Getting great contrast in Photoshop Elements 5

[adamsfour]

I am new to the digital SLR world but have been enjoying my Nikon D80 for a little over a month. I am shooting in color and then attempting to convert to B&W in Photoshop Elements 5. My problem is that I am getting a lot of grey tones. I am not getting the great contrast that really makes a B&W photo pop.

Can someone please share the technique to accomplish this?

I promise to post the result.
Thanks!
Summer

 

[fightheheathens]

next time you should post this in the beginners forum or photoshop forum.
this is what i do.

i create 2 hue saturation layers in photoshop. I completely de-saturate Hue Saturation Layer 2 after setting the blending mode to color. I then select Hue Saturation layer 1 and i mess with the hue slider until i get a result that i want. Thats in addition to levels, curves, and brightness