Simple conversion to grayscale?

[scottqmarcus]

I have searched all through help and I cannot find a simple method (such as in photoshop elements) to simple say "convert image to grayscale." 

I'm new to Affinity but I'm not an accomplished Photoshop user; I'm hoping this will be simple.

[R C-R]

You did not say which Affinity app you are using but since you mentioned Photoshop Elements, I am assuming you are using Affinity Photo. If so, on the Document menu, select the "Convert Format / ICC Profile" item & choose one of the 2 greyscale "Colour Format" options.

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums.
In addition to what R C-R said above, if you just want to make an image greyscale you can apply a Black and White Adjustment.
Look in the Help contents for Adjustments to see how to do this.

[Fixx]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

f you just want to make an image greyscale you can apply a Black and White Adjustment.

That allows you to adjust to what greylevels each colour translates to. Useful, and you get greyscale lookalike, but technically document is still RGB. You can convert format after that and that makes it true greyscale.

[GarryP]

Yeah, sorry, I should have mentioned that.
The original question was a little bit vague – to me at least – so I thought I’d add another option in case they just wanted something simple.

[walt.farrell]

Possibly of interest:

 

[scottqmarcus]

Hey All - THANK YOU so much. I've posted on other forums for other software over the years and rarely - if ever - get a response. You all really helped. I was concerned that when my trial ended, whether this was the correct software for me. However with support like this, I'm converting from trial to paid.

Hope to see you around the forums some more as I have a load of other questions.

Thanks again.😀

[Granddaddy]

There is a concise summary of ways to remove color that includes large sample images showing the different results at

InAffinity has published an abundance of Affinity Photo tutorials, including some on monochrome conversion

Quick and Easy Variable Monochrome Conversion in Affinity Photo  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuv3jJRRIDY

plus others in this search result

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOnLUmyPHr2rayOHVHWsHVw/search?query=monochrome

 

 

[GarryP]

You’re welcome scottqmarcus.
Keep asking those questions.

[shazk]

looking for the same simple result, but have 100+ images and want an automated way if one exists.

 

thx

Shaz

 

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, shazk said:

looking for the same simple result, but have 100+ images and want an automated way if one exists.

Perhaps, in Affinity Photo, File > New Batch Job for the automation, with a macro specified that will do the color conversion you want.

[shazk]

thanks Walt but you lost me at macro 🙂

I had an "action" I set up in Photoshop years ago which did this as well as another action rescaling the pics down for the work I do, but have no clue how to do it in Affinity and reckon I am getting "mouse pain" from pulling down menus and selecting an item over and over again.  Do you think there is an easy for a newbie tutorial video somewhere?  I have had Affinity for 3 years but never got the "action" going. 

I use the same 3 actions all the time.. converting from cmyk or rgb to greyscale 9 and then downsizing the pics to 150dpi

 

[David in Яuislip]

Try setting the Pixel format to greyscale, no macro required

[shazk]

I had a look at the Batch job you mention..  and it has Black and White, not greyscale listed - does Affinity see them as the same thing?

[David in Яuislip]

Black & White is a std macro that applies a B&W adjustment layer and merges down. It's not the same as converting to a greyscale output as my example did.
In the image below, the top bit uses convert to greyscale, the lower one uses the B&W macro
Best to experiment and use the approach that you prefer

[shazk]

thanks for playing around with it… at least I can see it won't work for my mix of good and bad photos. They are mainly faces and I have to be careful I don't lose detail.

I will have to sit down and get this sorted but can't do it for this job and will just muddle through with the manual pull downs.

 

thanks for your help.. seems not so simple a job and my version needs to be updated too and will do it all later on when I can watch some tutorials.

cheers,

Shaz

[GarryP]

I don’t use macros myself but if it’s possible to use the “Auto” functionalities – e.g. menu “Filters → Colours → Auto …” - in a macro, then you might be able to apply all of those in one macro, use that in a batch job, and then use the conversion to greyscale as a separate batch job as shown above by David (or maybe both at the same time).

I have no idea if this is possible, or what the results might be, but it could be something to try if it’s not too much work.
If the results are good enough then it could save some time doing every image manually.

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, shazk said:

I had a look at the Batch job you mention..  and it has Black and White, not greyscale listed - does Affinity see them as the same thing?

The colour information is in the three little dots on the far right, choose TIFF (or JPEG if you must) for the format.