Make B&W POP!

[Isac]

I have experimented with channel splitting in Photoshop and it's really good to use for converting a coloured image to black and white to gave it a look that makes it pop.
If anyone is interested, I wrote an action to eliminate all the hard work. Let me know if you want the action OR instructions.
BEFORE

AFTER

[Grumpy John]

Wow, that really pops Isac. Does the action work just as well with B/W images, or should they be in colour?
Very keen to get the action thank you.

[Isac]

Thanks GJ. The action works on some B&W. It depends on the contrasts. If its not too dark it's OK. To get the best "pop" all images need to be nice and bright with good shadow detail. If they are too dark, it's not as good. All the layers are placed in a group, so they can be tweaked by changing the modes and also adding curves and/or levels adjustments.
Anyway, have fun. It's on my website (Item 14: Enhancing Actions) HERE
I have also been experimenting using the "Calculations" tool which is really cool. For another day

[HansE]

I normally convert to B&W using Lab mode and then just adjust the lightnes channel as it has the colour removed. I tried it this time on the Mustang and the conversion to jpeg(via f12) bought back the colour. Another mystery to solve. I will have a look at your action.

[Isac]

I love a good mystery Hans!
1: After you convert to Lab Mode, what do you do to convert that to B&W?
2: Is your F12 "Save for Web"?

I've just uploaded the Enhancing Action Set again and included a new LAB COLOUR Quick version, so you can just keep running the action until it's what you want.