. Again, open the color scan of your image in photoshop and optimize the image for contrast and color. Then open Layers>Channels>Split Channels. The green channel is a good starting point. It reportedly contains the most information on relative brightness in the image. The red and blue layers contain information on contrast. Select the channel that produces the black and white effect you want, and close the others. You now have a black and white image based on one of the three color channels--red, green, or blue. The red and green channels will look very much like classic black and white images shot through filters of those colors. The image at the top of this page was created using this method.

For a more sophisticated approach, you can combine all three channels using the Channel Mixer adjustment layer if your version of Photoshop or image editing program supports it. With the Channel Mixer, you adjust green, red, and blue individually to create an image that you like, then use the >Merge Visible command in the Layers dialogue box to combine the channels for the final image. When you combine the channels, you may find that you have blown out highlights, so make sure that as you play around with each channel, you are not blocking up shadows or blowing out highlights. After you complete the >Merge Visible step, you can open a Levels or Curves adjustment layer and fine-tune the image. The image below, right, was created using this approach.

Photoshop is a powerful application, and other tools, such as Hue and Saturation adjustment layers, can be used in the conversion process. I recommend further reading and study in this area if you are serious about creating black and white images from color photos.

Your image is now a black & white image. Do not convert to grayscale, but keep it as an RGB image. This will usually give better results when you print the image. I print with an Epson 1280 on Epson Matte Heavyweight paper, and the results are very good. Reports are that the Epson 2200 will produce outstanding black & white images, and you can use Photo Black or Matte Black ink to match the type of paper for even better results. When you print, should you print with black ink only or black and color? Supposedly printing with color on will give better tonal ranges in your black and white image. I have found, though, that I sometimes end up with images that have a color cast, which is the problem with black and white images printed at a mini-lab using the C-41 process films. As a result, I tend to print with black ink only. The best thing is to experiment. Try printing the image both ways and see which you like best.