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Epson Computer Tip: Color photos into black and white with Epson's Film Factory

Black and white is becoming more popular as a way to feature photos on scrapbook pages. They can tie your photos together in a way that they wouldn’t in color, and lend themselves to colorful backgrounds more than clashing colors might.

Black and white photos are timeless, and let you focus in on the subject without competing colors. It also opens up the entire color palette when you are ready to scrapbook the photos, since you don’t need to coordinate the layout with the picture – black and white photos can work with ANY color!

Before you change anything about a picture (size, color, red eye, etc.) be sure to make a duplicate copy first! That way you can always back to your original photo in case you don’t like the changes you make. To make a duplicate in Film Factory got to Edit/Duplicate Photo.

It couldn’t be easier to change a photo to black and white in Film Factory. Highlight the photo that you want to change by clicking on it – it it’s yellow it’s highlighted (you can click on it again to deselect it). Now go to Retouch/Black and White.

Film Factory gives you a preview of what your picture will look like, so you can see if you like the results before committing. If you click on “Overwrite Original Image File”, it will change the photo file to black and white (otherwise, the image is only change to black and white in Film Factory – if you open up the picture in a different program, it will be in color). If you want to use the photo in a different program as a black and white select “Overwrite Original Image File” and then click Make Changes. Now you picture has been changed to black and white, and you’re free to use whatever colors you would like with it.

You can also use this technique for artistic effect – try changing a photo to black and white and using it as a background page. You can leave your other pictures color, or change them to black and white as well.