Q & A: Magic Mixer

NOTE: The Magic Mixer plugin is on sale for $7.50 (25% off the regular price of $10) until the end of April. Get it here.

I have received a few questions about the TK Magic Mixer plugin. I thought it might be useful to share the answer with readers. If you have additional questions, please leave comment and we can continue the conversation.

Q: Why use the Channel Mixer adjustment for conversion to black and white?

A: The Channel Mixer is underutilized because it’s difficult to use. I wanted to improve the user experience with this adjustment and see how that might influence post-processing. One of the main reasons to consider it for black and white is that it works for 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit images. Not all adjustment layers are available for 32-bit images.  For example, the Gradient Map and Black and White adjustment layers, which are also used for converting images to black and white, don’t work in 32-bit mode. Channel Mixer is one of those that DOES work with 32-bit images. Photographers are increasingly asking about having tools that work for 32-bit images, so this is becoming an important consideration.

Q: What are the important features that prompted you to experiment with the Channel Mixer to convert images to black and white? 

A:  Channel Mixer has always been useful for conversion to black and white.  If you look at the default adjustment presets in the Properties panel for Channel Mixer, you will see that they all provide a conversion to black and white. 

However, these presets are about the only way to utilize this adjustment. Trying to convert color images to black and white by manually by moving the Channel Mixer’s sliders isn’t easy. Moving them also affects image brightness and this makes evaluating the effect of slider changes difficult. Magic Mixer unlocks new possibilities for using the Channel Mixer to create black and white images. It does this by keeping image brightness constant as the color channel percentages are changed and by providing an independent Brightness slider.

Q: Are there advantages to using Magic Mixer over other methods in Photoshop to convert to black and white?

A: Yes. Since Magic Mixer works through the Photoshop Channel Mixer, it means that it’s also possible to affect the neutrals in the image (blacks, grays, and whites) during the conversion process. Other methods don’t do this. Whatever level of gray is present in the color image remains the same after conversion to black and white. For example, the Black and White adjustment layer has six color sliders, but no “Neutrals” slider. So, in an image that has a combination of colorful and neutral elements, only the colored elements can be made lighter and darker. The gray, black, and white elements can’t be changed. The Magic Mixer, on the other hand, has a dedicated Brightness slider that allows neutrals to be independently adjusted along with making changes to color brightness via the color sliders. So, it’s possible to adjust brightness of both colors and neutrals on the same layer. This can be useful when attempting to make a dark, moody conversion or a high-key one. However, I should make clear that, even with the Magic Mixer, the black point remains fixed when the Brightness slider is moved. Whatever is black in the color image will still be black after conversion to black and white. Gray and white values, though, can be adjusted brighter or darker quite easily, and this can add a very different mood to the final conversion.

Another advantage of Magic Mixer is that it provides some unique entry points for converting color images to black and white. The six Color Channel buttons (R, G, B, C, M, and Y) offer conversion alternatives that might not have occurred to the photographer when they thought about experimenting with black and white. These channels, especially C, M, and Y, aren’t readily available when doing conversions using other Photoshop methods, and they generally create six distinct options that can be further tweaked with the plugin’s color channel sliders. The Randomize button also offers a new way to experiment with black and white. Each click of the button provides another conversion alternative. The photographer can quickly cycle through many different options without having to adjust several different sliders like with the other Photoshop adjustments. Overall, the Magic Mixer allows for discovering and fine-tuning new black and white alternatives in a highly efficient manner.

Q: I haven’t figured out the Contrast slider. How do I use it?

A: What’s happening when you move the contrast slider to the right to increase contrast is that the three color channel sliders controlling the Red, Green, and Blue channels are repositioned.  The middle one does NOT move (Cyan-Red in the example below), the left-most one moves to the left (Magenta-Green in this example), and the right-most one moves farther right (Yellow-Blue in this case).  The Magic Mixer looks at the relative positions of all three color channel sliders and chooses which to keep stationary and which two to move. There is always an increase “channel” contrast as a result. 

Obviously, though, the way this affects the image is variable.  It depends on 1) the colors in the image and 2) the position of the color channel sliders before moving the Contrast slider.  To a large degree, then, the Contrast slider is a also bit of a “random” slider, but moving it to the right can sometimes intensify the effect of the current color channel slider settings to increase tonal contrast in the image. 

