Describes how to create custom styles for the Photoshop Elements Convert to Black and White image adjustment. pse_bw_style_doc.txt Last modified 5/10/2012 This file is from http://archivehistory.jeksite.com. The conversion from a color image to a grayscale image is often optimal using one or a selected combination of the red, green, or blue color channels. Careful selection of the conversion color channels is particularly useful for images with color distortions, such as frequently occur with historical items. More information on converting images from color to grayscale is provided in Chapter 5 at http://archivehistory.jeksite.com/chapters/chapter5.htm. Unfortunately, Photoshop Elements does not have an easy way to examine the effects of converting with different color channels. The Convert to Black and White adjustment has sliders that can be set to control the different color channels, but the sliders do not have numeric fields and are difficult to set precisely. The numeric value of a slider setting can be seen if the slider is clicked and then the mouse pointer held over the slider for a second. This ackward process is unreliable because clicking on the slider often moves the slider and the numeric reading is not accurate until a slider has been clicked with the current settings. The Convert to Black and White adjustment has styles with preset values for the color channel sliders. It is relatively easy to create custom styles that can be used to easily examine the effects of conversion with each color channel. The help for Adobe Photoshop Elements tells how to do that. The styles for Convert to Black and White are defined and kept in the file c:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 9\Required\bwcovert.txt for a computer with Windows 7 and for a computer with Windows XP, c:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 9\Required\bwcovert.txt. First make a copy of the original file. I named the copy bwconvert_orig.txt and left the copy in the same folder. Then open the file bwconvert.txt with a text editor such as Windows Notepad. As discussed later, access permissions may need to be changed to allow this file to be modified. Add the following 3 lines to the bwconvert.txt file, being careful not to overwrite any lines or leave blank lines. They can be copied and pasted from the lines below. "$$$/LE/BWConvert/Dialog/Step1/Radio/Ckred=Use Red Only"|100|0|0 "$$$/LE/BWConvert/Dialog/Step1/Radio/Ckgreen=Use Green Only"|0|100|0 "$$$/LE/BWConvert/Dialog/Step1/Radio/Ckblue=Use Blue Only"|0|0|100 These lines add 3 styles, one that is Use Red Only, one that is Use Green Only, and one that is Use Blue Only. The new styles will automatically appear in Photoshop Elements. Other styles with custom settings can be added with the numbers on the right indicating the amount of red, green, and blue. Note that when one of the styles is selected in Photoshop Elements, if the mouse pointer is held over a slider, the numeric value of the slider may not be correct until one of the sliders is directly clicked. In some cases, particularly with Windows 7, it may be necessary to change the access permissions before the file bwconvert.txt can be modified. An error will occur saying that administrator permissions are needed or that the file is not available. If you are not comfortable changing system permissions it might be safest to get help. Administrator access is required to change permissions. The basic process is to use Windows Explorer to right click on the folder name for the folder that has the file (the folder is named Required for this case). Then select Properties and the Security tab. Select your user name from the list at the top and then click the Edit button. On the next dialog box click the Modify checkbox in the lower panel and several other checkboxes will automatically be checked. Then click the Apply button and Ok until all the dialog boxes are closed.