Den's B&W technique??

[bbodine9]

Den

I have not been to your site in a while but you have several nice black and white photos on display can you share your workflow for them?

Thanks
Bruce Bodine

[den]

Thank you Bruce for your interest...

(1) Ideas/approaches I tend to use are summurized here: http://www.ncplus.net/~birchbay/tutorials/bw/bw01.htm...

(2) Favored "Monochrome-Color Mixer" transform initial settings: R=60; G=30; B=20; and Exp=92->94 [lower exposure until highlight clipping is no longer indicated]...

(3) Favored "grain" technique...
___a) Reference: Go done page to Grain... http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/ ... tml?page=5
___(b) a PWP Composite-Hard Light transform equivalent to duplicate the article's "grain.jpg" with no mask:
____ 1) download the "nograin.jpg" and "t400small.jpg" from the article's web page and open them in PWP;
____ 2) click on "t400small.jpg" and open the Composite-Hard Light transform and set the Overlay = "nograin.jpg" leaving everything else at default and click OK; and
____ 3) the aggressive "grained" image of 2) can be preferentially Composite-Blended with the "nograin.jpg"

(4) Also of late [more a matter of curiosity and exploration then anything else], I have been using "dcraw.exe" as a Raw converter with a linear gamma output... ...with follow up to preferential tones/colors/sharpness using PWP transforms and the occasional foray using the automatic tone-mapping feature of SNS-HDR... ...but I generally rely on the "3Tone Range Masks & Procedures" [http://www.ncplus.net/~birchbay/3tone/3tone.htm] for final preferential brightness/contrasts of monochrome images.

Apologies for not being more detailed but most of what is done is 'image specific' and depends upon the 'artistic vision' for that image...

...den...

[bbodine9]

Den,

On your last point is that not the 3 Zone adjustment feature now in the program?

Thanks,

Bruce

[den]

On your last point is that not the 3 Zone adjustment feature now in the program?

Yes... PWP's current "2 or 3-Zone Adjustment transforms" use the ideas and workflows of the "3Tone Range Masks & Procedures" as applicable in the HSV color space model and symmetrical tone range masks...

For a discussion, definition, and illustrations of symmetrical vs. assymetrical mask black to white transitions see: http://www.ncplus.net/~birchbay/tutoria ... /index.htm.

Assymetrical tone range masks suggested in the "3Tone Range Masks & Procedures" will often provide greater precision and allow more aggressive changes to take place in the un-protected image areas before potential halos/auras become objectionable in the protected image areas...

...yet the "2 or 3-Zone Adjustment transforms" are very powerful for color or B/W for those less inclined toward manual operations and nuances...

...den...

[den]

A complex BW conversion technique using the Stack Images transform as a channel mixer where amazing image data access/manipulation is possible... ...is suggested/illustrated in this thread: http://www.dl-c.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=663...

...but something from the past may more easily produce preference 'crisp' BW images...

From"Robert": B/W conversion, Apr 15, 2008
Reference: http://www.dl-c.com/discus/messages/523 ... 1208240940

To reproduce this technique in PWP you have to extract challens and leter [channels] combine them in Composite dialog ... ...Good results are with first channel RED, second GREEN or Luminosity [LUMINANCE] and blending mode set to HARD LITE [LIGHT] or SOFT LITE [LIGHT]. Results are same as in Photoshop. Rich contrasty BW images.

This approach because of the significant increase to mid-tone range contrasts will tend to loose detail in the high Highlights and deep Shadows... ...to reduce and control this detail loss, try using a mid-tone range Input image Amount mask to the Composite-Soft or Hard Light transform where the mask formation is:

...Mask Tool-Brightness Curve: lower-left Apply a BrokenLine curve = [0,0], [5,0], [20,40], [50,100], [80,40], [95,0], [100,0]; followed by a lower-left Apply Blur = 3...

Leaving the Mask black slider at 0% provides the maximum protection to Highlights/Shadows...

...enjoy... ...den...

[AHuntley]

I've been playing around with den's suggested settings when doing B&W conversion via Channel Mixer. Can anyone tell me why the actual image generated (after clicking Apply) looks quite a bit darker in tonality than the preview? This makes it very difficult to achieve an acceptable conversion because when I get what I want in the preview window it doesn't look like that after hitting OK. Bummer...

If I'm doing something wrong, please help. Thanks!

[ksinkel]

I tried several different channel mixer settings and do not see a difference between the preview and the Apply image. You might try using a larger preview, in case a difference in size is making it difficult to judge.

Kiril

[den]

I too do not have a mis-match between an APPLY/OK transformed image version at a 1:1 Zoom Factor and its Preview at a 1:1 Zoom Factor.

Perhaps, if your File | Preferences "Antialiased Zoom Out" is set to "Yes", it is possible that the Preview will not show the same as the APPLY/OK transformed anti-aliased image version. As with sharpening, try setting the Preview to a 1:1 Zoom Factor and then check the final adjustment transform settings for preference before an APPLY/OK.

From the manual:

..."For reasons of efficiency, preview windows are never antialiased, so in some cases a zoomed out image window displayed next to a zoomed out preview window may look quite different. To make the display of zoomed out image windows consistent with that of preview windows, you must set Antialiased Zoom Out to No."...

[AHuntley]

den,

That "Antialiased Zoom Out" setting much have been the issue! I set it to "No" and now my preview during B&W conversion looks exactly like Apply/OK, regardless of zoom factor. Thank you...THANK YOU!!