That reminds me....last time this came up somebody linked to a page of cool recipes for different film emulations. I don't know enough about B&W film to know if they are accurate or not but I knocked up an action to try them all. You can download it here.

Download it, unzip it and then double click - this will load it into your actions palette in PS (or it will on a Mac - on a PC either this will work or you'll have to look for instructions on how to load actions...). Open your pic, resize it to about 600 X 400 - this isn't necessary but will stop your computer exploding, then run B&W proof from the actions group B&W. This runs a bunch of recipes and builds a contact sheet. If you find one you like then you can just dig the correct channel mixer settings out of the action (yeah, a less lazy person would have doen all that for you too....). Oh yeah - don't have extra docs open when you run it - that would be bad.

Obviously this is supplied as is with no warranty for your amusement only. It's pretty unlikely there's a virus in there (cos I wrote it myself on my Mac and I don't think .atn files can have viruses) but you never know. Don't blame me (or more importantly sue me) if it does something nasty to anything. Works on my version of PS CS2 under Tiger - no idea about any other compatibility ;)

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Kidography. It's like photography. But more fun.

Sorry Dave, I know you will HATE me for ever for saying this, but I can't say using any of the above techniques that you slate has been wrong for me.  I personally haven't had any success with the channel mixer technique, so maybe I am doing thing wrong anyway.  I am a novice with pure digital photography, but not with film photography, and have worked for many years with both pro 35mm cine and still film cameras. I tend to try and experiment with all techniques to find the one that suits me best.  So to say a definite no to the points you have made above is rather narrow.

Now having made another enemy for life, I have to say your mono stuff is superb and your technique certainly works for you in a big way.  You are an excellent photographer and I enjoy looking at your work, so please don't take my criticism as anything more than just an honest opinion.

Regards

Keith

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Jonathan,

Had a go at your action works well, thanks for sharing.

Allen

p.s. I did checkit for virus's and there are none..............

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Don't judge me by my opinions, judge me by my photographs......there as bad as each other.

KeithT:

Sorry Dave, I know you will HATE me for ever for saying this, but I can't say using any of the above techniques that you slate has been wrong for me.  I personally haven't had any success with the channel mixer technique, so maybe I am doing thing wrong anyway.  I am a novice with pure digital photography, but not with film photography, and have worked for many years with both pro 35mm cine and still film cameras. I tend to try and experiment with all techniques to find the one that suits me best.  So to say a definite no to the points you have made above is rather narrow.

There are a few more methods out there. One involves converting the image from RGB to LAB, then deleting the A and B layers, but I found this to produce an overbright image.

Feel free to add what method you use. The list I gave is no way the only way, it was just a quick rundown of the methods I've tried in the past.

KeithT:

Now having made another enemy for life, I have to say your mono stuff is superb and your technique certainly works for you in a big way.  You are an excellent photographer and I enjoy looking at your work, so please don't take my criticism as anything more than just an honest opinion.

Your post was read as an opinion too. No big deal. But do feel free to add whatever method you find works for yourself to the list.

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Galleries: Monochrome : The best

Hi Dave,

As you will probably have gathered by now, I get really confused about all these different methods of doing things, just coming to digital from film is a culture shock in itself, and really look to simplify the processes.  I truly have had no problems with shooting  in-camera b/w with some good results and some fine-tweaking done in PS, but I am - though it probably doesn't sound like it - ready to try all ways of doing things.  It does seem that many pros use the channel mixer technique with colour as the base so as not to throw out detail - still can't get my head round that one yet, but here is a good site to look at that gives some explanation of the reasons why:  http://www.outbackphoto.com/artof_b_w/index.html  Maybe I'll have to eat my words in the final analysis as I get to understand it all a lot better than I do now.  I guess though, at the end of the day, one has to do what ever they feel with until they get more proficient and want to know more precise ways of doing things.  Your tutorials will at least get other photographers interested in, and thinking  about, the art of b/w photography; and that isn't a bad thing, as I think with all the colour photography around these days we could soon see the demise of really good quality b/w work.  Having said that, there is some good work out there for those who want to look at it. 

I hope my posts have not been taken as rude or bombastic?  Sometimes I can sound that way I know, as I can get quite excited about photography and its processes. 

All power to the shutter button finger and keep up the good work.

Regards

Keith

 

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KeithT:

Hi Dave,

As you will probably have gathered by now, I get really confused about all these different methods of doing things, just coming to digital from film is a culture shock in itself, and really look to simplify the processes.  I truly have had no problems with shooting  in-camera b/w with some good results and some fine-tweaking done in PS, but I am - though it probably doesn't sound like it - ready to try all ways of doing things.

Do it in steps. Altering a mass of things at once can give a totally different result, and there's no way of finding out what did what.

KeithT:

It does seem that many pros use the channel mixer technique with colour as the base so as not to throw out detail - still can't get my head round that one yet, but here is a good site to look at that gives some explanation of the reasons why:  http://www.outbackphoto.com/artof_b_w/index.html 

Nice site... but it suffers from one thing... overkill.

KeithT:

Maybe I'll have to eat my words in the final analysis as I get to understand it all a lot better than I do now.  I guess though, at the end of the day, one has to do what ever they feel with until they get more proficient and want to know more precise ways of doing things.  Your tutorials will at least get other photographers interested in, and thinking  about, the art of b/w photography; and that isn't a bad thing, as I think with all the colour photography around these days we could soon see the demise of really good quality b/w work.

The art of the darkroom is now limited to just enthusiasts, some of whom view digital cameras as toys.

... I know... I'm a member of a camera club that's filled with such people.

KeithT:

I hope my posts have not been taken as rude or bombastic?  Sometimes I can sound that way I know, as I can get quite excited about photography and its processes.

Don't worry. I've resided in usenet for a number of years, and have developed a thick skin.

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Galleries: Monochrome : The best

Jonathan Ryan:

Open your pic, resize it to about 600 X 400 - this isn't necessary but will stop your computer exploding,

WOW, wasn't expecting that,  i'm glad i resized, reminded me of flashbacks to some dodgy gear, but that was a very long time ago............ 

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Keiths site

You don’t need eyes to see, you need vision

Jonathan Ryan:

.....If you find one you like then you can just dig the correct channel mixer settings out of the action....

Jonathan, the actions work fine on my PC, thanks for the link, but how do you "dig out" the channel mixer settings?  I can't seem to find out how to get at what's in the action.

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks

Boltondave:

... and digital cameras tend to not handle b+w films too well.

Which is strange as, with the exception of Stigma, they record pictures in B&W on the sensor!!!

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
Oldboy’s Gallery

For Elements users rather than use greyscale a better way (and simpler for beginners)  to convert to B&W with more control is to..

1- Create a Hue & Saturation adjustment layer click ok without making any adjustments and change the blend mode to color.

2- Create anothe Hue & Sat adjustment layer and move the saturation slider all the way to the left, ok it and change the name of this layer to B&W Filter.

3- Now go back to the Hue & Sat layer and re-open the controls and by changing the Hue & Saturation sliders you can alter the tonality of the image, you can also alter how the individual  colors appear in B&W by by selecting the individual colors from the drop down master menu.

crafty

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Paul
My glass is 4/3rds full
My Pbase
My Zenfoliio

I've finally had a go with this Crafty - and its really good!

Very impressed - and it makes sense!

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Mark

Digital Photo Group
My Website

Ne nuntium necare

Glad you liked it Mark

crafty

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Paul
My glass is 4/3rds full
My Pbase
My Zenfoliio

As there's some interest in b+w conversions (again)... *bump*

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Galleries: Monochrome : The best

Boltondave:

As there's some interest in b+w conversions (again)... *bump*

... and again.

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Galleries: Monochrome : The best

Ooooh if you insist

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BPitW 9-10 June 2007.
My website My flickr