how to improve my black & white images?

[gilpen123]

Use film then scan tweak a bit in elements to make it contrasty otherwise SEP works for me very well. RD1x now are a very reasonable price at around 1.1K, this might be a good option too.

 

[mfogiel]

I would warn against raising your expectations too much. If you get serious about it, you will end up with a LF film camera and Tri X 😀

 

[peterm1]

I mainly use Corel PaintShop Pro which is cheap by comparison with Adobe products but similar in its range of tools. I like to use Nik Color Efex as a plugin and Silver Efex for mono conversions but Paint Shop Pro has its own black and white converter (with color filters) which works pretty well. Needless to say I always shoot in color then convert to black and white. It gives much more scope for creative effects using different color conversion filters. I will also often boost local contrast (usually a local contrast filter is available in many tool sets now a days) as it adds contrast to tonal mid ranges. Lots of interest (often available in the form of contrast) helps if you are shooting black and white. I also add a tiny touch of sepia to the end result as sometimes black and white images look too blue without it. You only need a touch - not enough to really notice consciously but it makes a difference. I also suggest experimenting with vignette effects to focus the eye on the main subject. Removing distractions is important in any photography. Sometimes I will also add a tiny bit of blur around the main subject too - often you do not want too much detail except where its needed. By the way while on this theme when you take and image I think its really important to know what your main subject is. Many people shoot an image - which might have elements of a good picture in it but fail to capitalize on it - the main subject has to jump out at the viewer and grab them by the throat. This is why I like vignettes. Also don't be afraid to crop an image down to its main elements. This is another way of getting rid of the non essential and distracting bits.

 

[MikeAUS]

I found the X-Trans files didn't work consistently well with Lightroom and various plug ins in both B&W and Color - that's why I got rid of my Fuji XE1.

 

[Black]

Joe, you can improve your B&W images with Tri-X.

Regards,

Boris

+1. But replace Tri-X with HP5+ or FP4+.

 

[Pete B]

i need to take a class i think…much of what you guys are saying is like another language to me. part of the problem (i think) is that i am completely self taught…trial & error more than reading any instructions/directions...

It may be a different language because we don't know what software you want to use. Give us a starting point and we can go step by step.
Pete

 

[daveleo]

It may be a different language because we don't know what software you want to use. Give us a starting point and we can go step by step.
Pete

+1

Follow the maps that people suggest before you break away and discover your own way of doing things. Saves a LOT of time.

 

[newsgrunt]

like Dave suggested, go into colour channels and adjust those vs global adjustments or desaturate.

 

[Michael Markey]

I use pse...tried Lightroom but was too lazy to learn it and gave up.

I use Elements too , Joe .
I have come to the conclusion that its too blunt an instrument to get anything like the lovely BW images you see posted here.

I`ve recently bought a GR V but my files aren`t even close to those I see posted in the GR thread.

Until I can get around to replacing the sofware I`ll fall back on that other stuff 🙂

 

[Rick Waldroup]

I, too, use Silver Efex Pro. Almost everything I shoot is for B&W and I found this particular PP software just about perfect for my needs.

 

[bobbyrab]

Joe why not make available an image you'd like converted, let others have a bash at converting it while also explaining, maybe with some screen shots, what they did to achieve the result. That way you'd get to see which process would suit your needs?

 

[back alley]

I think a local course plus some active reading would be a good place to start, coupled with some software research.
I do appreciate the offers...

 

[kxl]

Converted with Silver Efex Pro plugin for Photoshop CS. The digital image was very "clean" so I added some APX400-like grain (using Silver EFEX APX-400 preset) then adjusted curves.

Don't know if this is the look you are after. I could have used other B&W film presets for even more film-like grain, but I opted for this.

 

[Margu]

digital sensor light spectrum favors the green (60%) and red (30%) over blue (10%).

B&W panchromatic film, such as Tri-x are more sensitive to the blue channel and green not so much in the red. what this means is that the difference between B&W film and digital sensors are more fundamental than something that can be fixed with silver efex or any other processing. Unless the digital sensor has at least equal sensitivity in both blue and red channels, digital B&W is always going to look as it does today, less tonal range, less depth in shadow detail and less brilliant highlights.

HDR was invented to over come this problem of digital but HDR has become a joke. a greyscale camera such as Monochrom is also nothing but a digital file which has been desaturated, its sensor is still a digital sensor and with the same digital sensor problem of less blue.

having said that the bottom line is that knowing which digital shots make good B&W is a far better skill to cultivate. lets say shots with less contrast range example. shot were deep shadows are not important or highlights don't need to be brilliant. street photography for instance.

i hope that made sense but lets say if you shoot landscape with high tonal range and contrast range then forget digital B&W, if you're shooting street, portraits and other limited tonal range subjects then digital b&W is fine.

 

[BLKRCAT]

Channel Mixer in PS.

 

[Dwig]

I think a local course plus some active reading would be a good place to start, coupled with some software research.
I do appreciate the offers...

Check out the LR tutorials at tv.adobe.com. There are several on B&W conversions.

In LR, the basic "power control" for B&W is to adjust the controls in LR's B&W controls in the "HSL/Color/B&W" section (they are the equivalent of the Channel Mixer in PS) before mucking too much the the "Basic" control set or the "Tone Curve". It is often helpful to click the "X/Y" display option so that you can see the color image on one side and the conversion on the other. This makes is easier to judge which slider to shift to make the tonal change needed.