Black and White

[breakdown]

I've been disappointed with my photography results lately. I like black and white photography the best so I end up converting most of my shots to black and white.

I went on a road trip recently and for something different I brought my Canon AE1 and some rolls of good BW film with me. I just had the film printed at a lab (didn't do anything myself) and the results were much better. The photos just looked better than what came out of my digital camera.

What am I missing here? Where is my weak link? I know that modern digital cameras have the ability to produce equal or better results as film but I'm doing something wrong. Maybe it's my processing or my printing, I don't know.

Any help would be great.

[Vulcan58]

Great days - AE1 & HP4, HP5.

Suggest playing about with the PP.

[sjones]

I converted hundreds of digital color files to monochrome, and while I like many of the photos produced, I switched to film after seeing the results of a scanned Tri-X negative. I stress scanned, become some folks will argue that if you don't produce a silver halide wet print, there's no point in using film. This is crap. While a well-scanned and then inkjet printed variant might not compete with a silver halide, it is still superior to the digital version in terms of tonal character and grain.

Of course, all of this is highly subjective, and there are qualities of a digital shot that some may prefer over the film; particularly for those folks who hate grain.

That said, postproduction and printing, whether in color or black and white, require their own skill set, and it might be worthwhile to examine and identify what you liked about the lab prints in relation to your own prints. The difference might be rectifiable without having to switch to film. A printer with multiple gray/black inks is a good start to avoid prints exhibiting colorcasts. Also, for inkjet printing, using a profile and soft proofing is important. If you haven't already, you might also want to try some of the baryta based inkjet papters, such as Harman Photo Gloss FB AI or Ilford Gallerie Gold Fibre Silk.

Finally, check out the latest conversion software, as there has been some decent headway made in this area, or at least that's what I have read.

Just a quick sample:

http://www.photo-plugins.com/Plugins/Plugins/B-W-Conversion.html

http://mgreerphoto.blogspot.com/2007/01/black-and-white-conversions.html

[toxic]

When converting digital photos to b&w, the process is more complicated than simply converting to grayscale or desaturating. Film will still have its own look, but you can still get good black & whites with some good technique.

[Spacemunkie]

THIS... (http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro/en/entry.php)

...is not cheap, but it's the dog's danglies. Plugs in to Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or similar.