B&W conversion: So far, this forum is quite enjoyable. There have been some wonderful contributions! I'm revisiting an on-line tutorial that I purchased awhile back. It was on-sale at...

gmontjr2350 Loc: Southern NJ

So far, this forum is quite enjoyable. There have been some wonderful contributions!
I'm revisiting an on-line tutorial that I purchased awhile back. It was on-sale at Udemy for $10.00, so I went for it.
The instructor is David Nightingale and he discusses destructive and non-destructive methods for converting a color image to B&W.
Right now, I'm about to view the Channel Mixer method. Since I went ahead and opted for Adobe CC, I have access to a fuller range of adjustments and I hope to be able to produce images that are more pleasing to me.

George

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Personally, I use Lightroom for all primary editing and library management. When taking a digital image and converting to B&W, my own approach is:

1, Shoot in RAW, obtaining a color image as the start-point inside LR.

2, Edit the image to completion in LR as a color image.

3, Select a B&W conversion tool. Although LR has a number of B&W options, I tend to use an old (unsupported) Topaz BW module. Other third-party tools are similar.

4, Upon return from the BW module, I continue to tweak the now BW image inside LR to completion.

George, LR is your 'non destructive' tool in your Adobe toolbox. You may choose to use the powerful tools of PhotoShop for the B&W processing, but let PS run as a 'plug-in' to your library manager of LR where you maintain safe versions of your original and intermediary versions of your image files.

gmontjr2350 Loc: Southern NJ

CHG_CANON wrote:

Personally, I use Lightroom for all i primary /i ... (show quote)

Thank you for that info!

George

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I use On1 for my processing, George. Its B&W converter seems to work quite well for me.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

gmontjr2350 wrote:

So far, this forum is quite enjoyable. There have ... (show quote)

Hey George, Nice to hear someone mention Udemy... I am in the midst of a couple of their little affordable courses as we speak. Non photography related but geared towards speaker DIY building and cross over design. Great place to get valuable affordable info in a pace yourself, non rigorous environment. I will have to check out their Photog. related offerings. Thanks for posting... Bob

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Although I have done conversions in LR and in PS, my go-to for B&W conversions has always been Silver Efex Pro. It's only available in the NIK Collection ($149), but you also get 7 other plug-ins, of which I especially like HDR Efex and Color Efex. All of them are good. Well worth it.

gmontjr2350 Loc: Southern NJ

MrBob wrote:

Hey George, Nice to hear someone mention Udemy... I am in the midst of a couple of their little affordable courses as we speak. Non photography related but geared towards speaker DIY building and cross over design. Great place to get valuable affordable info in a pace yourself, non rigorous environment. I will have to check out their Photog. related offerings. Thanks for posting... Bob

Sure thing, Bob. I also use Udemy for programming courses. I always wait for a course to go on "sale". Those regular prices are crazy.
I have 5 photography courses in various stages of completion as my brain has serious issues focusing for any length of time.

George

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

CHG_CANON wrote:

Personally, I use Lightroom for all i primary /i ... (show quote)

Lightroom Classic is the HUB of the digital workflow. Everything else should be set up as a spoke off of it.

All my other imaging apps are accessed from within Lightroom Classic.

gmontjr2350 Loc: Southern NJ

DWU2 wrote:

Although I have done conversions in LR and in PS, my go-to for B&W conversions has always been Silver Efex Pro. It's only available in the NIK Collection ($149), but you also get 7 other plug-ins, of which I especially like HDR Efex and Color Efex. All of them are good. Well worth it.

George

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

gmontjr2350 wrote:

George

What is BEST ? Only the shadow knows.... I also love Silver Efex Pro though... I have had it for years and also use the plug ins. I really like the easy options available when doing conversions.

Amaize

Question — are there any advantages of in-camera shooting in B/W vs conversion in LR/PS ? I’m not sure what B/W Raw would produce.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Amaize wrote:

Question — are there any advantages of in-camera shooting in B/W vs conversion in LR/PS ? I’m not sure what B/W Raw would produce.

RAW files are in color. The sensor captures in color. The B/W conversion, in camera, is a conversion by the camera software creating a JPEG. An 8-bit JPEG, tossing lots of original data from the 12- or 14-bit sensor. Converting the RAW later on your computer provides a much more potential, due to the exponentially larger bit-depth of the file.

Amaize

Much appreciated — I had that assumption.