Color vs B&W: Currently shoot Velvia 50 and various B&W films. Scan color to create digital images. B&W processed by commercial lab and Photoshop is my darkroom. By the way I need a...

safeman

Currently shoot Velvia 50 and various B&W films. Scan color to create digital images. B&W processed by commercial lab and Photoshop is my darkroom. By the way I need a new B&W lab, suggestions please. Monsoon season is coming to Arizona and I generally look for ominous, dark, contrasty storm images. With the color digital images should I PP in color first and then convert to B&W.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

I usually convert using Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). Sometimes I find that slightly oversaturating the color image will make it easier to convert to b/w. So I guess this would be considered doing some PP in color prior to converting to b/w.

safeman

jackm1943 wrote:

I usually convert using Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). Sometimes I find that slightly oversaturating the color image will make it easier to convert to b/w. So I guess this would be considered doing some PP in color prior to converting to b/w.

Thanks. When you convert the image do you use grayscale, B&W or desaturate?

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

safeman - Thought I previously recommended The Darkroom in San Clemente, CA, as a great film lab.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

I really have to ask. With all of the advancements in digital technology what do you
think you are gaining from film? I used B&W film for many, many years producing
silver gelatin photographs for the gallery market and as far as I'm concerned there
is no digital equivalent to a silver gelatin print (outside of Pt/Pd). However, if your
end product is a digital print, a digital capture is so much better than having a lab
bulk process your film and then scanning the film with a consumer grade scanner.
I would really like some comments from those still using film.

safeman

ricardo7 wrote:

I really have to ask. With all of the advancement... (show quote)

No. 1 I am a 75 year old curmudgeon who enjoys generating these type of questions.
No. 2 I am a traditionalist who prefers bound books to e-books and the ability to hold negatives or slides in my hand.
No. 3 I don't have to worry about some electronic glitch or a ransomware hacker causing the loss of 76 years of pictures.
No. 4 I had to buy a scanner to convert 65 years of pictures to digital.
No. 5 I realy believe that not having the ability to snap off 10 or 100 or 1000 photos a day makes you try harder to ensure the few you do get are the best you are capible of.

If I think about it somemore I'm sure I can come up with more reasons. In reality I'm in the process of buying a Nikon D7200 and to tell you the truth I am terrified I am going to become one of the 10, 100, 1000 shooters looking for one good shot and I hope that having a "Super Camera" is not going to detract from my film shooting.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

safeman wrote:

No. 1 I am a 75 year old curmudgeon who enjoys gen... (show quote)

Safeman, I understand you. Thanks for your response. You might think twice
about buying digital, however. It's very hard to go back to the old ways. Believe
me, I know.

safeman

Thank you Ricardo I will

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

safeman wrote:

No. 1 I am a 75 year old curmudgeon who enjoys gen... (show quote)

My only response to your very well-stated principles, is that if Ansel Adams were alive today, he'd be shooting digital, pushing the equipment to its limits, and using post processing as just another tool in the toolbox of bringing his visualized images to others.

Rock on!

Andy

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

safeman wrote:

Thanks. When you convert the image do you use grayscale, B&W or desaturate?

I think to get the image to look like you want it, you have to use the slider filters in ACR and/or Photoshop, then go in with the more global and local brushes also available in ACR and Photoshop. I also like to apply some "structure" from NIK Vivesa. You will likely be very dissatisfied just converting to grayscale or desaturating, the images will probably be very bland.

Regarding how you use your new camera, you can still apply same care and time when photographing digital as you do with film, there is nothing that says you can't. I shot mostly medium and large format for years before getting into digital and, depending on the subject, still try to take the same care and time as when I was shooting film. One thing that sped up my conversion to digital was that I found it difficult to get really good quality scans of my b/w negatives, and didn't discover wet scanning until I was well established with digital. If I had discovered wet scanning sooner, I might still be doing that.

safeman

jackm1943 wrote:

I think to get the image to look like you want it,... (show quote)

"depending on the subject, still try to take the same care and time as when I was shooting film". Operative words are "still try."

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

safeman wrote:

Currently shoot Velvia 50 and various B&W films. Scan color to create digital images. B&W processed by commercial lab and Photoshop is my darkroom. By the way I need a new B&W lab, suggestions please. Monsoon season is coming to Arizona and I generally look for ominous, dark, contrasty storm images. With the color digital images should I PP in color first and then convert to B&W.

www.willowphotolab.com is the place I'd recommend.

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

I use Ilford film.

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

safeman wrote:

Currently shoot Velvia 50 and various B&W films. Scan color to create digital images. B&W processed by commercial lab and Photoshop is my darkroom. By the way I need a new B&W lab, suggestions please. Monsoon season is coming to Arizona and I generally look for ominous, dark, contrasty storm images. With the color digital images should I PP in color first and then convert to B&W.

Look into Digital Silver Images, Belmont, Ma.

David Lyon

As a Navy trained photographer, I find the processing film therapy, and pure joy. The camera shown is over 115 years old. The ability it use a 5x7 requires you to slow down.

The idea of being able to produce an image without seeing it in the field means you have to know how to achieve the goal you want.

Personally, I don’t see how an ink print can compare to a silver gelatin print. One has to be produced with attention to the demands of the size, and the other can be scaled up or down with a few mouse clicks.