Digital BW, The Print

> From: Randolph Bacon
>
> Hi. My first post here. I've become a black-and-white enthusiast
> thanks in large part to some techniques I learned over at
> photocamel in this
> thread:http://www.photocamel.com/index.php/topic,655.0.htmlMy
> question to the learned members here is this: Are there any other
> time-tested techniques you have documented that help you get the
> best black and white out of your digital photos?

The Channel Mixer is a commonly used tool, but my advice is always to begin
by opening the image, selecting the Channels palette, and then clicking on
the individual colors in succession, just to see which channels have what
detail in them. Spend some time examining the three channels, and that will
help guide you in the choices you make when you actually go into the Channel
Mixer, or whatever tool you choose.

Another technique is to set up Photoshop so that you can edit in color while
looking at B&W. This can be done by placing a Hue/Sat adjustment layer on
top, and turning the saturation down, then editing whatever is underneath
it. What I find even easier is just to establish a Gray Gamma 2.2 proof
setup, which you can toggle on and off with Ctrl+Y. When you're done
editing, just convert to grayscale.

The thing you quickly figure out, when editing in B&W, is that it's often
appropriate to make really violent edits to an image, which would totally
destroy it were it in color. Working with color requires a very light touch,
because it doesn't take much before an image loses its realism, but B&W
isn't realistic to begin with.

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Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...