Take control converting your photos to black and white

There are a few ways to convert your colour photos to black and white in Photoshop. For some people, the simplest thing to do is to use the Convert to Grayscale drop down menu. The results are often quite flat and dull looking. I used the Convert to Grayscale function for the image above left. I have also used levels to increase the contrast and mid tones in an attempt to make the end result more appealing to look at. If you're happy with this image then no need to go further.

In the image on the right, I used a Black and white adjustment layer to do the conversion. Here it's shown side by side with the colour image for reference. 

Let's take another closer look at the results from the 2 methods I've mentioned for converting colour images to black and white.

In this closer view you can clearly see that I have been able to control the different colour tones of the image while making the conversion resulting in more detail in the shadow areas and clearer definition between the model's jacket and pants. In the video below I'll walk you through this very simple process that offers greatly increased control when making your colour to black and white conversions.