Digital tip

I read an article about this is a Shutterbug about 6 months or so ago, I looked around but I think I pitched it. You might find it online. The technique was a software plug-in for photoshop that you could download online and as I recall it was pretty cheap, 20 or 30 bucks, and they gave it a great review. I do remember that it was the issue that reviewed new products from Photokina, so probably around November or December.

You can use Photoshop conversion to lightness channel in LAB for a quick conversion.   Use Calculations or Channel Mixer for finer tuning. 

Check out some of the Pixelgenius downloadable demos at:

http://www.pixelgenius.com/products.html

The Analog Effects Toolkit should do the trick.

(Photokit Sharpener is also incredible)

Fredmiranda.com’s BW Workflow Plugin is also a good option at $29. 

Photostation is the best I have seen…..you can really explore a lot of possibilities very efficiently, but its $100…..gulp.

Thank you, guys for all your answers. I will explore since today. Thank’s!!!!!

check out this other thread for more information on a plug in that Jethro Soudant vouches for, and I have to say, after seeing the results, I am pretty impressed too.  This thread also has various suggestions from other LS members as to what to do on your own:


http://www.lightstalkers.org/post.cfm?post_id=1406&#5311

Again, thank’s for the tips. They were very helpful

I think I got the name wrong—- it is the one that Jethro mentioned— theimaging factory.

I tried all. And was Fotosation the chosen one. Cheers,

well you can try the Adobe Photoshop open image and the click Shift+trl+U then you will see it really helps.Then you can play with levels a bit top give it better look. Hope it helps. You can see that all my images in my web page are colour but i like them in black and white and i di the same and they look cool. You can check my work on www.daryasin.com

Are your converted images going to print?

Dar, wonderful photos, truly, and the black and white conversion really looks superb. Btw, i think you have done a tremendous job covering Kashmir, I dont think I have ever seen anything to match it. marvelous work!

Dar: I did it before, I am happy with the results doing the Black and White conversion. Is really a good tool. Check www.hugoinfante.cl. There is some BW I did it before, but still I am more Fotosation.

I’ve never used a plug in to convert to B&W. I use photoshop and desaturate the RGB color then switch to LAB color and tweak the curves until I’m satisfied with the contrast and tonal range. On my website check out the section titled “essays” the current essay posted was shot primarily on digital, but some of the images were made on B&W film. In order to add the film element to the story I felt I had to convert the digital to B&W. There are one or two that are obvious digital images, but for the most part I think you’de be hard pressed to tell which images were digital and which were film.
mikebrownimages.com/essays.htm#

Jon Anderson: Thanks a lot for writting all the stuff but one thing i must say you too have strog pictures from “Caña Brava” something i would like to shoot someday.

Well Dar, I would gladly switch places with you some day, because I truly want to return to India, a country I love deeply but failed to photograph satisfactorily. Longterm commitment and understanding is what is needed, and that is maybe why Cana Brava has some value and is certainly what shines through your work. I hope to see more of it, so keep us all posted on your progress. One of the best things about LS is how it brings us all together and makes us aware of other people’s work.

http://www.russellbrown.com/images/tips_downloads/Russell’s_Action_Set.atn.zip


I use this technique here, and add a curves adjustment layer for modifying contrast and a hue/sat layer to adjust tone and lightness. Occassionally I will throw a lightness channel layer over it with soft light blend for more of a punch. All of it is set as an action so it’s just a matter of clicking and tweaking.


Note that this action by default makes it more of a sepia, so you will have to modify the action to be less so for black and white. I personally prefer a very slight tint of sepia. The images in my gallery were all done with this method.


I can send you my action if you want to try it out.

Jon, you are right India is a place to shoot. One of my friend from US used to say in India even if you drop you camera by chance if it clicks it is a picture. You have so much of things happening and lot of colourful people around.The best place to shoot in India is Rajastan.Well i am sure you will be back one day to shoot more stuff from India. kepp well and i will keep you updating abt what is happening around….

Rajasthan, Gujurat . . . Varanasi! And Delhi — i know most people just like to pass through there en route to other destinations, but I think Delhi is fascinating. Lots of hidden places to explore, lots of interesting people. What a place!

The photoshop CS “convert to BW” action gives you pretty good control, and If you like you can simulate fileters pretty well by adjusting color (ÿ+B) beforehand, then just do the contrast adjustements as you like them and you can achieve pretty much anything :) Another way to do it that I use sometines that I havent seen mentioned on the net before is to use a gradient map choosing a “not quite darkest black” and a “not quite white”, and the adjusting contrast, but that gives you a sort of “artsy” result that doesnt really suit most subjects. But then as usuel, with photoshop there are a million ways to do anything so the most important is just to find the one that suits you best :)
Oh another fun thing to do is to extract your RAW files with photoshop, set the color saturation all the way left and play with the white balance to see some fun results :)

I use nik color Efec pro 2.0 for my black and white conversions. I have been very happy with the results. The plug in gives you the choice between B/W conversion, B/W conversion dynamic contrast and B/W conversion tonal enhancer.

There are examples of what these B/W’s look like at my site www.tomsperduto.com