Vintage B&W look. How is it done?

I have been looking for the right picture for a few weeks so I can ask the question. I've just found one on Flickr. How is this type of processing done on a color image? I am not talking about the blur, just the B&W effect itself. Is it a different take on the Gorman method?

Link is below. Much appreciated.
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http://www.flickr.com/​photos/russroca/259855​5436/

Well, I hate to put a damper on things right off the bat but in POTN we have a rule against posting shots that are not ours -- you need to post a link.

As to the shot, the strong vignette certainly has an effect. But with B&W conversions, there is a lot that can be done to "colors" you can tweak colors before conversion or after conversion, Saturation and levels of Luminance and tweaking the overal color channels can make a lot of difference. I'd say do a lot of images and practice and get a feel of what "works" if you really want to get into this. I myself just play around in my Raw converter occasionally.

Sorry, I thought since I wasn't claiming it to be mine and it is watermarked, it may be ok. I have replaced it with the link.

I figured it had to do with toning for specific colors but anytime I do that, it just changes those color channels themselves (e.g. red shirt gets lighter or darker in the conversion etc.). This seems as though multiple layers are added over the standard converted image to add some yellow and possibly green tint. It is very cool and I love whenever I see a conversion like this. Just have no clue how it's done.

ManiZ wrote in post #15499353
Sorry, I thought since I wasn't claiming it to be mine and it is watermarked, it may be ok. I have replaced it with the link.

Cool!

When people shot with Black and White film they typically used filters to "tweak" the color channels.

With digital, if you shoot Raw, you are free to tweak the color channels to taste. If you set your camera to shoot B&W jpegs, well, you want to tweak the channels in the camera.

Either way, I'd say it can be a long process of trying, failing, trying, get some success, learning from it all, and trying some more!!

Channel mixer in photoshop CS6 is the most preferred tool...an
Long with levels,contrast,curves​....the options are endless really...play and see...watch for blown out sky's...can be tricky to master.

OK, here's a question -- I don't know what software the OP is using, but suppose some of us are using either either LR or ACR but want the Photoshop alternatives...?

There are two things going on here that may be causing you confusion. When converting the image to grayscale you can as you have seen alter the way that the different channels are converted, as you say you can make a red object for example go from very dark to very light. This can be used to either mimic the spectral response of different types of B&W films, or just to get something pleasing to the eye.

The other thing is Toning, where you basically add a colour tint to the image, so for example it could be brown to white rather than shades of gray. Most editing programs allow you to set two colours, one for the highlights and one for the shadows. Looking at the histogram of the image that you posted, it is definitely not a true grayscale image as R=G=B is not true for all pixels. Since the histogram tells us that it is not a true grayscale image then there must also be some toning going on, as I do not think that there is anything else happening colour wise.

Alan

I am using DxO filmpack for b&w conversions and highly reccomend to try it.
It is not very expensive and allows to apply a number of different settings like make and type of film emulated and filters.
Saves a lot of time finding right settings in PS

As stated before, try out different "color filter" changes in whatever b&w processor you are using. Also, it seems the person used a pretty strong contrast curve. Lastly, at least in Photoshop RAW, if you turn up the black level slider, you can get the deep, deep shadows in the photo. Of course you lose a ton of shadow detail, but if that is the look you are going for, then that is what I would try as well.

Thanks for the input so far. Hennie, thank you for mentioning DXO; I had never heard of it. I could go that route. For all I know, the creator of my linked image did the same, but I want to understand the basics first.

I should've mentioned that I use CS5 and am a beginner at it. Toning is what I really need to learn for B&W conversions. My conversions so far are just basic color-to-grayscale with some added contrast, adjusted curves etc. Here is a recent example of a pic I took of my wife and son I just posted in the kids and family section. I like this but it doesn't have the pop I am looking for. The mood is there, the lighting provided by the setting sun was good, but something is missing. I really prefer B&W conversions for candids; I think it gives them more realism, but this conversion is too bland for my tastes. A toned look would be better.

Are there tutorials you guys can point me to?

It may be that what you want are plug-ins or methods for emulating the various toning techniques used when making B&W prints. Google for Selenium, platinum, sepia, etc. I think dXo B&W effects offers those options.

If I recall Pixel Genius has some plug-in packages that offer various toning options for Photoshop. And there are probably others.