This thread is specifically for Phoenix as I promised him some links to tutorials for converting colour images to black & white, but I thought I'd post it in the forum as others may find the info useful.
First of all, here are three tutorials that explain various methods of B&W conversion:
Converting a Digital Color Photo into Black and White
Digital Black and White in Photoshop - Photo Tips @ Earthbound Light
Black & White Conversion Tutorial With Adobe Photoshop
If you prefer to let Photoshop do the work, there is a whole section of B&W conversion actions at Action Central:
Downloads
(scroll down the page about half way).
Finally, for the truly lazy (and I'm counting myself among them) there are some third-party plug-ins that will do the job for you:
Virtual Photographer (
Welcome to optikVerve Labs - Home of virtualPhotographer) is FREE and includes quite a few B&W presets. I have to say, although I do occasionally use Virtual Photographer, I tend to find that the presets are a bit aggressive on their own - I generally fade the filter after applying it or lessen its effect by manipulating layer opacity and/or blending modes.
Alien Skin's
Exposure (
Exposure) also includes B&W presets which are reasonable, although I'm not sure they're worth the $199 price-tag.
My weapon of choice when it comes to filter-based B&W conversion is
B/W Styler by Photo Wiz (
http://www.thepluginsite.com/product...yler/index.htm). This really is a neat little filter with lots of presets that hark back to the good old days of wet film processing (you can select things like Ilford HP5+ film, extra-long development and soft grade paper). At $49.95, it won't break the bank, either.