Digital BW, The Print

Hello George,

>I shoot JPEG and convert to 16-bit using the "mode" in CS to do 
>editing. I convert back to 8-bit to save and before printing. Am I 
>actually achieving anything? 

Yes, a little bit.  If you, for example, use a contrast adjustment
curve with 8-bit some combing will appear in the histogram.  If this
gets bad enough (depending on how much editing you do) it can cause
posterization in the print.  By going to 16-bit you give yourself a
bit more editing headroom, resulting in slightly less combing.

You can test this by using two copies of an image.  Convert one to
16-bit, put an identical contrast curve on both, then look at their
histograms.  It's not much but it helps.

I always do this with the jpgs from my pocket digicam.  With my DSLR I
always shoot RAW and convert to 16-bit in ACR.  Everything the others
have said about it is true.  Definitely worth doing.

>Am I affecting my image negatively?
I don't think so.  I haven't ever come to that conclusion.


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm