B&W conversion process

For the members who dont mind sharing, what process do you use to process/convert you black and white photos?

In LR4, I (obviously) convert to B&W, bump up the contrast, darken the blacks, and raise the red and orange tones in the B&W mix (for skin tones). I have a preset that applies these settings, then I tweak from there. Most of my photos have people in them - not sure how this would work out for things like architecture or landscapes though.

LR4 for me as well, it just seems to work well with B&W conversions...I have mildy tweaked the supplied presets and saved as my own.


Mike

Would either of you be willing to share your presets?

I use photoshop. I try and process similarly to the way I would print in the fact I keep detail in areas I need detail. The tool I use most are levels/curves to control contrast, quick mask to control precise areas of the image. I work on each image individually.

mclaren777 wrote in post #15027784
Would either of you be willing to share your presets?

Sure, PM me your email and I'll send it over

I use a preset called totally rad b&w to start, then I tweak the setting a little bit to my taste.

In ACR, I drag the Saturation slider all the way to the left. I'll also adjust the contrast, black levels, etc, depending on the specific look I am going for.

Then I import into PS, then apply an action that puts a little bit of a brown cast to the image.

That's about it. Nothing special.

This is the typical look I get.

May not be special, but looks fantastic. Sometimes less is more.

I use one of the presets in LR4 and then tweak from there. I completely ignore the histogram when in B&W (apart from losing detail on the edges) and go by what looks good to my eye.

My personal preference is relatively high contrast.

Heres what my stuff looks like. I get the exposure right in camera and the color image where I want when converting from raw so the tones are where I want them when I convert in photoshop.

I remember these shots airfrog. Some of the best B&W conversions i've seen.

Check this photographer out.

http://www.jeffascough​.com/

nicksan wrote in post #15036294
Check this photographer out.

http://www.jeffascough​.com/

Yes, Jeff's B&W work is outstanding.

LR4 Presets. I have about 100 of them for B&W conversions.

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