Black and white photography

[boBQuincy]

I like the Russell Brown method (Russell is Adobe's creative director).

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html
It is about halfway down the page, or see:

http://www.outbackphoto.com/workshop/photoshop_corner/essay_21/essay.html

 

[princess.chell]

Thanks everyone!
I've looked into and tried all of the sites ya'll suggested. I'm still experimenting to see which I like the best. Thanks so much!

 

[BeenHereB4]

Do any of you have a decent resource (book, website) for black and white portrait photography? Including how best to convert with PS, etc would be awesome. Very much appreciated!!

 

[gwishmael]

Do you have a tax id number? If not, your options are limited to non-prolabs. This will also limit the quality that you can get. The better labs use true B&W paper and if they are really good they will offer fiber base paper aswell. As for the digital conversions. the are a lot of tutorials online that can step you thought the many differant ways of doing this. You should try several differant methods and see which one works better for your taste and style.
I know this didn't give you the answers you are looking for but it should give you some direction.

 

[BeenHereB4]

Do you have a tax id number? If not, your options are limited to non-prolabs. This will also limit the quality that you can get. The better labs use true B&W paper and if they are really good they will offer fiber base paper aswell. As for the digital conversions. the are a lot of tutorials online that can step you thought the many differant ways of doing this. You should try several differant methods and see which one works better for your taste and style.
I know this didn't give you the answers you are looking for but it should give you some direction.

Thank you. This is good to know about the printing.

I do not have a tax id and am very much an amateur. I have some ideas in my head for a few photos I want to take for my husband. Now I just have to learn how to actually execute those ideas!!

 

[gwishmael]

Can you elaborate on these ideas? Or is there some examples somewhere that will show what you are wanting to do?

 

[MICKEY88]

as far as printing goes, you can get great quality from MPIX, they are actually a division of Miller Labs which is one of the best PRO labs in the USA. I use Corels PAint SHop Photo PRo, it includes some actions to make b&W conversion easy, and does a nice job, I also use Topaz LAbs plugins which do a great job on conversion

 

[BeenHereB4]

Thanks Mickey. I'll do some more research.

I want kind of that grainy, grungy black and white photo look. We'll see if I can actually accomplish it in time.

 

[GrillMouster]

There are a million ways to get from point A to point B in Photoshop. Personally, I stay away from the "desaturate" method of converting a color image to black & white. Try the gradient map method (just google "gradient map black and white for a bunch of tutorials). I prefer B&W images with more contrast. Avoid muddy midtones and skintones. You can add grain in PS, or make it easier on yourself an shoot the original image with a really high ISO; the color noise will look like grain after you convert to B&W.

 

[photo_chick]

I have no business tax ID number and I print at pro labs all the time.

There are many different ways to convert to black and white and they all have advantages and disadvantages. I tend to desaturate, but I also work the curves and levels to get the blacks, whites and midtones I want. And I tend to add some texture.

As much as I hate ready made actions, the pioneer woman has some nice b&w actions.

 

[BeenHereB4]

Thank you! I do plan to use a high ISO for the noise factor but that's about all I have planned. I have plenty of time to learn all this "stuff". I do appreciate the input.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Do you have a tax id number? If not, your options are limited to non-prolabs. This will also limit the quality that you can get. The better labs use true B&W paper and if they are really good they will offer fiber base paper aswell. As for the digital conversions. the are a lot of tutorials online that can step you thought the many differant ways of doing this. You should try several differant methods and see which one works better for your taste and style.
I know this didn't give you the answers you are looking for but it should give you some direction.

I'm missing something. I've never seen a lab turn away business because someone lacked a tax ID. I get asked for one from time to time and when I tell them that I don't have one, the only difference is that they charge me sales tax.

I've heard that this book is good, but I haven't personally read it. I've also heard really good things about NIK Silver Efex Pro, but again, that's hearsay.

Whatever method you use, make sure that it allows you to make "color" adjustments after you convert to black and white. Some people just do a straight conversion to grayscale and then lose a lot of flexibility. Take the example of a photo that includes clouds in a nice blue sky. If you technique converts it to B&W but preserves the color information, you can darken the parts of the photo that were blue and make the clouds stand out more.

 

[gwishmael]

I'm missing something. I've never seen a lab turn away business because someone lacked a tax ID. I get asked for one from time to time and when I tell them that I don't have one, the only difference is that they charge me sales tax.

Labs like Millers, H&H, Whitehouse Custom Color, and Portrait City all require tax numbers before they will do business with someone. Some labs have two parts. Millers has MPIX for consumers. There are some good local labs out there that cater to both.

 

[photo_chick]

Labs like Millers, H&H, Whitehouse Custom Color, and Portrait City all require tax numbers before they will do business with someone. Some labs have two parts. Millers has MPIX for consumers. There are some good local labs out there that cater to both.

I've used WHCC and Millers with no tax ID. But you know, after all the hoops to use WHCC I was seriously disappointed in the quality. Though really, the whole discussion on labs is not at all pertinent to the OP's first post, now that I've gone back and re-read it.


Back to the topic at hand... I totally agree with not discarding color information.

Ansel Adams actually wrote a great series of books about black and white photography. It deals with film, but the ideas on what makes a good finished black and white print are the same for digital, as are the basic principles of photography.

 

[BeenHereB4]

Thanks so much. I will look into all these resources and play around with conversion a TON before I actually try to take my photos.

As for labs, I have used MPix and really liked the quality.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

I use lightroom, it's non-destructive, so I can play with multiple version of the same image and try different adjustments quickly. It's pretty easy to get what I want in lightroom, although, their is a certain amount of fun when you go back to using real film. I've had fun recently with a roll of Ilford 3200.

 

[SrisonS]

I'd like to reiterate Mark's point about using "color" adjustments when working with b&w pictures. I've really been getting into b&w conversions lately with some of my Disney pictures. It's amazing how much change a picture undergoes when you adjust the "colors". Adsjuting WB also plays a role when it comes to that processing.

Just play around. You'll eventually find a look you like.

 

[pgowder]

Check out Nik Silver Effects Pro! Best b&w conversion process.

 

[boBQuincy]

Thank you! I do plan to use a high ISO for the noise factor but that's about all I have planned. I have plenty of time to learn all this "stuff". I do appreciate the input.

It is easy to add grain in post-processing but a lot more difficult to take it out. Shooting at the lowest ISO possible is usually the best way to go, then add grain to suit.

Russell Brown (of Adobe) has some interesting and versatile methods for converting color to B&W. Ansel Adams series (The Camera, The Negative, The Print) may be a great help for those wishing to go with B&W. "The Print" also goes into great detail about how to fit the full range of a negative onto a piece of printing paper, very good stuff even if you send your files out to be printed.

 

[BeenHereB4]

I had NO Idea you could add "noise" after. Thanks for the info. As usual, I have lots of info to take in. I did purchase one of the books suggested and will check out Silver Effects too.

Thanks so much for the advice!