Digital Prints

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Mastering Digital Printing
same effect can be achieved by using the color control sliders in the advanced section on
most inkjet printers. This is similar to darkroom photographers selecting warm or cool
papers or toning chemicals to shift the overall colors of a black-and-white print. (You can
also use canned printer presets like “sepia,” but these have limited use since you typically
have no ability to adjust the settings.)
You could also create a modified printer profile that automatically makes the same color
shift for all your prints.
RGB > Desaturate
A simple way to remove color from an image is by desaturating it. Photoshop has a good
tool for this: Hue/Saturation. Here’s how it works with a slight twist:
Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer >
Hue/Saturation) to the image. (I always use adjustment layers instead of making the adjustment
directly to the image.) In the dialogue box, and with the Edit pull-down menu in
the default “Master” position, move the Saturation slider to the left and watch the effect.
A maximum saturation level of -100 is basically a grayscale image with no color. For an
interesting multi-toned option, you can change the saturation of the individual Edit channels
instead of the Master (see Figure 11.9). Alternatively, you can shift the colors by
adding a separate Color Balance adjustment layer and playing with the sliders.
One drawback to this desaturation method is that you lose the distinction between some
colors. To fix this, try the Channel Mixer technique next.
RGB > Channel Mixer
This is a good way to change the relationship of or to emphasize certain colors in monochrome.
To do it, make a Channel Mixer adjustment layer, and in the dialogue box, check
“Monochrome.” The image instantly changes (if Preview is checked), and now the fun
Figure 11.8 Converting a grayscale
image to RGB allows for a full range of
color adjustments such as this sepia
effect with the Color Balance tool.