The Actual Conversion
At this point you select the RGB channel in the palette. You should also make a snapshot so that you can revert back if you change your mind. If you want you can make an adjustment layer instead of the snapshot.
With RGB selected go to image>adjustments>Channel Mixer. In the channel mixer select "monochrome" and start moving the channels. The trick is that you must adjust the channel sliders to what you want but they must add up to 100 if you do not want to change the lightness of the image. When I do this I usually adjust it until I like it and the exposure looks about right then I do the math and make small changes.
I generally just do 100% of a channel I picked earlier when I was getting an idea but sometimes I would take 70% green and 30% blue if I liked the green more than the blue channel but still liked the blue channel effect. This is up to you. Below is how I chose to do this photo.
At this point you select the RGB channel in the palette. You should also make a snapshot so that you can revert back if you change your mind. If you want you can make an adjustment layer instead of the snapshot.
With RGB selected go to image>adjustments>Channel Mixer. In the channel mixer select "monochrome" and start moving the channels. The trick is that you must adjust the channel sliders to what you want but they must add up to 100 if you do not want to change the lightness of the image. When I do this I usually adjust it until I like it and the exposure looks about right then I do the math and make small changes.
I generally just do 100% of a channel I picked earlier when I was getting an idea but sometimes I would take 70% green and 30% blue if I liked the green more than the blue channel but still liked the blue channel effect. This is up to you. Below is how I chose to do this photo.