The real benefit of the Contrast slider, though, is that it also affects the Randomize button.  As the Contrast slider is moved to the right, clicking the Randomize button generates more variation in the image since it allows a larger number of random numbers to be considered in the randomization process.  So, if you want to see a bigger difference in the sequential results from clicking the Randomize button, use a higher Contrast value.

Q: What about using Magic Mixer on color images?

A: It’s possible to do this by clicking the plugin’s “Lum” checkbox. This changes the blend mode of the “Magic Mixer” layer on the Layers panel to Luminosity. The Channel Mixer is still in “Monochrome” mode, and this, combined with Luminosity blend mode, means that the Magic Mixer only affects the brightness of the image’s colors. The image is NOT converted to black and white. While this can be useful for exploring and experimenting with how color brightness affects the image, usually only small adjustments are possible to maintain a realistic look to the image. Converting the image to black and white, on the other hand, allows for more extreme adjustments, which often still look “natural.” In other words, adjustments to color luminosity usually need to be subtle, but adjustments that convert to black and white can be more radical. The Magic Mixer can do both. Dave Kelly’s latest video covers how the Magic Mixer works in Luminosity blend mode.

Q: But what about NOT checking the “Monochrome” checkbox in the Channel Mixer adjustment and directly affecting image colors by moving the Red, Green, and Blue sliders while keeping brightness constant? Can the Magic Mixer do that? Wouldn’t this be an alternative method for color grading?

A: No. Magic Mixer only works by using the Channel Mixer in “Monochrome” mode, i.e., the Channel Mixer’s “Monochrome” checkbox is checked. I’ve experimented extensively with adjusting the color channels with the “Monochrome” checkbox unchecked in attempts to logically color grade the image using the Channel Mixer, and I’m pretty sure this isn’t a good use for this adjustment. At least not in a way that can produce a desired result. I’ve seen videos on YouTube that purport to be able to color grade effectively with the Channel Mixer, but my tests show that it’s far from optimal. Things like color saturation, for example, can significantly affect the results to the point that it’s nearly impossible to predict how moving the color channel sliders will actually change a chosen color in the image, and the results often look very unrealistic. Adjusting the color channels and keeping brightness constant with “Monochrome” unchecked would be possible with a Photoshop plugin, like Magic Mixer, but the results are so unpredictable that it’s not worth the effort. There are better ways to color grade images, like using the color grading functionality in the TK9 plugin or other Photoshop adjustments, like Color Balance.

Personal note: I’m having a lot of fun with the Magic Mixer. My experiments with the color channel buttons (R, B, G, C, M, and Y) and the Randomize button (with Contrast cranked up to around 150) have been quite positive. I usually find a good conversion relatively quickly. This then becomes my starting point for fine-tuning with the Magic Mixer’s color sliders or additional processing techniques to enhance the results. I’ve included a few images below where Magic Mixer was the conversion method. I’m not sure I would have arrived at any of these without the plugin.

Now Available: TK Magic Mixer plugin

The TK Magic Mixer plugin for Photoshop is now available on my website. The image above describes what each of the different elements does.

The primary purpose for this plugin is to allow Photoshop’s Channel Mixer adjustment layer to be a useful tool for converting color images to black and white. The Magic Mixer works via the Channel Mixer, but the user interface provides new capabilities and new levels of control not available from the Channel Mixer directly. The image below shows how the Magic Mixer is related to the Channel Mixer.

One obvious difference is that the color channel sliders (Red, Green, and Blue) look different. On the Channel Mixer adjustment they contain one color (red, green, or blue) but on the Magic Mixer they contain two colors (Cyan-Red, Magenta-Green, and Yellow-Blue). Even though the Channel Mixer has always been capable of changing the brightness of specific colors, it’s interface doesn’t provide the visual cues needed to do this. The Magic Mixer does. With the Magic Mixer, pulling a color channel slider toward a specific color makes that color lighter in the image. And pulling a slider away from a color darkens that color. So, for example, pulling the Magic Mixer’s Cyan-Red channel slider to the right (towards red) makes reds in the image lighter and cyans darker. Pulling it left makes cyans lighter and reds darker. The Magic Mixer’s two-color sliders make channel mixing more intuitive. With this interface, it’s possible to intelligently make channel-mixing decisions that target specific colors in the image.

