Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
gether we learn to read and write”? I can't believe with captivating lyrics like that, these
guys aren't still crankin' out the hits.) Anyway, back in the CS4 intro for this chapter, I
wrote that I had toyed with the idea of using the song “Black Widow” by Mötley Crüe,
but I chose not to for a very legitimate (yet, secret until now) reason: I couldn't figure out
how to add those two little dots above the letter “u” in Crüe, so I went with Elvis Costello's
“Black and White World” instead (it was an easy choice, as it contains no crazy dots above
any letters). I have to admit, I am a bit embarrassed that I didn't know what those little
dots are called, so I did a Google search for this phrase: “two little dots above the letter U.”
It returned six search results, including a Facebook group called (and I'm not making this
up): “It is a crime to write über without the Umlaut.” At that moment I realized two things:
(1) it's called an umlaut, and (2) people get totally psychotic about things like a missing
umlaut. This is probably why, in the printed version of my CS4 topic, not only did my ed-
itor Kim add the umlaut above the “u” for me, but she also added an umlaut over the “o” in
Mötley. You're thinking, “Wow, she's good!” and she totally is, but I know her dirty little
secret. She only knew there was a problem there to fix because she's a huge “big hair bands
from the '80s” fan. If, instead, she had been a fan of Sheena Easton or Garth Brooks back
then, you know and I know she would have changed it to read “Motley Crew,” just like she
referred to the song “Walk This Way” as being performed by Arrow Smith. (Kidding, Kim.
Just a joke. really!)
Converting to Black and White Using Camera Raw
Although Photoshop has its own Black & White conversion adjustment layer, I never, ever
use it, but that's only because it totally stinks (I don't know any pros who use it). I think
you can create a much better black-and-white conversion using Camera Raw, and it's much
faster and looks infinitely better. Well, that is as long as you don't get suckered into using
the HSL/Grayscale panel in Camera Raw, which is nothing more than the Black & White
adjustment layer hiding in Camera Raw, trying to sucker in some poor unsuspecting soul.
Step One:
We'll start by opening a color image in Camera Raw (as seen here). Converting from color
to black and white is simple—just click on the HSL/Grayscale icon (the fourth one from
the left) at the top of the Panel area, and then turn on the Convert to Grayscale checkbox
at the top of the panel (as seen here). That's all you want to do here (trust me). By the
way, I did two little fixes to the photo unrelated to the B&W conversion: (1) I clicked on
the Lens Corrections icon and, on the Profile tab, turned on the Enable Lens Profile Cor-
rections checkbox, and (2) on the Manual tab, I used the Rotate slider to straighten it (as
shown here).
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