How do you make a bw image?

[DennisM]

Manipulating digital color into b/w or monochromatic
So I thought maybe a thread on post processing might be fun to share techniques...

Using photoshop I'll take a color image and convert it to a b/w image via the mode command. Then, I'll work on balancing the light/dark places on the image. Sometimes I'll use the "diffuse glow" filter with the background set to white.

Then, I'll use the mode command and convert it to a duotone image, usually using either two shades of black or one shade of black and one shade of a dark brown. Then, I adjust the levels balance to lighten up the image to make up for the darkness the duotone bestows. Once I have the levels set, I use the mode command again to make it a rgb image.

Then, using the hue/saturation control, I'll play around with it and see if it looks better with a touch of sepia and warmth or shift into the blue for a cold image.

What do you do?