Another major difference is that the Magic Mixer provides an independent Brightness slider while the Channel Mixer adjustment only provides a readout of “Total” brightness. The Magic Mixer is also capable of keeping image brightness constant when moving the color channel sliders so that image brightness does NOT change. This is not true for the Channel Mixer adjustment. Moving the color channel sliders with the Channel Mixer ALWAYS changes image brightness, making it hard to visually evaluate the results. The Magic Mixer overcomes the brightness issues of the Channel Mixer with its ability to keep brightness constant and by allowing brightness to be independently adjusted with its own slider.

Improving Photoshop’s Channel Mixer experience is only the beginning of what the Magic Mixer can do. By taking control of this adjustment, the Magic Mixer opens still more possibilities.

• Color channel presets (Red, Green, Blue and even Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow) are now available. These provide distinct variations for deciding where to begin exploring an image’s black and white potential. The color channel and brightness sliders can then be used to further tweak the results.
• The “Randomize” button creates an endless stream of channel-mixing variations. Additionally, moving the plugin’s Contrast slider to the right increases the degree of variation with subsequent “Randomize” button clicks by allowing the plugin to use a larger set of random numbers. Finally, the arrow buttons at the bottom of the interface allow easy cycling forward and back through the different variations.
• The plugin saves and loads user presets.
• A Live Clipping option allows for making adjustments to avoid clipped highlights or shadows.
• Color toning and changing color luminosity can be quickly added directly from the user interface.

I’ve included Dave Kelly’s “First Look” video below to provide an overview of how this plugin works. To get additional information please visit this page or download the free Instructions PDF.

SUMMARY: The TK Magic Mixer allows the Photoshop Channel Mixer adjustment to become a useful part of the Photoshop workflow. It’s especially good at exploring diverse black and white alternatives via an intuitive interface. Perhaps the best thing is that the plugin is currently on sale for only $7.50 USD on the Panels & Videos page. Just be sure to add the following PROMO CODE in the shopping cart to get this limited-time offer: Magic25

Coming Soon: TK Magic Mixer plugin

Photoshop’s Channel Mixer adjustment layer provides some unique capabilities. It allows blending the image’s Red, Green, and Blue channels in new ways, which is especially useful when converting color images to black and white. Unfortunately, it’s a little difficult to use. As the channels are adjusted using the Photoshop Properties panel, the brightness of the image also changes. As a result, too much is happening at once making it hard to evaluate the different channel mixtures and how they might benefit the image.

The TK Magic Mixer plugin solves this problem.

With it, the Red, Green, and Blue channels can be quickly adjusted while keeping image brightness constant. This alone makes it much easier to use and also much easier to find channel combinations that actually work.

But that’s only the beginning. The Magic Mixer goes well beyond separating channel mixing and image brightness. It also allows users to directly affect the brightness of individual colors via dedicated sliders while still providing independent Brightness and Contrast adjustments. There is even a “Randomize” button for generating new channel blends with a single click.

The Magic Mixer is a multi-functional plugin to allow Channel Mixer adjustments to become a useful and integral part of the Photoshop workflow. I’m excited about this new plugin and will have more information to share soon. Please watch your email or this blog for details.

Now Available: “Iceland Highlands” by Sean Bagshaw

Earlier this week, Sean Bagshaw released the “Iceland Highlands” workflow video series, and like his four previous “complete workflow” courses, this one is completely different. One of the best things about Sean’s videos is how he combines different techniques to create a personal style. Just like taking each picture requires a unique approach to capture the light properly, processing requires careful consideration of what each image needs and how to make it happen. Sean is especially good at sharing his creative concepts and then showing how to put them into practice. It’s an approach personalized for both the image and the photographer and is at the heart of creating unique images that convey a connection to the natural world.

The nine chapters for the course are listed below.

I’m happy to once again be partnering with Sean to offer this new course along with an introductory discount on my website. Simply enter the code ICE25 in the shopping cart to get 25% off. This code actually takes 25% off everything on the site, so it’s a good time pickup additional items that might interest you, including free things like the TK Gen Fill plugin, TK Lum Mask plugin, or a linear profile for your camera.

As post-processing methods evolve, Sean is continually updating his workflow. Live gradients, ACR Orton, generative fill, mask calculations, and use of the TK9 plugin for Photoshop are some of the new techniques in this course. I’m sure you’ll find this course interesting and informative.