DBW Monochrome: B&W (only) photo editor

[myotis]

This is something a bit different in this wave of new photo editors.

It's by Ian Barber, who is well known in the black and white film photography world for his black and white Photoshop panels, which he has been selling for decades.

It has a workflow similar to Photoshop, but strips away everything irrelevant to the black and white photographer, and builds in tools familiar to the black and white film photographer e.g you can select "paper grades" and there are useful zone system tools.

There is a Youtube video here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vttyy8rPE4



The direct link to the DBW Monocrome software page is (the license is currently £40 (normally £50)

Black & White Photo Editor | DBW Monochrome

Discover DBW Monochrome, an easy to use black and white photo editor for Mac and Windows. No subscription. Download the free trial.

digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

His software site is here:

Photoshop Plugins And More ...

Photoshop Plugins To Help With Your Workflow

digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

and his website is here:

Black And White Photography - Ian Barber

My personal Black & White photographic journey

www.ianbarberphotography.co.uk

 

[Norkie]

How does it compare to the Nik software Graham? Have you compared the two side by side?

 

[myotis]

How does it compare to the Nik software Graham? Have you compared the two side by side?

I haven't tried it, but it isn't going to compare with Nik, in that it has no presets or film simulations etc.

Nor does it have the customised sliders that Silver Efex provides, which seem particularly tailored for Black and white.

As far as I can make out, he has primarily extracted Photoshop features that apply to Black and White, with some tools, like Luminance masking, which need effort or a plugin to use in Photoshop, included as a standard feature.

It obviously reflects how he has been using Photoshop for Black and White, including scanned negatives.