A method and apparatus for converting a color representation of an image to a grayscale representation are disclosed. For a color image, a location of each color within a device-independent color space is initially determined. Then, a color difference of each color is determined by applying an appropriate perceptual-based color difference model according to its determined location within the device-independent color space. Next, the determined color difference of each color is normalized under a predetermined range. The normalized color differences are mapped to an output range of an output device.