how to boost the tones of BW images.....

[haagen_dazs]

Hi
Most BW film shooters often use filters (yellow green, yellow etc) to improve the shades of grey (gray) in a BW film.

Shooting without filter makes the image flat ..

SO my question is,
if i convert a COLOUR digital jpeg image in PhotoShop through Image>Mode>Grayscale,

how do i boost the tones of the image (much like using those special filters for BW photography)

thanks for sharing =)

 

[carvinganish]

first of all don't ever just convert color jpegs by changing the mode to greyscale. that will almost always guarantee you a flat boring picture.

use the channel mixer function in photoshop, which works for me. there's a lot more on the web...check out these two links! the second one addresses your filter concerns perfectly

http://www.journalofaphotographer.c...onverting_color_images_to_black_and_white.php
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/b-w_better.shtml

 

[T_om]

Go here: http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/digital-darkroom.htm

This site has some great actions that will really help out a beginner. The poster above is right, just converting to grayscale leaves you with terrible files.

I prefer the "Calculations" conversion technique, but I only use it on a few images as it takes a while to tweak each one. For batch conversion, one of the channel mixer or LAB conversion methods works just fine.

Tom

 

[wdenies]

My answer is an exact copy of Tom's.
If you want to spend money, the Imaging Factory ConvertToBW Pro is a good candidate.

Wim

 

[sfb_dot_com]

And don't use JPEG if at all possible. Start with a RAW file if your camera produces one, or a TIFF if you are scanning from a neg or tranny.

Andy

 

[taffer]

Picasa offers a nice tool for converting into B&W adding filter effects. The very nice thing is it lets you move your cursor over a color palette and you see the effect instantly as you move. It works great to make a quick evaluation on which color filter you want.

 

[jaapv]

All of the above is true. The Scott Kelby books give, amongst a large number of other tricks, a very good method to extract the BW image from colour files. If you are stuck with a lame result because you simply swept the saturation slider to the left or just discarded the colour information from your file, working levels, midtone contrast and other contrast controls in PS will go a long way to getting a decent image.
So you slipped away from Fred's forum as well to this oasis, Mark?

 

[VinceC]

I've only done this a few times, but I find very pleasant results if I change the color balance of the color image -- usually adding a bunch of yellow and perhaps a bit of green -- before converting to black and white. Same effect as using the color filter on B&W. I noticed it myself awhile back when I had poor light balance on a digital portrait -- way too "golden" -- then on a hunch took out the color and was left with a beautiful glowing b&w portrait.

I shoot a lot of C41 black-and-white film and have it scanned cheaply onto a CD while having it developed. Adjusting the mid-tone levels really helps to punch up the scans. Comparable to having control over paper grades in a wet darkroom.

 

[kaiyen]

If you do go the channel mixer route (which is what I often do, thogh I don't convert much in general), there was a very hard to read but useful post on PN a while back about different numbesr producings different looks. I blogged it at

http://www.kaiyen.com/photos/pages/2005/10/recipe-for-bw-with-channel-mixer.html

allan

 

[ch1]

And don't use JPEG if at all possible. Start with a RAW file if your camera produces one, or a TIFF if you are scanning from a neg or tranny.

Andy

Hear! Hear!

RAW (or TIFF) is the only way to scan! It gives you the best rendition for archiving the image.

IMHO, about the only use I can see for JPEG is when sizing pics for uploads to the Gallery or threads here!

 

[planetjoe]

I second the notions about doing "filter corrections" before conversion. I use Channel Mixer in PS, like several others here. First, I scan the B&W neg as 24bit RGB (8bits/channel; I have an older Minolta Scan Dual) and play around with the channels. I like the "glow" (if you can call it that) I get from boosting red, sometimes green. Kinda like a very slight IR effect.

The overall effect is similar to T_om's Calculations method...I forgot exactly what I did in Calculations to get a similar outcome, but I think it was something like adding the red channel, blah blah blah.

Conversion is done by selecting the "monochrome" checkbox in Chnnel Mixer after making your adjustments. Grayscale comes later.

Hope this is of some use.


Cheers,
--joe.

 

[jaapv]

Hear! Hear!

RAW (or TIFF) is the only way to scan! It gives you the best rendition for archiving the image.

IMHO, about the only use I can see for JPEG is when sizing pics for uploads to the Gallery or threads here!

So it is for any photo you want to take to it's highest level of quality. And scanning to anything but Tiff is asking for disasters. But low-compression Jpeg is pretty handy if you are confident enough of your shot that you are sure that you won't need to PS it to any significant level.
Try a Digilux2 in good light

 

[x-ray]

My answer is an exact copy of Tom's.
If you want to spend money, the Imaging Factory ConvertToBW Pro is a good candidate.

Wim

I use this exclusively for B&W conversions.


http://www.photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=790229

 

[titrisol]

if you want to use the GIMP which is an alternative fro photchop check here:
http://gimpguru.org/Tutorials/Color2BW/

 

[ch1]

On a somewhat related note I recently learned that with C-41 negatives I am better off to scan them as "color negatives". They then come up into both NikonView and covert over to PS as desaturated B&W postitives w/o having to do any PS desaturation as I was previously doing.

At least this is how my Nikon 5000D scanner using Nikon Scan software functions. It apprently "senses" that the color negative is actually a C-41 B&W image.

 

[plexi]

Shooting B&W-film without filters does not make images flat, were to you get this from? Read up on B&W filter use before stating things like this.

 

[mikeb380]

Shooting B&W-film without filters does not make images flat, were to you get this from? Read up on B&W filter use before stating things like this.

Amen, Plexi. What makes B&W film flat is incorrect exposure and incorrect processing. You MUST shoot for the shadow detail and process for the highlight detail. This means you need to take time to experiment and find out the correct exposure and developing factors. To expose for shadow detail, meter a neutral gray subject such as grass, concrete, palm of hand, and open the lens about 1/3 to 1/2 stop. You will probably have to reduce processing time by about 30 seconds or so, if you always have chemicals at 68 degrees. These are rules of thumb but it gives a starting point for experimentation.

Have a ball.

Michael

 

[egpj]

On a somewhat related note I recently learned that with C-41 negatives I am better off to scan them as "color negatives". They then come up into both NikonView and covert over to PS as desaturated B&W postitives w/o having to do any PS desaturation as I was previously doing.

At least this is how my Nikon 5000D scanner using Nikon Scan software functions. It apprently "senses" that the color negative is actually a C-41 B&W image.

Depends on what C-41 B&W you are using. I could see this method for Kodak C-41 B&W but for Ilford Super XP2 I would go with the regular method of scanning as a B&W negative. :angel: