tita1948 Loc: North Idaho

I just received my weekly tips from Ultimate Photo guide. The topic was on turning photos to B&W. The lesson was SO EASY to do in Lightroom. I don't know how to send the link but if you ever tried to do this and had mediocre results try and see if you can find the post.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

they may look good on their own, but never try and compare them to a b&w film print. you'll be unhappy!

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I'm not familiar with your source but I do a lot of my conversion to B&W in Lightroom. Only when that fails do I use Silver Efex, because the LR usually produces less noise in the conversion process than the plugins do. If you use the HSL/color sliders instead of the presets or the Basic section for most of your adjustments, you have a lot more control than you would expect. It is easy, and it gets good results.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Tita, the secret to good B&W, is to start with the right foto, not the right PP program.
There are as many bad B&W pics with film, as there are with digital! :lol:
But true, a bad conversion is still just that, a bad conversion.
And bad photography is still just that, bad photography, in color or monochrome! ;-)
SS

tita1948 Loc: North Idaho

That is so true. I was hoping this information would help newbies and those of us without too much experience to accomplish this without too much hassle.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Tita, I understand, and what I said helped no one but those that are good at B&W. And for that I apologize.
If someone could create a link to your source it would surely be useful.
Scott Kelby has a method using LR that works pretty well. He calls it something like, "using the triangles of death".
Because B&W is all about creating contrast, since there is only black, white and what's in between.
After changing to B&W, he activates the triangles controlling the brightness in the histogram, and pulls it till large areas start to turn red, then backs off slightly. Then does the same with the black slider till areas turn blue, then backs off.
This gives maximum blacks and whites, with only specular areas going to blowout.
The mid-tones can then be adjusted for contrast using the color sliders.
This method seems to work quite well, if you start with a contrasty shot.
Tita, it's not what you were looking for, but it may help others that don't have expensive plug-ins. ;-)
SS

tita1948 Loc: North Idaho

Hummm I'll have to check that out. I love Scott Kelby. He explains in simple language and he's funny.
Thanks for the idea.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Instead of trying to discussing a technique that no one knows what it is, why not ask how to post the link?

The skills required to process a photo are much much harder than posting a link.
If you can't even post a link, how do you ever hope to process a photo effectively?
Saying "I don't know how to post a link but if you want to google it" is just lazy Tita.

Open your page that you want to link.
Highlight the address of that page. Press CTRL-C
Post that in a reply in this thread.
Then that way, people here will be able to advise you if it is a good way to process monos or if it is leading you up the path.

tita1948 Loc: North Idaho

Well that's a little harsh. Just because I didn't know how post a link doesn't make me "lazy". Thank you for letting me know how to do it.

Searcher Loc: Kent, England

I think this is the link:

http://www.ultimatephotoguide.com/is-black-and-white-still-important/

tita1948 Loc: North Idaho

Thank you for posting this. And thank you for your help today.