Digital BW, The Print

I've read two books to learn which method is the best for converting 
RAW files to greyscale in PSCS2...but now I'm even more confused cause 
there are so many methods.

I think after years of trial and error and going back and forth between 
the myriad methods...I would eventually settle on which method I think 
is best. 

If you had to guess, which method would I likely gravitate to over the 
years?  In other words, what is your favorite method for converting 
portraits of people to greyscale in PSCS2 for the purpose of printing 
on an Epson R2400 and framing the 13x19 prints?  For sale, gifts and 
self.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "eddiegnz1" <eddiegnz1@...> 
wrote:
>
> I> If you had to guess, which method would I likely gravitate to over the 
> years?  In other words, what is your favorite method for converting 
> portraits of people to greyscale in PSCS2 for the purpose of printing 
> on an Epson R2400 and framing the 13x19 prints?  For sale, gifts and 
> self.
>


Try this technique, in this web site:  http://www.gormanphotography.com/gorman.html

it is listed under learning, November 2004.  Once you put it in CS2 under an action, it works 
fine.  Go throught the steps and see if it works for you.  I tried a few methods and finally 
settled on this one.

Martin

LIke many things involving the digital darkroom, "best" is a relative term. There are any 
number of ways to desaturate an image. And starting with a raw file just adds to the options. 
You could desaturate in a raw converter like Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom or Aperture. In 
CS2 Channel Mixer is probably the most intutive method, but you could use Calculations as 
well. A search on the web will turn up plenty of workflows that use duplicate image layers 
along with Hue/Saturation adjustment layers. And then there are some third party plugins 
that come with "film" presets. Any of these methods will give you more control than just 
using Image>Grayscale, which is just a preset channel mixer function.

How are you taking your images? Camera, scanned slides, scanned  
prints????

Just curious, the new firmware for the Nikon D2x added a Gray Scale  
shooting option. I haven't tried it yet but plan to compare it to my  
favorite, Channel Mixer.

Alan

On Nov 19, 2006, at 11:20 AM, eddiegnz1 wrote:

> I've read two books to learn which method is the best for converting
> RAW files to greyscale in PSCS2...but now I'm even more confused cause
> there are so many methods.
>
> I think after years of trial and error and going back and forth  
> between
> the myriad methods...I would eventually settle on which method I think
> is best.
>
> If you had to guess, which method would I likely gravitate to over the
> years? In other words, what is your favorite method for converting
> portraits of people to greyscale in PSCS2 for the purpose of printing
> on an Epson R2400 and framing the 13x19 prints? For sale, gifts and
> self.
>
>
>

I use ACR to convert the RAW images before working on them in PS7.  In 
PS7 I use the Convert B&W Pro plug-in to get grayscales (I'm pretty sure 
it works in CS2 as well.)  As a longtime B&W film shooter, developer and 
printer I find the plug-in to be the most intuitive grayscale converter 
to use, with sliders for colored contrast filters, "film" spectral 
response, film and print exposure and paper contrast grade.  I know it's 
just using the underlying Photoshop tools to produce the results, but 
after 30+ years in a darkroom this was just too easy a system to pass up 
when I switched to digital from film..

Cheers,
Kip

eddiegnz1 wrote:

> I've read two books to learn which method is the best for converting
> RAW files to greyscale in PSCS2...but now I'm even more confused cause
> there are so many methods.
>
>
>
>  



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

The conversion method that Nikon is using is NOT just a desaturation.  I have seen something from Nikon that said they are doing something different, but the don't say what.  You can see the difference if you shoot in B&W (or convert using NX), and convert the same .NEF file using some other method.  It works pretty well.  However, if you are using Nikon NX to process the NEF files the only advantage is that you can see the B&W image in the field.  The NEF file can still be 'converted' back to color using NX.
   
  Tom Baker

Alan Kearney <alan_kearney@...> wrote:
  How are you taking your images? Camera, scanned slides, scanned 
prints????

Just curious, the new firmware for the Nikon D2x added a Gray Scale 
shooting option. I haven't tried it yet but plan to compare it to my 
favorite, Channel Mixer.

Alan

On Nov 19, 2006, at 11:20 AM, eddiegnz1 wrote:

> I've read two books to learn which method is the best for converting
> RAW files to greyscale in PSCS2...but now I'm even more confused cause
> there are so many methods.
>
> I think after years of trial and error and going back and forth 
> between
> the myriad methods...I would eventually settle on which method I think
> is best.
>
> If you had to guess, which method would I likely gravitate to over the
> years? In other words, what is your favorite method for converting
> portraits of people to greyscale in PSCS2 for the purpose of printing
> on an Epson R2400 and framing the 13x19 prints? For sale, gifts and
> self.
>
>
> 



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

I like Convert to B&W Pro3 by Imaging Factory.  It simulates a particular
film curve (I don't know how accurate it is, but it feels good to hit
"TriX").  The contrast adjustment is geared to different filters for Ilford
Multigrade paper.  Anyway, it works well and requires little time.  They
have a free trial.  (The files are still RGB, though.)

Regards,

Ken Carney
www.kencarney.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
> eddiegnz1
> Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2006 1:21 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Best Way To Convert RAW To B&W In PSCS2
> 
> I've read two books to learn which method is the best for converting
> RAW files to greyscale in PSCS2...but now I'm even more confused cause
> there are so many methods.
> 
> I think after years of trial and error and going back and forth between
> the myriad methods...I would eventually settle on which method I think
> is best.
> 
> If you had to guess, which method would I likely gravitate to over the
> years?  In other words, what is your favorite method for converting
> portraits of people to greyscale in PSCS2 for the purpose of printing
> on an Epson R2400 and framing the 13x19 prints?  For sale, gifts and
> self.
>