Digital BW, The Print

A very good article I do see Silver Efex mentioned more than silver shadows which is seldom mentioned and has fallen from my list. In the process of watching Utube videos on Silver Efex I saw videos for Topaz B&W. It also looks to be a good product for much less than Silver Efex.

Does anyone on the list use or have an opinion on Topaz B&W. This is one of several products from Topaz Labs that look similar to OnOne products. Needless to say the more I read and look the more confused I become I have Lightroom 4 and curently feel like I am standing in a pit at the base of the learning curve. I have watched a dozen or more videos on converting to B&W in Lightroom. I have just received Martin Evening's Lightroom 4 book and will look at what it has on B&W.

So far the half dozen photos I converted in Lightroom are not what I would get from my darkroom. The blacks look black and the whites white but they seem to have too much in the midtones. This is my ability with the software and while I want to use lightroom properly for the immediate time I am looking for something that will assist in this so Silver Efex or Topaz B&W Silver Efex has an academic discount so for me retired and returning to College Classes the actual price is not that much more. I understand that Silver Efex will work stand alone or as a Photoshop plug-in while Topaz is only a plug-in. Probably either program would do more than I want but I am just trying to avoid buyers remorse.

Bill Lewis