Re: Converting to black and white
87 steps?
I think I'm naive about this, never having used color film to make a black and white image. Why is it more complicated than using the channel mixer (if you want to do color filtration, which is something I almost never do in b+w anyhow) and then using curves to get the tonal scale you want?
Re: Converting to black and white
Paul,
I just sent it to you. Try it and report back.
Re: Converting to black and white
Russell Preston Brown, photoshop guru has a downloadable action on his site that will convert to black and white with mutliple processes. Then, you can go through and select the one that makes the most pleasing conversion to black and white.
Re: Converting to black and white
Thanks Kirk,
I'll give it a try when I have a chance.
Re: Converting to black and white
you can get several photoshop actions for converting to grayscale at the adobe website:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchang...hange%20Search
limit the search to photoshop and actions and use "grayscale" as the search keyword.
the "6 grays" action is useful because it will show you that the best technique is 100% dependant on the image being converted. i.e. no single technique will give optimum results for all images which means a hands on approach will give you the best results.
Re: Converting to black and white
That reminds me. Caponigro's PDF for the action is on the Adobe site too. This is a must read.
http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdf...2it_bwconv.pdf
Re: Converting to black and white
I'm still in the dark ages - using photoshop 7 - anuone know if the action workls with this?
I'd try it, but I can't get to the PC with photoshop :(
Re: Converting to black and white
If anyone has any before and after examples to show, I would love to see them.
Re: Converting to black and white
Gee I never ever bothered to use anything other than channel mixer, curves, and layers with layer masks and blending modes. I never thought there was a free lunch to any of this, I like seeing what is in each channel and picking where I want things to go...
When I teach PS I try to talk students out of being dependent on "canned" solutions and trusting their eyes.
Re: Converting to black and white
Well FWIW, I used channel mixer for over a year and it is a very good but does not give the total control over the image that C2B&WPro does. Kirk was kind enough to send me a copy of his PC action, and while it appears to do a nice job, again and IMO only, it does not give the ultimate control that C2B&WPro does. Finally, I tried the all black color blend layer method. This one is alos good and a slightly different paradigm to use, but shows some poterizations with extreme hue changes.
In the end, I think you can make good B&W conversions from any/all of these, it's just that for myself I find the UI of C2B&WPro very intutitve for somebody who already knows traditional B&W capture and darkroom methodologies.
My .02 only and YMMV,