Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
▪
Switch color modes
. You may remember from
Selecting a Color Mode
that you need to
choose a color mode for your photos: RGB, Bitmap, or Grayscale. You can remove the
color from a photo simply by changing its mode to Grayscale: Go to
Image→Mode→Grayscale. This method is quick, but it's also a bit destructive, since you
can't apply it to a layer: The whole photo is either grayscale or not, and once you save
and close the photo, its color info is gone for good. So be sure to perform this technique
on a
copy
of your photo, not the original.
▪
Remove Color
. You can keep a photo in RGB mode and drain its color by going to En-
hance→Adjust Color→Remove Color, or by pressing Shift+Ctrl+U/Shift-
⌘
-U. This
command removes the color from only the active layer, so if the file has more than one
layer, you need to flatten it first (choose Layer→Flatten Image) or the other layers will
keep their colors.
The Remove Color command is really just a way of completely desaturating a
photo—like you might do when using the Hue/Saturation command (described next). Re-
move Color is faster but doesn't give you as much control as the Hue/Saturation com-
mand.
Figure 10-2
shows the difference between applying the Remove Color command
and converting an entire image to grayscale as explained in the previous bullet.
