Digital BW, The Print

I am new to this group, so easy please!


I have recently upgraded to the above printer from R1800 (had many
problems with a rogue printer that was eventually considered DOA).

I do not have a digital camera (apart from compact), and I tend to
shoot slides. 35mm + MF. I scan trannies on Minolta Multi Pro

Would I be best to 

1. Shoot b&w negs, scan and print (I have never tried Scala, but I am
sure it is restrictive).

2. Shoot colour slides & use The Imagingfactory software 'Convert To
B&W Pro' plugin within Photoshop

3. Shoot colour slides & use Epson Advanced B&W photo to convert to
B&W

4. Shoot colour slides & use Photoshop without third party plug in to
convert to B&W.



Thanks in advance



Regards



Darryl

Hello Darryl,

>I am new to this group, so easy please!

Welcome to the forum.


>Would I be best to... 
>1. Shoot b&w negs
>2. Shoot colour slides, etc...

This is purely an opinion, based only on prints seen in print
exchanges over the past few years.  It seems that what I consider the
best looking prints are consistently from BW negs.


Regards,
Clayton


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

Darryl - I think it's a question of what you are used to.  If you've shot
b&w film for many years and are used to anticipating the way it will
translate things into monochrome, then it is probably best to keep shooting
film and scan it.  But if b&w is relatively new to you and you're good at
scanning slides, then I'd suggest sticking with Photoshop and getting to
know the various means of converting to black and white.  Many have been
discussed here; you'll find them in the archives.

Good luck!

Stephen Petegorsky

Option 4 might be a good way to go. One advantage of shooting color
slides -- Velvia 100, for example, (or even color film, Reala 100 is
good in this respect)-- is that you often have significantly less
grain. The key to success, however, lies in the conversion of color to
BW. I suggest that you consider buying Dan Margulis' Photoshop book
"Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction" and
read over his chapter on converting color images to BW -- very
informative. Of course, you can also go with the plugins if you an
additional expenditure is not an issue.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "lyrradmoor"
<Darryl@e...> wrote:

> I am new to this group, so easy please!
> 
> 
> I have recently upgraded to the above printer from R1800 (had many
> problems with a rogue printer that was eventually considered DOA).
> 
> I do not have a digital camera (apart from compact), and I tend to
> shoot slides. 35mm + MF. I scan trannies on Minolta Multi Pro
> 
> Would I be best to 
> 
> 1. Shoot b&w negs, scan and print (I have never tried Scala, but I am
> sure it is restrictive).
> 
> 2. Shoot colour slides & use The Imagingfactory software 'Convert To
> B&W Pro' plugin within Photoshop
> 
> 3. Shoot colour slides & use Epson Advanced B&W photo to convert to
> B&W
> 
> 4. Shoot colour slides & use Photoshop without third party plug in to
> convert to B&W.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> 
> 
> Regards
> 
> 
> 
> Darryl

hi,

Getting good W&B from color negs is very complicated in Photoshop. Just 
desaturate, and increase contrast will be bad. You will need to use 
color filters, layers.. to get as good results as you can get with a 
b&w film with an orange filter.
Then you will spend lot of time on it.

And the b&w film often have nive grain if they have.

Another thing is that b&w flims have the best dynamic range: you can go 
on with an accidental wrong on exposure, and get a good print.

Selection of slides is really easier on already b&w negs. With color 
negs it is harder to see if the result could be good in B&w.

ciao