Digital BW, The Print

G'day Bill,

I mostly print colour but do the occasional B&W as the subject demands.
Formerly, I did all my conversions to B&W in Photoshop using one of the
many methods available there as appropriate. Last year I acquired the Topaz
package (I needed/wanted Adjust and Remask which fitted my processing
better than Nik) and that included B&W Effects. I now prefer to use it for
conversions rather than PS (faster to get the "effect"). It is very capable
but I usually do some micro adjustments using layer masks in PS. I did try
an eval of Silver Efex and was very impressed - it would further reduce PS
work. My take on it was that if B&W was going to be my primary goal, I
would go with Nik but if not, Topaz. OnOne had a similar set of offerings
but had no "killer" package IMHO.

reagrds JA

On 27 April 2012 02:27, Bill <bill-lewis@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> 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
>
>  
>


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