Digital BW, The Print

Is it gauche to ask questions about commercial products on this list?

I shoot bw film & scan it into tiffs for processing in PS or LR, and I'm
looking for  tool sets that come closest to what I do in the darkroom. So
far, I like the offerings of Nik software best. Comments, suggestions?

Thanks.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Apr 23, 2010, at 9:26 AM, Lew Schwartz wrote:

> Is it gauche to ask questions about commercial products on this list?

They put up with a fair amount here, if it relates to the topic and  
informs list members...
>
> I shoot bw film & scan it into tiffs for processing in PS or LR, and  
> I'm
> looking for  tool sets that come closest to what I do in the  
> darkroom. So
> far, I like the offerings of Nik software best. Comments, suggestions?

Well, it reminds me of my daughter's move from elementary to middle  
school. That first few weeks it was critically important to her that  
students from her old school be in her home room and classes. By  
midyear, it no longer mattered at all.

I find that when photographers move from the darkroom to a digital  
workflow that, similarly, it matters a lot up front that the tools  
have terminology and process that they can relate to from the  
darkroom. But later on that is not much of a factor, they are more  
concerned about the actual quality of the results, and the power of  
the digital features. Photoshop doesn't define brightness tools in f  
stops, or color adjustments in ccs/magenta, but once you are familiar  
with the direct digital terms (thinking in the new language, so to  
speak) that won't matter.

C. David Tobie
Global Product Technology Manager
Digital Imaging & Home Theater
CDTobie@...


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Datacolor
www.datacolor.com/Spyder3





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello Lew,

>I shoot bw film & scan it into tiffs for processing in PS or LR, 
>and I'm looking for  tool sets that come closest to what I do in 
>the darkroom. So far, I like the offerings of Nik software best. 
>Comments, suggestions?

I concur with what C. David said, it matches my own experiences.  In the beginning I didn't know where to begin so I stuck with familiar concepts and ideas.  

As for the Nik software, I used the demo for awhile (within the past year) and at first was enamored of it.  They really have created some amazing tools.  But it wasn't too long before I realized it was too restrictive.  It made certain effects real easy, but I don't always want those effects.  And it couldn't do well, or with enough control, or at all, many things I routinely do in PS.  And the way it's structured it's sometimes difficult or impossible to mix it's routines with my own PS techniques.  I finally decided it wouldn't add enough benefit for the price and I removed it when the demo period ended.  I'm not suggesting you shouldn't buy it, it's very popular, but am just adding my experience to the mix.  

There are countless ways to approach digital image work.  I suspect that if we could examine every photographer's workflow we'd find no two alike.  PS alone allows many different approaches.  So there's no "best" way.  Everyone finds their own path, picking up new tips and tricks over time.  Unfortunately, we often must spend money on products along the way, some of which are abandoned later.  Seems to be an unavoidable part of the learning process.

I hope this is helpful.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm
I-Trak 2.1   http://www.cjcom.net/itrak.htm

Although not directly related to imitating the dark room techniques, I find that a noise reduction plug-in is arguably the single most useful add-in to have.  I use Neat Image, but there are others available as well.

Igor

On 23/04/10 7:26 AM, "Lew Schwartz" <lew1716@...> wrote:

> I shoot bw film & scan it into tiffs for processing in PS or LR, and I'm
> looking for  tool sets that come closest to what I do in the darkroom. So
> far, I like the offerings of Nik software best. Comments, suggestions?

I really like Power Retouche Black and White Studio. . .

http://powerretouche.com/Black-white_plugin_tutorial.html

It provides a lot of creative control, and portions of it remind me directly
of the darkroom. For example, it has a Multigrade slider, which functions
just like selecting different grades of paper (e.g. Ilford Multigrade
papers). It also has a Contrast slider, which has a different impact on the
image.

I believe there is a demo version available.

Terry.