Converting to B&W

I know there are multiple ways of converting color jpegs to B&W...but is there a preferred method of doing this? In the past...I've basically just drained the saturation...then tweaked the contrast some to satisfy...but was curious as to what other methods are used. Not really interested in a 'action' to do so...more curious about the steps involved.

Thanks in advance.

Taking saturation down to zero is probably the worst way to do it because it is a global adjustment that treats all colors equally, removing the chromacity and leaving the luminosity of the original. Suppose you have a medium toned red flower surrounded by medium toned green foliage. In the color version the flower and the leaves are clearly differentiated because they have very different chromacities, but strip away the colors and you are left with the same luminosities - they are both the same grey. If, however, you use the Channel Mixer you can control how each of the three primaries - red, green and blue, are converted to grey. In the example above you can, for instance, darken the greens and lighten the reds, thus separating the flower from the background.

In the days of film the B&W shooter had to think not only about the subject matter, but also how the various photo elements would translate into tones of grey. He controlled it by putting colored filters in front of his lens, letting more of some wave lengths of the light come through while blocking others. Today we do the same thing with the Channel Mixer.

My high-tech method is to flip through the various B&W presets in Lightroom until I find one that I like. I'll usually tweak it a little more after that, whether it's adjusting the individual channels, adjusting the effects (vignette/grain), or pumping a little color back in with Split Toning.

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=18PZ07LSds4

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1288016

What software?

http://www.getcolorman​aged.com/general/grays​cale/

maverick75 wrote in post #15780866
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=18PZ07LSds4

Lordy that was an irritating video. Rambling voice over (at least at the start), non-stop background noise and talking to people "off camera".

The best method really depends on the photo. I bought a very good book a few years ago called "Creative Black and White" by Harold Davis. He uses various techniques from very simple convert to black and white functions in Photoshop to using plug-ins like Nik's Silver Efex (great program by the way). Many of his photos are actually combinations of techniques blended together. Personally, I've found Silver Efex and Lightroom satisfy 99% of my needs. Not that the process necessarily ends right there, though. Especially for landscapes, I'll often blend multiple conversions, and even if I don't do that, there's usually some additional tonal contrast corrections, dodging & burning, etc. that goes on after the initial conversion.

You didn't say what editing software you have, but if you use Photoshop CS or Elements, the black and white conversion in Adobe Camera Raw is actually quite good. There are other, more complex methods, but honestly, I use them so infrequently, I have to go back and relearn them if I feel it's something I really need.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #15781963
Lordy that was an irritating video. Rambling voice over (at least at the start), non-stop background noise and talking to people "off camera".

I loved it, Zack is the man!

SilverEFX is really good as it combines a lot of good tweaks in one package. tzalman nailed it though on color. Many people seem to forget that once they convert to black and white, the color is still there and tweaking it can make a dramatic difference because you can change the tones of different colored objects to make them stand out.