Been looking for a used copy of Photoshop CS3 (currently using CS vanilla -- aka PS8.0).
The only thing I really need CS3 for is the tremendous way it allows the manipulation of colour pix into B&W -- adding fractions of colour etc. as opposed to simply using the IMAGE > MODE > GRAYSCALE option.
Is it worth shelling out for the new version, or is there an alternative bit of software that does the same thing?

mct

Gimp?

http://www.gimp.org/


[For some reason I feel like an idiot :P]

You can do all of that in PS 8.0 if you want.

Probably with a little more effort, but it's definitely possible to weight each RGB channel differently. Want some instructions?

Yep there is multiple ways to skin this cat. I'll just go have a look I remember seeing something a while ago...

EDIT: Can't find what I was looking for but this link looks good too:

http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdf...conversion.pdf

(PDF File)

What's wrong with CS vanilla? it already has plenty of tools for creating b/w from colour. The channel mixer is a pretty capable tool.

Here's a little action I recently whipped up. It needs some tweaking still but it's pretty useful. One action is an easy care b/w to colour and the other is for increasing colour contrast.

Just Google for actions, you'll find heaps.

Otherwise yes - the upgrade is really worth the $$'s

here's a Greg Gorman step by step B&W conversion...

http://www.gormanphotography.com/bw_conversion.pdf

or there are a load more actions here...

http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm

the B&W's are halfway down the page

there are other 'apps' like Exposure from Alien Skin that do some really funky B&W conversions, but they're just plugins for PS anyway

Wow!
Had now idea you could do those things.
Tried most and the Gorman seems to leave the most options open.
Seems much easier in CS3 ... but this has really sorted out my immediate problems.



mct

you will greatly benefit on your macbook any how because it will run natively!

CS3 photoshop upgrade shouldn't cost much

Quickest way I have found to do it in any version of PS (excluding CS3 - haven't had the need to do it so haven't investigated yet) is to convert the image to CMYK, select all, then cmd+x (cut), go to the channels palette and select only the black channel (k) and cmd+v (paste) everything into the black channel.

May need to fiddle with the levels a bit, but it gets the job done. Now if you are going to be using this for professional purposes, it may need something a little more exact, but for general stuff it works fine.