Desaturating is just lowering the intensity of the color. Converting to grayscale is desaturating, but there are different algorithms (math) used to reduce the colors. Sometimes when reducing the color, some colors become the same, because they have the same density. I used to have a sweater that my mom had made me, with denim blue yarn and a lightning bolt on it made with vivid red yarn. When a picture of me was in a newspaper, wearing that sweater, it came up as a dark grey sweater with no lightning bolt at all. Some algorithms reduce the density of "some" colors and allow smaller details to stand out from each other.
When you go to Colors > Desaturate in Gimp, you'll see three different algorithms, to allow you to try and keep the details that are important to you. I often use a photo plugin to custom adjust my black and white images.
_________________ Artists aren't crazy! We're eccentric! ~G.M. Ross
My Sigs = My Photos Check out my work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/photomastergreg.
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