Black and white conversions

I would start with the Raw file as you need to adjust colour, contrast, dynamic range etc to suit a monochrome image. I would not use a plug-in as they make too many assumptions. If you use Lightroom, you can set the Raw converter to Monochrome as a first step and then adjust everything to suit the mono image.
 
Always raw for me. I'd use something where I can not only desaturate the image, but play with the separate R, G, and B channels, and C, M, and Y if possible. And I'd want something that lets me save that to reuse it. So it's usually ON1 Photo Raw. But recently I've been using Snapseed, which is not only much, much faster, it also takes tens of gigabytes less space. The trade-off is some of the functionality.
 
I do use Lightroom, so I have plenty of controls to play with. Garry, I notice you desaturate your images ......is there any particular reason for that?
You have to desaturate in order to get rid of the colour. With plug-ins and automatic actions, that desaturation is likely to be hidden.
 
I would use the RAWs, but keep them colour and process them to balance tonality & contrast, sharpen, B&W points etc. Then I'd take them across into Silver Efex. The first image in SE I'd work carefully to get the look I wanted, create & save it as a preset. Subsequent images I'd process using the preset with minor tweaks to suit individual images.

I have 6 different 'looks' that I use for my mono stuff using the above, so that if I want to produce a series it's not difficult.
 
Even if I intend B&W from the outset, I will normally edit the Raw files in colour in LR first to make the obvious changes (e.g tonal both global and local, and cropping). I would probably then open in PS and use a Plug-in. The Plug-in that I most often use if Nik Silver Effex Pro and I use the same preset 90% of the time but just add a few tweaks. In a few cases I also keep the colour version and I also occasionally use Topaz BW for the conversion. I may make a few more final adjustments but I do not batch process multiple images so each image is edited individually. Of course, I am not a professional Photographer so do not need to be efficient. The method I use provides me with good competition images.

In the distant past, I used LR for the conversion adjusting the colour sliders to create the desired effect. Even this would require individual adjustment because it depends on the colours in the image. If I had to batch process, I would probably use a plugin such as Topaz.

Dave
 
I would use the RAWs, but keep them colour and process them to balance tonality & contrast, sharpen, B&W points etc. Then I'd take them across into Silver Efex. The first image in SE I'd work carefully to get the look I wanted, create & save it as a preset. Subsequent images I'd process using the preset with minor tweaks to suit individual images.

I have 6 different 'looks' that I use for my mono stuff using the above, so that if I want to produce a series it's not difficult.
Even if I intend B&W from the outset, I will normally edit the Raw files in colour in LR first to make the obvious changes (e.g tonal both global and local, and cropping). I would probably then open in PS and use a Plug-in. The Plug-in that I most often use if Nik Silver Effex Pro and I use the same preset 90% of the time but just add a few tweaks. In a few cases I also keep the colour version and I also occasionally use Topaz BW for the conversion. I may make a few more final adjustments but I do not batch process multiple images so each image is edited individually. Of course, I am not a professional Photographer so do not need to be efficient. The method I use provides me with good competition images.

In the distant past, I used LR for the conversion adjusting the colour sliders to create the desired effect. Even this would require individual adjustment because it depends on the colours in the image. If I had to batch process, I would probably use a plugin such as Topaz.

Dave


Thanks Both.

There's food for thought for me there.
 
First off, I make a virtual copy in LR, then hit the back and white tab. Once I've made adjustments and I'm happy with them and I want to use the same settings on other photos in a set, I'll then right click the image (in the filmstrip), click development, click copy settings, select the settings I want from the list (I usually don't select things like crop, adjustment brush etc), right click on the other photos I want to adjust, click development and paste.
If you're happy with your black and white settings you can save it as a preset and it's always there.
 
Raw.
In Gimp I usually double the layer set top one to overlay 70-90%.
Tweak any curve you feel like on the lower layer
Merge to visible layers.
Unsharp Mask
Save for colour.
Then under the colour menu, select saturation, set that to 0%
Double that layer, type screen 20% ish
Lower layer, add contrast and brightness if required... Basically play with the settings.

Line in bold is the crucial one I feel. Probably have an option in your software, go try it out :)
 
Raw.
In Gimp I usually double the layer set top one to overlay 70-90%.
Tweak any curve you feel like on the lower layer
Merge to visible layers.
Unsharp Mask
Save for colour.
Then under the colour menu, select saturation, set that to 0%
Double that layer, type screen 20% ish
Lower layer, add contrast and brightness if required... Basically play with the settings.

Line in bold is the crucial one I feel. Probably have an option in your software, go try it out :)


As I've never done layers, I think I'll give that a miss.....but thanks anyway.
 
Hi,

After having processed my first two files, I'm now wondering about getting them printed. Should i send them to my normal colour printer (DSCL)?
Do you normally use their Fuji optical prints?
I've had good results for monochrome from them, but I've never had inkjet prints made from mono.
I was a DSCL user, but these days I use Sim Lab, who offer a very similar service to DSCL.
 
Yes.

:)

They may have specific printer profiles for mono, as well as the usual colour profiles.
The DSCL Fuji profiles are the same for colour or B&W, the only difference is glossy or lustre finish.
If you use Sim Lab they dont even require an attached profile, just that the images are in sRGB colour space.
 
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